High Fives and Jump shots.

Not necessarily in that order, they are so uniquely American, they’re woven into the fabric of who we are in athletics.

Nobel Prize winners to Supreme Court Justices have indulged in hand slaps.

Jump shooter Michael Jordan could hang in the air long enough for a peanut butter sandwich before letting go.

Today, the jump shot has inspired internet web sites. Among them, Jump Shot Form, Drills, Ray Allen Technique, and How it revolutionized basketball in the 1950s.

High Fives are brand name products and social network games. There is High Five Etiquette, and third Thursday in April is National High Five Day.

Where did these distinctive American items originate?

Who invented basketball’s jump shot?

Maybe Kentucky’s own Joe Fulks? Maybe not.

• The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame credits Pound, Virginia native Glenn Roberts as having first shot a jumper in the early 1930s. A 6-4 post player, Roberts perfected a two-handed jumper while in high school, then at Emory and Henry College. More on Roberts’ personal story later.

• Kenny Sailors was first to shoot a jump shot. Maybe. Basketball historian John Christgau, in his tome The Origins of the Jump Shot, said Sailors, “learned to jump straight up and release a one-handed shot from above his head.” It was the only way Sailors could get a shot off against a taller brother on the farm near Hilldale, Wyoming. Time line: Mid-1930s.

• In Kentucky, fans still lean to Jumpin’ Joe Fulks and his turn-around jump shots at Kuttawa High School in the late 1930s.

Born at Birmingham in Marshall County, Joseph Franklin Fulks moved to Kuttawa in 1938, earned the nickname Kuttawa Klipper. With his turn around jump shot, Fulks set state high school scoring records in 1940. When he finished at Murray State his jersey number was retired.

If Fulks was not first to shoot it, he is often credited with refining it.

Father of the Jump Shot: Roberts? Sailors? Fulks?

Considering their personal stories it would be appropriate if all three fired up a jumper at precisely the same moment in time.

• Glenn Roberts likely was first and, all things considered, his life was most distinguished and fascinating. He died in 1980. (Google Glenn Roberts)

At home, playing against five brothers growing up, to get a shot at all, Roberts taught himself to jump shoot. He went on to lead his high school team to two state titles, including 35-0 in 1931. Next, at Emory and Henry College, he played on a wooden court for the first time. Roberts became an All American. One of his best games was 38 points against Union College in Kentucky in 1935.

Roberts decided against professional basketball, changed his mind and played one season, then returned home to teach and coach. Later, Roberts and his five brothers played tour basketball competing against teams across the south comprised of family members only. Exhibition stops included games in Kentucky.

• Sailors became a two-time All-American at Wyoming, led the Cowboys to the NCAA title in 1943. He was voted Most Outstanding Player. In the NBA 1946-51 Sailors scored 3,480 points. A teammate in Philadelphia was Joe Fulks.

• Fulks. After a college career good enough to have his jersey retired at Murray State, he did a tour in the Marines Corps, then signed with the NBA Warriors $8,000-a-year and a new car. Value today in dollars? More than $60,000.

In his NBA career (1946-62), Fulks scored more than 8,000 points for the Warriors. He was said to be “one of the original NBA super stars.”

Fulks was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1977.

Roberts, Sailors and Fulks, share a common heritage. They ‘invented’ the shot that revolutionized the game.

Epilogue: On form, accuracy and consistency, who is the best jump shooter you ever saw?

THE HIGH FIVE

From gym to arena and ball park to Wall Street, the High Five is a society-wide statement today.

In sports, tee-ball to old timer games, the celebratory slapping palms is a staple.

The High Five. Who invented it and when?

It began as a low five or “giving skin,” among jazz musicians as far back as Al Jolson in 1927. During World War II, the Andrews Sisters recorded “Gimme Some Skin, My Friend’ in 1941.

Today, there are web sites – highfive.me.uk and a calendar day – third Thursday in April is National High Five Day.

And yes, High Five has ties to Kentucky.

In Louisville during the 1979-80 season, UofL basketball star Derek Smith was adamant that he originated the High Five.

At Eminence in Henry County LaMont Sleets did the High Five while playing basketball at Murray State 1979-84. The Sleets version sparked a bizarre story from ESPN the Magazine earlier this month, titled The Twisted History of the High Five. More on that later.

Generally accepted as the first high five modern era, occurred in summer 1977 in Los Angeles. At Dodgers Stadium Glen Burke hit a home run for the Dodgers. When he crossed home plate, Burke raised his hand above his head and teammate Dusty Baker slapped it. Eureka!

Derek Smith and Burke are dead and Sleets refused to be interviewed by ESPN Magazine. It published this version: Sleets’ father came home from Vietnam in the 1960s. Occasionally, four fellow soldiers visited the Sleets home in Eminence. They called themselves The Five and their typical greeting was a high five.

Lamont Sleets Jr., still a toddler, witnessed the camaraderie and High Five and began sharing the hand slaps with his father’s combat brothers. Later, he shared it with basketball teammates in the 1960s.

Nice story. Except, it was a hoax. The magazine reported two former writers with the Jimmy Kimmel Show made up the story as a publicity stunt, looked at college basketball team rosters “for a name to plug in,” one said. “We just found the guy (Sleets) and made up a story about his dad.”

No High Five for these clowns.

So, Al Jolson and the low five in the 1920s, to ‘Gimme some skin’ in the 1940s, to Derek Smith and Glenn Burke in the 1970s, the High Five has become as American as Granny’s apple pie.

Epilogue: Mark your calendars, third Thursday in April is National High Five Day.

And so it goes.

Sports In Kentucky appears in community newspapers across Kentucky. You can reach Bob Watkins at Sprtsinky@aol.com