High-Five's Origin: Sports, Culture, or Both?

0:00It's April 28th. This is Durham News today, local news powered by AI. Everybody loves a good high five. That quick hand slap celebrating everything from a big win to just vibing. But pinning down its exact origin? That's a debate that's been slapping around for decades, with no clear winner. The story most people run with happened on October 2nd, 1977, when Los Angeles Dodgers Outfielder Dusty Baker crushed his. 30th home run of the season. Team A. Glenn Burke threw up his hand at home plate, Baker smacked it, and boom, supposedly the first high five in pro-sport history. That moment wasn't even on TV, just eyewitness accounts of a spontaneous vibe between the two. Burke gets props for helping spread it through baseball circles back then. Still, folks have been digging for earlier routes, questioning if it really popped off in a Dodgers dugout. Dig into the reactions, and you see how it blew up culturally. From military bases in Japan after World War II, where soldiers might have been slapping palms, to a 1960 French film with characters doing.

1:06Something similar. Then there's the knots African-American vernacular English, and the old Gimme Five phrase, suggesting it evolved from street greetings way before. Any ballpark. Fast forward to basketball, and university of Louisville players, Wiley Brown and Derek Smith, claim they leveled it up during the 19. 78-1979 season. Smith reportedly said, up high, instead of a low five or practice, fitting their high-flying dunk style and ran with it nationwide. In the end, whether it sparked in sports, on bases overseas, or from deeper cultural flows, the high fives now everywhere. From arenas to daily. Life proving some of the best gestures don't need a single birthday to keep thriving.