Perhaps only Michael Jordan has a greater place in our imagination among those elevated. Erving, with his trademark Afro seemingly moving to its own syncopation, controlled both his body and the basketball in mid-air. He was present at the creation of the Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star Weekend, which began in the ABA in 1976. What else is Mark Landsberger, a burly Lakers forward in the late 1970s and early ’80s, remembered for as a player, other than his role in Erving’s gravity-stalling piece of magic during the 1980 NBA Finals? “With great prejudice, Michael’s the greatest that ever played the game. But, honest to God — a young Doc? Boy, he was something,” said Marty Brennaman, best known as the longtime, decorated baseball broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds, but who also spent three-plus years in the early 1970s as the Squires’ play-by-play man.