Kentucky has many undisputed claims to fame such as being the home of The Kentucky Derby, the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, the site of the world’s largest cave, Tom Cruise probably went to high school here for a brief period and many others. Before we start giving each other high fives in celebration of our various points of Kentucky pride, unbridled as it may or may not be, let’s talk a little bit about the disputed claim that Kentucky is the birthplace of the high five.

When we first heard tell of the origins of the high five coming from the Louisville Cardinals Basketball team in the late 70s and early 80s, it sounded so cool and so true that we just went with it. There was even a t-shirt designed by prolific local artist, John King, depicting the Kentucky Seal with the two silhouettes giving each other high fives instead of shaking hands as typically shown. Legend has it that during a practice in the 1978-79 season, Louisville forward Wiley Brown went to give Derek Smith the standard low-five and suddenly Smith looked up and said, “No. Up high” and in that moment the high five was born. Examples of the high five can be found in U of L Basketball highlight reels from the late seventies but it wasn’t until 1980 that the so-called “Doctors of Dunk” demonstrated this new move on national television. The irony of the genesis of this high five origin story is that the co-creator, Wiley Brown had a prosthetic thumb on his right hand so it was technically a high four, although Brown claims he always used his left hand for high fives. If you’re in the mood for a good cringe, check out the link to the video above to hear the announcer proclaim “they’re giving that high five handshake!”

One of the hazards of doing a storytelling project like Curious Kentucky, is we often discover some of our favorite and most fascinating stories turn out to be myths. We take no pleasure in debunking things we’ve enjoyed believing all of our lives until our hacky Google research proves otherwise, but we feel we owe you the truth. If you can handle the truth, and if you can read that line without envisioning ex-St X alum, Tom Cruise in that “you can’t handle the truth” scene in A Few Good Men, read on. While the Louisville Cardinals Basketball team being the first to show the high five to the masses via that television broadcast in 1980 is widely accepted as a fact, it appears that the first high five happened just a year prior in California at a Los Angeles Dodgers game initiated by Glenn Burke after hitting a home run. Due to his large size and massive biceps, Burke earned the nickname King Kong and was also one of the early pioneers paving the way for gay professional athletes. He put up with all kinds of garbage including his teammates refusing to shower with him, slurs from the stands and even the Dodger’s management offering him $75,000 to get married to help squash the “rumors.” His response to that absurd marriage proposal was a big fat NO stating, “I guess you mean to a woman.” Lol, high five on that one, Glenn.

While we were sad at first to learn that someone in California was getting the credit for the invention of the high five, we came across an interesting story that claimed neither of these stories were the first instance and that the high five was actually invented a decade prior at Murray State University, which is still in Kentucky! So we tore into the articles with the hope that Kentucky can claim the high five after all. There’s an elaborate story about a basketball player named Lamont Sleets whose father was in the military and used to host gatherings of his “Fifth Platoon” and young Lamont would jump up and yell “high five” as he slapped the open hands of the his father’s pals as they entered the house. Later in life while on the court playing basketball for Murray State, is when Lamont Sleets reportedly unleashed the official high five for the first time. Well, as it turns out, this story was completely made up as an elaborate hoax by a comedy writer to promote the launch of “National High Five Day.” Ugh, gross, right? There was never an explanation given as to the random selection of this particular basketball player at that particular college for that story but there is a theory that it is connected to the also disputed claim that the radio was invented at Murray State University by prolific Kentucky inventor, Nathan B. Stubblefield.

In spite of the hoax to kick off one of those meaningless National “this silly thing” Day that are so rampant in these internet days of, uh, today, there are still two valid claims to the invention of the high five. While we must admit, it does seem like Glenn Burke did it first, it seems entirely probable that in those days of pre-internet that the Cardinals organically came up with the same move around the same time. Glenn Burke once said to a reporter years after leaving baseball regarding being the inventor of the high five, “You think about the feeling you get when you give someone the high five. I had that feeling before everybody else.” In any case, I think the birthplace of the high five could be claimed by Louisville or Los Angeles and they would both be right. But, come on Los Angeles, you guys get to have Hollywood, full-time Tom Cruise and The Big Lebowski. Can’t you share the invention of the high five and maybe a little bit of The Big Lebowski while we’re at it. But we wont be needing Tom Cruise back any time soon. He’s all yours now. High five?