David Thompson

David O'Neil Thompson, born July 13, 1954, is an American former professional basketball player widely known by the nickname "Skywalker." He first rose to prominence in college at North Carolina State, where he led the Wolfpack to its first NCAA championship in 1974. Thompson went on to play professionally with the Denver Nuggets in both the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association, and later with the Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA, before drug problems cut his career short.

Thompson was renowned for exceptional leaping ability that made him one of the game's premier dunkers in the 1970s and earned him his nickname. Michael Jordan said, "The whole meaning of vertical leap began with David Thompson," while Bill Walton described him as "Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, and LeBron James rolled into one." He remains one of only eleven players to score 70 or more points in an NBA game.

Before his college and professional career, Thompson attended Crest Senior High School, where he played four years of varsity basketball and starred in the North Carolina Coaches Association's East-West competition. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996.