Tyler's Tomahawk
Klein Oak’s Tyler Hudson’s monster dunk goes viral
HOUSTON – Klein Oak’s Tyler Hudson doesn’t practice dunking.
The four-star Panthers wide receiver – who has an offer from Harvard University – also stars on the basketball team and in the midst of Klein Oak’s 80-72 overtime victory against Spring on Tuesday nearly broke social media with his highlight reel dunk.
In the video, originally posted by Klein Oak Principal Thomas Hensley, Hudson is seen launching from just inside the free throw line and flying high above the rim for the one-handed tomahawk slam.
“Yes I’ve seen the video and I can’t stop watching it, and it’s easily my best dunk of my career,” Hudson said. “I’m still in shock, I can’t believe this is happening.”
WATCH DUNK HERE
In the first four hours since posting the video to Twitter, Hensley’s tweet had been viewed 17,700 times and retweeted 383 times.
As fans started seeing the monster dunk, the hashtag #SCTop10 started being used in comments on the tweet, retweets and new tweets about the play to try and get the attention of SportsCenter.
The social media campaign worked.
At 11:21 p.m. on Tuesday night, Hudson’s dunk video was tweeted out by the SportsCenter account. In the first hour, the video was viewed 220,000 times and retweeted 2,850 times.
“This is amazing,” Hudson said. “After SportsCenter tweeted it out and posted it on Instagram, I’ve received a lot of love from my family, friends and fans, and I’ve received a lot of followers in the last hour.”
Admitting that he doesn’t practice dunking a lot, only doing a few during practice, the question comes to mind of how did Hudson know he would make it from that spot on the floor?
“Yes I know I can jump from that far because In my first game back from football I tried to dunk a ball from farther back and hit the back of the rim,” Hudson said. “In the Klein game I almost did the same thing I did tonight from further back but I hit the back of the rim again.”
This night wasn’t just special because of Hudson’s highlight reel dunk that made SportsCenter.
It truly was a special night for the entire Klein Oak community as it watched its Panthers basketball team in a playoff game for the first time since 1994.
To have this happen on the same night the Panthers ended a 24-year playoff game drought, Hudson said he couldn’t have written a better script.
I thought it was a really special moment for Klein Oak,” Hudson said. “To be in the playoffs for the first time in 24 years and to make that type of highlight dunk just made the moment even more special and one to remember.”
