Dennis Page had two main passions in his life: music and basketball. By 1993, Page was doing well with one of them: He had helped launch a rock and roll magazine, Guitar Worldin 1980, and it had now been more than ten years since he had been successfully running as publisher of that mag. He was happy enough that he had given up his previous life goal of becoming a deejay or working Rolling Stonebut he was ready to start something new.
Just as Page, who had always loved hoops as much as music (even if he had never worked in sports), began to worry about what magazine to launch next, his friend in the music business, Alan Grunblatt, suggested that he start, effectively, “a hip-hop magazine for -basketball.”
Sports media will never be the same.
Professional athletes have been “cool” for as long as sports have existed as a calling. Page’s first favorite players were guys he saw firsthand growing up in Trenton, NJ—local legend Tal Brody, and New York City’s Lew Alcindor, whose Power Memorial team visited Page’s hometown to face Trenton Catholic. As Page’s hoops exposure grew with the growing number of sports media outlets, he became friends with players such as Earl “The Pearl” Monroe and Julius “Dr. J” Erving. Then there’s Isiah Thomas. And in the early 90s, of course, there was Michael Jordan. But the way these heroines were covered by the media remained static. Newspapers focus on sports and mathematics. TV focuses on broadcasting sports. Street & Smith’s the magazine took the time to highlight young players as well Sports again Sports Illustrated he raised the bar for writing in the field, and Page devoured them all. There wasn’t much flavor, though.
As Page writes in the introduction to the recently released book, 30 Years of SLAM: Defining Basketball Culture“The idea stood out as a basketball magazine only from a hip-hop perspective. I could see it in my head as clear as day; the design would look like those Nike/Mars Blackmon/Michael Jordan print ads, the photography would be as good as the VIBE, and the writing would be decent Rolling Stone.”
There were hiccups during the early years—Michael Jordan retired while 1 was being planned, Reggie Miller didn’t like some of the jokes made at his expense, some longtime NBA veterans and old-school reporters didn’t like SLAM’s plans. tone—but slowly, Page’s idea played well. SLAM covers showed the players as the “rock stars” they were. SLAM has launched fashion films for sports magazines and has covered the looks of basketball players in one form or another since then (most famous in the 2020s for its must-follow Instagram account, @leaguefits). SLAM has introduced the KICKS section about sneakers that players and fans have been turning to for years. The KICKS Section has spawned KICKS Magazine which has been running annually since 1998 and in many ways set the tone for the countless number of sneaker mags, blogs, and social media accounts (including @slamkicks, natch) that have appeared since then.
The mag’s steady rise as a business ran from its launch in 1994 until early 2004, when the 10-year anniversary issue landed in a spectacular, highly profitable fashion again. Vogue-like 260(!!), featured ads from every sneaker brand and hip-hop label imaginable and was the best-selling sports magazine in America.
Then the internet took over. SLAM—and specifically, Harris Publications, the old school the family publisher you used—too late to find a way to make money online. Issues have decreased in terms of revenue and page count. There were very difficult times from a business perspective, but the staff—Page always had the gift of hiring and empowering the most talented people who were growing in the industry, the best who had the gift of hiring and empowering an even younger generation. of future stars—he never stopped caring about the sport, the lifestyle, or the “#slamfam” who remained faithful through it all.
Although SLAM was slow to adapt to the world wide web, it became lightning fast as social media became the new place to reach fans, surpassing a million followers on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook quickly on each platform without spending money. A dime to “buy” or “expand” its reach. SLAM was, and is, the living things media driven by the love of the game.
In the most recent phase of SLAM’s life, starting around 2017, when SLAM was acquired by JDS Sports and Page became a real part of the owner of the magazine he had started, until today, you will occasionally “hear” Page say—or literally, in his old South Jersey way, or in a post or an Instagram comment—”this is not easy.”
It wasn’t like that. And it’s not. But with Page’s dedication to the game and the brand, and the many celebrities who learned from him to match that dedication, SLAM has reached 30 years and changed the sport every step of the way.
Ben Osborne is a longtime sports writer and editor who served as Editor-in-Chief of SLAM from 2007-2016.
