Jacob Tucker, the 2011 slam dunk champion. Photo by Steve Woltmann

It started with a viral video in February. Even though Illinois College's Jacob Tucker showed the world what he could do, he still had to win a run-off vote against a kid from an NAIA school.

No problem. Tucker won with 88 percent of the vote. 

The 5-10 guard took his show to Houston, opened the competition with a perfect 50 score, then wrapped it with a dunk that scored a 49 to win the 2011 State Farm Slam Dunk competition at the Division I Final Four in Houston, prompting chants of "respect!" from the D-I players there.

"These guys are ... the best Division I players out there. It means a lot that they respect me and what I can do," Tucker said on ESPN2 after the competition.

"I thought I'd end up being the underdog but once I got here I kind of realized I wasn't the underdog because of everything I'd done in the video already. I wanted for the fans and everybody at home I wanted to do something that wasn't in the video. I was a little upset I didn't get that cartwheel dunk."

"The last three weeks have been a blur," Tucker added in a school release. "I never really expected this when I made the video – I wasn't even sure it was good enough to get me into the contest – but it’s been an unbelievable ride."

The last Division III player to win the slam dunk contest was William Paterson's Horace Jenkins in 2001.