Slashers name dunk champion Tony Crosby II captain of the team

The Slashers handed the captaincy to the league’s shortest player, and Tony Crosby II makes the choice look a lot less surprising than it sounds. Listed at 5-foot-6 and 175 pounds, Crosby is the rare SlamBall headliner whose case is built on lift, timing and proven dunk pedigree, not size.

Crosby was born in Long Beach on July 20, 1999, and his athletic base was already elite before SlamBall ever tapped him. At Grand Canyon, he finished second in the 2018 WAC Outdoor high jump with a 2.02-meter leap, placed fifth indoors, and later posted verified college bests of 2.05 meters in the high jump and 7.00 meters in the long jump. Those numbers explain why he fits this league so cleanly. SlamBall is built for athletes who can explode off the floor, control their bodies in the air and attack from awkward angles, and Crosby has spent years living in that space.

His dunking resume is the separator. Crosby won the Quai 54 Dunk Contest on July 17, 2021, adding one of the sport’s most recognized showcase titles to a profile that also includes a reported 52-inch vertical leap. He has competed in dunk contests in France, Switzerland and Venezuela, which tells you this was not a one-off stunt or a social-media trick. SlamBall got a player whose reputation had already crossed borders before he ever suited up in Las Vegas.

That is what makes the captaincy matter. Crosby was a fourth-round pick, yet SlamBall still put him in charge of the Slashers, a clear sign that the league valued his presence as much as his production. When SlamBall returned to ESPN in Las Vegas on July 21, 2023, the league framed itself around eight teams and rosters built from basketball, football and track backgrounds. The average player age was 26.9, the tallest player was listed at 6-foot-9, and Crosby still stood out as the shortest man in the field. In that mix, leadership was not about size. It was about credibility.

Grand Canyon Athletics called Crosby a high flyer and identified him as a captain for the Slashers, which fits the evidence better than any cliché about undersized players overachieving. Crosby’s game gives teammates a reason to follow him: he has the bounce, the resume and the nerve to turn every possession into a highlight, and in SlamBall that is the strongest currency of all.