Houston hoops legend Taurian Fontenette, known as 'Air Up There', dead at 43

Former college basketball star and streetball legend Taurian Fontenette-famously known as “Air Up There” and “Mr. 720” died Monday, according to his sister.

Fontenette, 43, was a native of Hitchcock, Texas-about 40 miles southeast of Houston-and starred for the Hitchcock Bulldogs basketball team until 2000. After bouncing around multiple college programs, including Richland Junior College and Paul Quinn College, Fontenette competed against AND 1’s roster of stars during their notable AND1 Mixtape Tour.

According to longtime Houston reporter Terrance Harris, Fontenette asked his boss at a Hitchcock chemical plant for the day off just three weeks in advance of trying out. Fontenette, who was working security at the time, was picked to play against the AND1 team. The Hitchcock native shined with jaw-dropping dunks and other highlight-reel plays, which would ultimately earn him a spot on the AND1 roster in 2005, along with a new nickname: Air Up There. 

Fontenette’s sister, Tracie, confirmed the news of his death via Facebook on Tuesday. 

“As many of you may already know, last night we lost a huge part of our family, of our community. My heart is broken in a million pieces. I honestly don’t even have the words to express the tremendous pain of losing my baby brother,” Tracie said in the post. “This is a loss that I don’t think our family will ever fully understand or be able to put into words. Thank you all for giving us grace, and allowing our family to try and process this and gain some understanding about what has happened.”

Local authorities did not have additional details on Tuesday afternoon about his death.

Fontenette, listed at 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, earned national acclaim in 2006 for the first-ever documented, in-game 720-degree dunk (spinning two full rotations in mid-air) during an AND1 Mixtape Tour game at Houston’s Toyota Center. ESPN’s SportsCenter immortalized the moment, including the clip in its daily Top 10 highlight package. Fontenette was given the nickname “Mr. 720”. 

“Arguably the greatest dunker to ever live,” said Team Flight Brothers founder Chuck Millan, who previously worked with Fontenette. “One of the godfathers of the professional dunk movement. A pioneer who didn’t just push the boundaries of what was possible, he completely redefined them.”

While many knew Fontenette for the 720-degree dunk, his signature was “The Axle-Rider,” a 360-degree between-the-legs dunk which became popularized in NBA circles by stars like Jason Richardson, Dennis Smith Jr. and Paul George. To this day, many NBA stars say they were inspired by the dunks Fontenette did while touring.

Fontenette played on the AND1 Mixtape Tour until 2006, competed on the Ball4Real Tour, and later played professionally for the American Basketball Association’s Dallas Generals in 2009. Fontenette’s legacy lives on through his kids, including Taurian Jr., a standout senior wide receiver and sprinter for Hitchcock High School. Fontenette Jr. was part of the 4×200 Hitchcock relay team that won a regional title in 2025. 

“Taurian Fontenette was so much more than my little brother,” Tracie said on Facebook. “You were a true gift, a one-of-a-kind soul, and someone whose presence could light up any room. A basketball genius with a love and talent for the game that was unmatched, the life of every party, and a person with a heart so big that you never hesitated to go the extra mile for anyone who needed you.”

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This article originally published at Houston hoops legend Taurian Fontenette, known as ‘Air Up There’, dead at 43.