The lights were set. A crowd surrounded the court with their phones out, filming, ready to see something crazy. It was a Jordan Brand dunk contest as Cameron Hazzard jumped in the air and threw down a monster dunk. The crowd went crazy, jumping around and swarming him after the dunk; a moment young kids everywhere dream of having.

It wasn’t always like this for Hazzard, though. From touching the net to touching the backboard, to touching the rim and, then finally, getting his first dunk at 14 years old, he was filled with excitement when he finally accomplished his goal.

However, this excitement surrounding this newfound ability wouldn’t last long. Three months later, he would tear both of his hamstrings, preventing him from playing basketball and derailing his dreams of playing college basketball.

The injury forced him to miss an entire year, including the summer between sophomore and junior year, a key time in college recruiting. Doctors told him he wouldn’t gain the ability to bear a full load again because of the way he tore his hamstrings, but this was not the case for him.

Throughout his entire journey back, his personal coach, who had coached him since he was in seventh grade, was his biggest supporter. During his recovery, Hazzard became closer to the Lord through his coach.

“He built my relationship with the Lord,” Hazzard said. “I found my identity in basketball, and whenever I lost everything, it felt like I entered a phase where I felt like I just lost my identity. And he helped me refocus on God.”

Hazzard’s mother, Whitney, described it as a “soul-searching time” because they didn’t know if God was shutting the door on a thing Hazzard loved so much. She said they took it one day at a time, hanging onto Scripture, and his ambition for the game never went away.

But by the time he began playing basketball again, he was behind on his development, he said. Despite this setback, he continued to play basketball through high school, and during his senior year, he fell in love with the idea of dunking.

Since he wasn’t going to play college basketball anymore, he found dunking a way to enjoy the sport he still loved.

Hazzard poses for a picture while spinning a ball on his finger (photo courtesy of Cameron Hazzard)

“I just kind of thought it was fun,” Hazzard said. “I was doing it in warmup lines, going crazy, and my coaches would get upset at me because they were like, ‘You need to focus on being in the post.’”

Now Hazzard, a sophomore triple major in information systems, finance and accounting from Little Elm, has a 50-inch vertical jump, 1-inch short of the world record, and an Instagram account, “hazzardous.dunks,” with 17,600 followers, where he posts his dunks.

He started the Instagram account as a side account when he got to college, originally to store clips of him dunking. It soon became more than just a place for him to store his clips. After starting the account in August, it wasn’t until eight months later that one of his videos hit 1 million views.

His videos fell upon the right people’s eyes, and he received an invitation to London during the summer to compete in three dunk contests. After competing in these, he knew that this was something that could be more than just a side hustle.

Hazzard was doing something he never envisioned as possible — being paid to go out and do something he loved.

Another opportunity arose for him when he was invited to Los Angeles for NBA All-Star Weekend to do a pregame show, but he was forced to decline after suffering a broken hand a week before he was scheduled to be there.

The injury was a setback, but it was nothing new to him.

“He will set his mind to something,” Hazzard’s mother said. “It doesn’t matter what setback happens, like tearing his hamstring or breaking his hand. He just trusts God with what happens and just keeps pressing on.”

Once his hand heals, he plans to get back to where he was before the injury and then fly out and work with larger dunk influencers and “show off in front of his childhood legends.”

Despite the success of his Instagram and being flown out for dunk contests, Hazzard still must balance the crazy schedule of a college student. During the day, he’s a triple major, a part of the Big Purple Marching Band and concert band and completing a 20-hour internship. At night is when he finds time to do his workouts and record videos of himself dunking.

Even though his schedule seems crazy, he said he feels that dunking is his getaway because of how much he loves dunking and basketball.

Hazzard’s mother said he has been humble through all his success on and off the court.

“He doesn’t have a big head at all,” she said. “He doesn’t ever come across as if he deserves anything. To him, it’s just the next obstacle, it’s the next hurdle.”

With the followers and views he’s gotten, he has been asked for advice, and he has found that being able to give advice to people and have them take it has been rewarding.

One piece of advice he offered to those chasing their dreams like him:

“It’s OK to obsess over something to an extent,” Hazzard said. “Once you start obsessing over something and it’s just consuming your mind, if you believe in yourself and you’re just enjoying the process, you can eventually get to that point where you achieve your goals.”