National High Five Day: Date, history and significance

High fives are much more than just a simple gesture; it has evolved into a sort of a ritual to celebrate key moments in our professional lives or social circles. For anyone unfamiliar with it, a high five involves two people slapping their hands together with palms facing each other, usually above their heads. It’s important not to confuse this with the ‘Low Five,’ which takes place at waist level or lower. And since it’s National High Five Day, it’s worth looking at how this gesture came into existence.

How did National High Five Day start?

Tracing the origin of the high five is quite challenging, as it’s one of those grassroots trends. One theory associates its invention to Lamont Sleets Jr., a basketball player from Murray State University in Kentucky in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Meanwhile, famous basketball star Magic Johnson has claimed he might have invented it during his time as a student at Michigan State University in that same era.

However, a more widely accepted narrative suggests that the high five was created by baseball players Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke in 1977. Legend has it that they celebrated a significant moment in a game on October 2 by clapping their hands together above their heads.

Dusty Baker hit his 30th home run, which made the Dodgers the first team in baseball history to have four players each score thirty homers in a single season. As Baker approached home plate, outfielder Glenn Burke was there with his hand raised high. Unsure of what to do, Baker instinctively reached up and slapped Burke's hand, making history in that moment. Interestingly, Burke then stepped up to bat next and hit his very first major league home run, demonstrating the incredible power of the high five!

Since then, the high five has become a universally recognized sign of celebration, appearing in cultures around the world. The National High Five Day started informally in 2002 when college students from the University of Virginia decided to spread joy by giving and receiving high fives, with the intention of doing so without giving anyone a chance to decline. They designated the day to fall on the third Thursday of April.