National High Five Day

It’s National High Five Day! Today is all about celebrating the high five and giving high fives to everyone you meet, including friends, classmates, coworkers, and strangers. You can even send a free virtual high five to faraway friends and family. A group of students at the University of Virginia declared the first National High Five Day in 2002. Today, people all across the USA celebrate this unique holiday and help raise money for the  National High Five Project.

Nobody knows who invented the high five. NBA player Derek Smith claimed that he created the high five while playing for the University of Louisville basketball team in 1979. According to another story, a man named Mont Sleets popularized the gesture. While Mont was growing up in Kentucky, his father's old army friends would greet each other by extending their arms straight up in the air and saying the name of their division: "Five." As a young boy, it was difficult for Mont to remember all of the names of his father's friends, so when he saw them he would just say "Hi, Five!" This childhood greeting stuck with him and he started to greet others with high fives.