Release: MONDAY MAY 22, 2020
As a tall, skinny kid, growing up was a challenge. The word “gangly” came up a lot. It wasn’t complimentary. I looked like a walking microphone stand. It wasn’t great for getting a date. Also, the natural conciliatory comment from every adult was, “Oh, you must play basketball.”
OK, I tried. I practiced regularly and could dribble just fine. That was about it. My first game in high school confirmed it wasn’t meant to be. At my big debut I was passed the ball. I spun around, made a break for the net and scored an impressive lay-up in – I’m not making this up – the opposing team’s basket. Yes, I scored for the “Visitors.” Forget gangly. That feat set my dating back years. I eventually set my sights on becoming a writer. That’s worked out better.
I did develop a great respect for players who knew what they were doing. Be it a trick pass or a shot from half-court, the abilities of the pros have always staggered the imagination.
The whole concept for the game began in 1891, when physical education teacher James Naismith nailed two peach baskets on opposite sides of a gym in Springfield, Massachusetts. He challenged his students to score goals by tossing soccer balls into them.
Naismith jotted down 13 initial rules for the game. The rest is history. Well, almost. Quite a few of those original rules have been enhanced and modified. The original two typewritten pages of rules Naismith put together changed in another respect – monetarily. A decade ago, those two pages of rules sold for $4.3 million at auction.
Fast forward to 1959 when the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield was incorporated. The Hall has since become known as “Hoops Heaven,” a virtual Mecca for the game. It has witnessed 400 inductions with around 200,000 visitors each year checking out the exhibits.
Next month, the Hall will play host to another first – the first US coins to honor the game of basketball and the Hall of Fame where it is celebrated. According to the US Mint, it will also be where the very first “colorized” coins ever issued in the United States will be released. For collectors, that is a game changer.
Three standard coins are slated to be issued first. They will all feature the same design in gold, silver and copper clad. The obverse of the coin shows a man, a woman and a young person in a wheel chair all reaching upward toward a basketball in play. The image of a net covers the entire background intertwined with the words, “LIBERTY,” “IN GOD WE TRUST” and “2020.” The reverse design is a basketball going into a hoop and net with the words, “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “E PLURIBUS UNUM” and the denomination of a half-dollar, dollar or five dollars.
Similar to the previously issued Baseball commemorative coins and the recent Apollo 11 Man on the Moon coins, each Basketball coin will be curved with a concave and convex side. Naturally, the gold coin will be gold. And the silver and clad coins will be silver. That leaves the colorized versions.
According to the Mint, 750,000 clad half-dollars and the 400,000 silver dollar coins will be minted. Of those, 75,000 of each type will be specially colored. (No gold coins will have added color.) In the collecting world 75,000 is a very low number.
Curiously, coin collectors are mixed on purchasing a colorized coin. Many have dismissed it as a mistake – not unlike scoring in an opposing team’s basket. They’ve encouraged other collectors to ignore the colorized version because they’re not designed to be actual coins. Nevertheless, they are legal tender and, again, 75,000 is a very low number. I suspect a sellout.
The Mint has pushed back the original issuance date several times. Now, the announced kick-off sale date for the coins is June 4. That will be when they are accepting orders at www.USMint.gov. For those interested it would be wise to log on ASAP and see what the ordering process will be.