You may consider the 1992 “Dream Team” as the greatest basketball team ever assembled but there’s another squad that has its own place in history.
The 1960 U.S. Men’s Olympic basketball team was pieced together in the weeks heading up to the Summer Games in Rome. Fiftty-eight years later, the squad is considered by most to be the greatest amateur basketball team of all-time. It featured four future Hall of Famers including Jerry West and Oscar Robertson. Ten members of the team would play in the NBA. Each player w
ould have white and blue jerseys to wear during the eight games they would play.
Next month, a jersey worn in the tournament by its greatest star will be sold through Heritage Auctions. Six years after Robertson’s white jersey sold for $120,000, the blue version will hit the block where it’s likely to fetch that much or more, considering the strong probability it was worn in the gold medal final.
According to Heritage, the jersey was originally acquired by an Indianapolis Times reporter who gifted it to a young relative from Cincinnati where Robertson had played college ball.
The blue durene jersey carries Robertson’s number 14 on the front and back. A Wilson Sporting Goods tag is attached to the lower left front, indicating the jersey’s size (44 plus 3 inches extra length).
Robertson and Ohio State’s Jerry Lucas led Team USA with a 17-point average in the Olympics. The following year, he’d bring his versatile talents to the NBA where he fell just a few assists short of averaging a triple double as a rookie, a feat he’d soon accomplish.
The Americans finished 8-0 in the tournament, winning by an average margin of over 42 points per game. The blue jerseys were worn in the gold medal game, a 90-63 win over Brazil.
The jersey is one of hundreds of items up for sale in the Summer Platinum Night Auction conducted by Heritage, with bidding set to open July 27.
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