Somewhere between Atlanta and Orlando on I-75, there once was an Olympic gold medal on the side of the road.
Not just any Olympic medal either. This one belonged to Shaquille O’Neal—for a few hours anyway.
The Hall of Famer, a member of the 1996 Olympic basketball team, was frustrated over his lack of minutes during the gold medal game against Yugoslavia. Team USA broke open a tight game in the second half to win, with Shaq on the bench for most of the night. He played just five minutes in all. O’Neal says after the medal ceremony, he hopped in his car and drove the 400+ miles home to Orlando.
This week, he told the story of the medal on his podcast.
“The Olympic Games, ’96, I played throughout, helped them come back, win games,” he told host Adam Lefkoe and new Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins who was a guest on the show. “And in the gold medal game, [coach] Lenny Wilkens says, ‘Hey, this is probably David Robinson’s last game, so he’s gonna get more minutes.’ I said, ‘Cool.’
“He didn’t play me at all until, like, the last two minutes. I was so pissed off, after the ceremony, I drove home in my uniform, and I threw the god**** medal out the window.”
Cousins couldn’t believe it. Surely it was just a great story and medal –likely worth deep into six figures—was tucked away in his collection.
“No, I threw it away,” O’Neal responded.
Did a highway crew on cleanup sweep it into trash bag 25+ years ago? Did it fly into the median and get buried in the grass over time, waiting to be found one day like some archaeological treasure?
We may never know.
Here’s what they looked like, courtesy of RR Auction, just in case…you know…it’s still floating around south Georgia somewhere:
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Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers Wednesday night. The ball landed in the bleachers at Dodger Stadium where a female fan named Ambar Roman snared it.
Knowing its significance and the likelihood that Ohtani would want it back, stadium security intervened.
After some negotiating, Roman turned it over; separated she says, from her husband by security who wouldn’t let them talk to each other during the ‘negotiation.”
“I was able to talk to the fan and get the ball back. Obviously, it’s a very special ball,” Ohtani said through an interpreter after the game. “A lot of feelings toward it. I’m very grateful it’s back.”
However, Roman and her husband, Alexis Valenzuela told The Athletic they never met Ohtani and were pressured into giving the ball up.
“It was like, ‘I need you to give me an answer like right now. You gotta make up your mind.’ It was a lot of pressure,” she told reporter Sam Blum.
Roman received an autographed bat, a ball and two caps.
Had the ball come to auction, it almost certainly have fetched a six-figure price.
“The Dodgers are open to a further conversation with the fan about the transaction,” the team told The Athletic.
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A neat piece of baseball history is now getting its proper respect.
Cleaning out a home that once belonged to a prominent African-American doctor in Virginia led to the discovery of a scorecard from a Dodgers-Braves exhibition game in Lynchburg in 1952. There were autographs on it, too—from Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella.
The story behind the doctor and his impact on sports and society—not to mention the baseball treasure that once belonged to him– is a good one.
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The 1/1 2023-24 Panini Prizm Black Shimmer Victor Wembanyama rookie card pulled from a pack last month is now on the auction block.
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