Barack Obama's high school basketball jersey is now up for auction
President Barack Obama has been very open about his love for basketball, and even played the game himself long before running for public office.
Now, part of his basketball — and presidential — history is up for grabs.
One of Obama’s game-worn high school basketball jerseys is up for auction at Heritage Auctions. It’s not just any jersey, either. Obama, who attended Punahou High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, wore the white and blue No. 23 jersey during his senior year in 1978-79 — when he helped his school win the Hawaii state championship.
The jersey was initially listed at $25,000, though the company has estimated that it could sell for $100,000 or more before the bidding closes next month. The jersey itself was apparently rescued from a discarded pile of jerseys after another player, who attended Punahou three years after Obama, also wore the No. 23 jersey on the junior varsity team.
“The design is simple but unmistakable, every detail a perfect match to that (yearbook) image,” the listing reads. “Certainly one can't help but find intrigue in the jersey number, digits worn to global acclaim by the two men most commonly identified as the greatest basketball players of all time — Michael Jordan and LeBron James.”
While the 44th president of the United States’ attention was often elsewhere — and rightfully so — during his presidency, basketball was still part of his time in office. Obama regularly filled out an NCAA tournament bracket each March throughout his presidency, a tradition that has not been upheld, and he has attended several major games since leaving office, too. He sat with NBA commissioner Adam Silver at an NBA Finals game in Toronto last month, and even was courtside at a Duke-North Carolina game in February when Zion Williamson famously tore through his shoe in the opening minutes.
Sure, there are other, perhaps more historic, pieces of memorabilia from Obama’s presidency out there. His high school basketball jersey, however, has to be one of the more unique ones.
For the right price, it can be yours — just get your bids in before the auction closes on August 17.
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