As someone who has only recently tried to start a sports memorabilia collection, I’m constantly fascinated by the “Where are they now?” stories that don’t involve athletes, but actually the uniforms and equipment that were used in history’s biggest plays. For example, as the San Francisco 49ers said goodbye to Candlestick Park with a win on Monday Night Football, Dwight Clark was asked of the whereabouts of the ball that he caught to forever cement his legacy with “The Catch.” He believes that the ballboy made off with it and eventually sold it. “Who the f*ck is the Stonecutter wealthy enough to get his hands on that ball,” is all I could think.
Well, if you’ve been wondering where Christian Laettner keeps the Duke Blue Devils uniform that he wore when making “The Shot” that defeated Kentucky in the NCAA East Regional Finals back in March of 1992, the answer is… the Lelands auction house. On January 10 at 9 PM ET, you can purchase the actual jersey that Laettner wore in not only the biggest moment of his basketball life, but undoubtedly one of the greatest moments in NCAA basketball and March Madness history.
That particular game, Laettner was a picture-perfect 10-of-10 from the floor and identical 10-of-10 from the foul line, with “The Shot” being the proverbial cherry on the sundae as Duke edged the Wildcats, 104-103. Just recently, Laettner reflected on the moment frozen in time: “When I’m catching the ball, you see the entire half of the Spectrum and everyone’s hands are down, they’re all seated, and then the next photo is the ball through the net and the whole side of the arena is up. That’s the stuff that gives me goosebumps, those type of things.” Laettner and his Blue Devils teammates captured back-to-back NCAA championships in 1991 and 1992, and he was the only collegiate player on the original Olympic Dream Team that summer. (Via Lelands)
But don’t get too excited about the find just yet, common basketball fans. The reserve price is $100,000.
(Banner via Getty, H/T to The Sporting News)
