Dribbling the Ball
Who scored the first basket in NBA history? Who holds the college record for the most points scored in a game? Who was the first player to score 2,000 points in his college career? Who is the only college basketball coach to win the NCAA and NIT championships in the same season? Who is credited with being the first basketball player to use a one-handed shot? The answers: (1) Ossie Schechtman; (2) Bevo Francis (113 points); (3) John "Brooms" Abramovich; (4) Nat Holman (in 1950); and (5) Hank Luisetti. I have autographs from all of these old players in my collection.
Although I first started collecting vintage football autographs in the late 1980s, my collecting interests soon branched out to other sports. That happened after I began reading the sports pages of old newspapers on microfilm. I discovered the old sports cartoons. These cartoons were popular from after the turn of the century and started to disappear in newspapers about the late 1950s. The graphic images created by these wonderful cartoonists really appealed to me. I thought these old sports cartoons would make a wonderful medium for collecting autographs. Not only were they great visual images, but they gave historical context and information about the career of the athlete. Thus my collection of vintage basketball autographs extends into those who played in the 1920s and who were featured in these great old cartoons. Although I have other signed items (e.g., 3x5 cards or photos) from these basketball players, this website focuses on the signed cartoons. Each cartoonist was distinct in his style. Some newspapers had their own in-house cartoonist while others were syndicated and their drawings appeared in newspapers across the country. Tom Paprocki (or Pap) was may favorite, but I also liked Alan Maver and Jack Sords. Although this website focuses on basketball, I have a vast collection of vintage baseball, track and field, golf, tennis, boxing, Olympics, and football autographs. My vintage sports autograph collection numbers in the thousands. I have a different website for each sport. Connect to my other sports autograph sites on the "Links" page, accessed from the header (at top of page). I still collect autographs, but not in such a frenzied manner as I did in the late 1980s and 1990s. I think it is now time to share these wonderful old athletes, what I have learned about them, and their autographs with you. Click on the category on the directory (header at top of page) to see autographs. You can see some of the basketball autographs that I will sell on my AUTOGRAPHS FOR SALE website. LAST UPDATED: November 7, 2021 |