Skip to content

Condition: Post with Page_List

Listen
Search
Please enter at least 3 characters.

Latest Stories

First basketball Olympic gold medal up for auction

basketball on black background
Getty Images

Bill Dennis remembers the stories his father-in-law Bill Wheatley would tell about playing in the 1936 Olympics. 

It was the first time basketball was a medal sport in the international event, and the United States won gold in Berlin in a game played outdoors on a dirt court in a rainstorm - beating Canada 19-8. As team captain, Wheatley went up to the podium during the medal ceremony and received the Olympic wreath and first basketball gold medal from James Naismith, who invented the game. His teammates each received their medals afterward. 


The 78-year-old Dennis is now selling Wheatley's medal at auction.