FIVE BASKETBALL BUTTONS INCLUDING FIRST A.A.U. 1935 CHAMPIONSHIP "PRESS" BUTTON.

Description

Sizes are 5/8" to 2.75". First is c. 1920s button designed as a basketball with text "The News Leader/Free Throw Tourney." Reverse has W&H paper. Next has a matte finish and center area has very faint ink inscription which is possibly Wesley Univ. Button is dated for the 1935 first year of this event which ran until 1968. The Amateur Athletic Union was attractive to many basketball players including those who wanted to remain eligible for the Olympics which required amateur status and teams were sponsored by corporations which provided jobs to players on their teams. Many top players of the era played AAU basketball. This button designates "Press". Very limited distribution. Third is oval litho naming company "Sealtest" and with additional text "Rozell's Ted Panish Athletic Club." In 1939 Collyers News Bureau voted Panish on the second team NCAA men's basketball All Americans. Small marks of paint wear mostly on outer edge. Last are a pair of 1891-1941 basketball golden jubilee commemoration buttons with one showing a player running with the ball and the other designed as a ball showing the game's founder "Dr. J.A. Naismith." The gold background button has scattered tiny scratches but the litho picturing Naismith is Near Mint and quite scarce. Ex-Paul Muchinsky Collection.