What a beautiful time of the year for basketball. The Kansas Jayhawks had their One Shining Moment, the NBA Playoff bracket will be underway soon, and the weather outside is getting nice enough around the country to ditch the snow boots and lace up the sneaks. Using these happenings as inspiration, I decided to take a dive through the National Archives Catalog to see what kinds of cool basketball related images I could unearth. From Australia to Washington, D.C., and from WACs to Shaq, the variety of basketball related holdings here in the Still Picture Branch runs deeper than a Steph Curry 3.
“Basketball team at practice. They are entered in a league sponsored by Special Services. S/Sgt. Barry Slater of Los Angeles, California, going in for a basket. Australia.” Company C, 29th Quartermaster Regiment, Townsville, Queensland, Australia. (Local ID: 111-SC-184539; NAID: 148727136)
“Action shot during championship play off between the WACs of HRPE and NAB. The game was played in the HRPE Gym. Official photograph U.S. Army Signal Corps, Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation, Newport News, Virginia.” (Local ID: 336-H-14-K6897; NAID: 138926332)
Taos County, New Mexico. After school basketball game, Talpa. (Local ID: 83-G-41767; NAID: 521988)
Photograph of School Girls Playing Basketball (Local ID: 75-GIR-25; NAID: 158884346)
U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet Antoine Hood drives by a University of Nevada- Las Vegas (UNLV) defender during a basketball game at the Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nev., on Feb 26, 2005. UNLV went on to win the game 63 to 57. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Master Sgt. Robert W. Valenca) (Released) (Local ID: 330-CFD-DF-SD-07-45301.jpeg; NAID: 6690798)
Shaquille O’Neal, Center for Los Angeles Laker basketball team and musician, models a Security Forces beret that he received from Staff Sergeant Andre Murray, 568th Security Forces Squardon, during his visit to Ramstein Air Base, Germany to help promote his new album “Shaquille O’Neal Presents His Super Friends, Volume I” (Local ID: 330-CFD-DF-SD-02-08884.jpeg; NAID: 6523816)
For those interested in doing their own basketball related research in the National Archives Catalog, this link is a great place to get started. Please also take a look at this blog by one of my colleagues which also covers basketball (and hockey too!).