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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Logan Newman, USA TODAY High School Sports

Obama game-worn high school basketball jersey sells for $120K

What would you give for a basketball jersey worn by a president?

For one Dallas-based person, Barack Obama’s high school basketball jersey was worth six digits.

The Punahou High School (Honolulu) jersey, posted on Heritage Auctions, fetched $120,000 from a bidder who chose not to be identified but lives in the Dallas area, according to the Associated Press.

Barack Obama’s Punahou High School basketball jersey (Photo: Heritage Auctions)

The jersey was sold by Peter Noble, 55, who was three grades behind Obama at Punahou. Noble wore the same jersey, and when it was going to be thrown out, he took it.

When Noble looked in his yearbook as an adult, he saw a picture of Obama wearing the same No. 23, according to Heritage Auctions. Details on the jersey matched the one in the picture.

The jersey is white with blue print and has Punahou and No. 23 on the front in large print. The back has the number and the sides have two blue stripes around a yellow one. The auction site says it is slightly faded and has small stains.

Heritage Auctions estimated the Punahou jersey could sell for $100,000.

The total eclipsed that projection, going up to $120,000 by the time the auction came to a close Saturday night.

Noble plans to donate a portion of the proceeds to Punahou, according to the Associated Press.

Barack Obama on a page from his 1978 senior yearbook. At left Obama plays basketball with an unidentified classmate. In Obama’s senior class photo, right, he goes by the nickname Barry. (File photo from /Punahou Schools via AP)
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