Ready for the Pass
Title-night ticket stubs for a retiring coach
The ask
My high school basketball coach told us the extra pass wins games, and he has said it to his players for forty years. He retires in June. He grew up in Chicago and talks about the 1997 Finals to this day. I would like to give him something from that night. About $5,000, all in.
The gift
Two ticket stubs from the sixth game of the 1997 Finals in Chicago, the night the Bulls won their fifth title. PSA has authenticated and encapsulated both, and we check each certificate against its public register. A framer sets them side by side in a walnut shadow box under UV-filtering glass, beneath a wire-service photograph of the deciding play. It arrives crated, ready to hang.
Why it's extraordinary
That title was won on a pass. With the game tied in the last seconds, the best player on the floor drew two defenders and gave a teammate the deciding shot. The last two baskets of that season both came off assists.
The moment
It hangs in his den, and every former player who visits hears about the pass before they sit down.
A curator replies within one business day.
