All > The Albersheim Collection

Rare Official Rawlings ABA Dave DeBusschere basketball displays the classic red, white, and blue ABA colors, which helped to set this flashier league apart from its older and more established counterpart, the NBA, which used orange balls. Vintage “Rawlings RSS Official” Red White and Blue paneled “ABA Dave DeBusschere COMMISSIONER” basketball is perhaps the nicest ABA ball that we’ve ever seen. Because the fact that this was a fledgling league that tried vehemently to compete with the NBA the distribution and budget was far inferior to that of the NBA which means that very few of these original specimens exist today. We cannot stress how rare an artifact such as this ball actually is. DeBusschere was such a fantastic athlete that he played both in the NBA and Major League baseball.  The NBA named him as one of the Top 50 players ever in 1996.  In 1975, the ABA was on the verge of folding and needed to bring in a “Household” name much like the owners did during the first year in the ABA by naming George Mikan commissioner.  DeBusschere seemed like a logical choice with his brilliant mind and his savvy business skills; he would become their last commissioner before the league would merge with the NBA.  

The ball is accompanied by its original plastic bag and Rawlings retail box (9.5 x 9.5 x 9.5 inches; Vg) which is unheard of. This is truly a museum piece.