Historical Hockey Memorabilia Winter 2012
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/22/2012
The US win over the dominating and heavily-favored Soviets in hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics is the event that is remembered as "The Miracle on Ice". It is considered by most to be the greatest sports moment of the century. The US team entered the Games seeded 7th and after a surprising start with a 2-2 tie against the Swedes, followed by a 7-3 win over a powerful Czech squad, the American's finished the opening series 4-0-1 and advanced to the medal round. Made up of collegiate and amateur athletes, the US team was scheduled to face the legendary Soviet line-up, a team of players who had won gold in the past four Olympics and who had already walked all over Team USA in a 10-3 pre-tournament routing earlier in the month. After the first period, the game was tied 2-2 and the Russians added the lone goal in the second frame. Jim Craig was solid in the US end and Mark Johnson scored in the third to bring the US back and with ten minutes to go in the game, Mike Eruzione scored the famous fourth and game-winning goal. If you listen closely, you can still hear the chanting ... "U.S.A... U.S.A... U.S.A."
Thirty years ago, Ken Morrow won a Gold medal as a defenseman on the iconic 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team in Lake Placid, N.Y. While he went on to win four consecutive Stanley Cup championships with the New York Islanders, all anyone seems to wants to talk about is the underdog Americans' upset of heavily-favored Russia in the "Miracle on Ice." Ken recalls, "The truth is, it's going on 30 years and I still get mail from people and the letters are almost identical. 'I watched the game with my dad, now I have kids and we watch the movie.' It's been an ongoing thing."
This wondrous white Team USA uniform was issued to and worn by Ken Morrow during the "Miracle on Ice" match against Russia of February 22, 1980. Additionally, the team wore their whites earlier in the Games as they faced the Czechs, Norway and West Germany. The jersey was produced by a firm called Norcon, and uniforms that were worn in pre-tournament play sported a rectangular Norcon patch on the outer front. This shirt does not have the outer tags, perhaps due to advertising guidelines for Olympic play. The maker's size tag does appear in the collar, complete with the size (XL), washing instructions and the location of Lake Forest, Minn. The mesh shirt has two-tone tackle twill arched lettering on the chest identifying "USA" and the numbers on the back and sleeves are in identical material and stitched onto the shirt. A blue tackle twill name bar sewn on the back holds white lettering spelling out Ken's surname. Game wear is easy to spot on the jersey. Three lengthy stick slashes run across the belly with smaller marks below and on the lowest hem stripe. A small black mark appears down low on the left cuff with a few lighter scuffs and three additional black stick marks over on the opposite sleeve which also displays a light red swipe of post paint transfer up above the sleeve number. Four darker stick marks turn up near the number on the back with a series of smaller and lighter stick marks lower on the back. The right elbow shows a thin line of rust-colored staining that appears to be blood. More faded red board paint transfer can be seen under the left sleeve. This historic shirt is conclusively photo-matched to two action shots taken in the February 22, 1980 "Miracle on Ice" match against the Russians. In one image, you can clearly see a black stick mark down low on the side seam and the other photo reveals a black hockey-stick-shaped mark just to the left of the back number. Digital copies of the two photos used to make the matches will be included. A significant hobby-fresh find, this spectacular uniform is the first ever "Miracle on Ice" game-worn jersey to be offered at auction. From the collection of Olympic Gold Medal-winner Ken Morrow, complete with his signed letter of authenticity and provenance. Please note that this lot may be subject to a silent reserve.
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