Obverse. Photo © United States Mint
  • 1 Dollar 2020, KM# 730, United States of America (USA), Basketball Hall of Fame
  • 1 Dollar 2020, KM# 730, United States of America (USA), Basketball Hall of Fame
Description

The Basketball Hall of Fame commemorative coins are a series of coins to be issued by the United States Mint in 2020. It celebrates the game and the 60th anniversary of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. All of the coins in this three-coin program (gold $5 coin, silver dollar, and clad half dollar) share common designs and dome-shaped (curved to resemble a basketball).

In early December 1891, Canadian Dr. James Naismith, a physical education professor and instructor at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School (YMCA) (today, Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts was trying to keep his gym class active on a rainy day. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot (3.05 m) elevated track. Naismith called the new game "Basket Ball".

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and preserving the history of basketball. Dedicated to Canadian-American physician and inventor of the sport James Naismith, it was opened and inducted its first class in 1959.

Obverse

Depicts three different figures (one player uses a wheelchair and one player is female) all reaching for the ball in unison, suggesting how the sport has brought together millions of diverse people around the world through a simple, universal, and unifying athletic experience. Their arms are intentionally elongated, just slightly, to emphasize the full exertion of physical and mental effort required to excel in the game. The rim and net are presented as subtle background elements to complement the primary figures.

Sculptor: Michael Gaudioso
Designer: Justin Kunz

LIBERTY IN GOD WE TRUST
JK
P
2020
MG

Reverse

Depicts a basketball about to pass through a net.

Basketball is a sport played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court. The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter and 10 feet (3.048 m) high mounted to a backboard at each end.

Sculptor: Phebe Hemphill
Designer: Donna Weaver

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA · E PLURIBUS UNUM · HALF DOLLAR
PH
DW

Edge
Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Non-circulating)
Material Silver
Fineness 0.999
Weight 26.73 g
Diameter 38.1 mm
Thickness -
Shape round
Alignment Coin
Mint
Philadelphia Mint (P)

Related coins

Colorised

Basketball Hall of Fame

Copper Nickel Clad Copper, 11.34 g, ⌀ 30.6 mm

Basketball Hall of Fame

Copper Nickel Clad Copper, 11.34 g, ⌀ 30.6 mm
Colorised

Basketball Hall of Fame

Silver, 26.73 g, ⌀ 38.1 mm