Basketball
date: label: Date made
content: 1974
label: associated dates
content: 1976
label: associated dates
content: 1974-1976
name: label: user
content: Weber, Thomas E.
label: maker
content: Wilson Sporting Goods Company
notes: label: Description
content: A basketball is defined as “an inflated spherical ball used in the game of basketball.” Most basketballs have an inflatable, inner, rubber bladder, are wrapped in layers of fibers, and then are covered with leather, rubber, or a synthetic composite. The surface of a standard 29.5 inch ball is divided by “ribs” and contains approximately 4,118 pebbles, at a diameter of 2.5 millimeters each. The traditional basketball is orange with black ribs although the balls come in a variety of colors. The Wilson Sporting Goods Company began producing basketballs early in its history, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that the Wilson ball was chosen as the official basketball of the National Basketball Association, cementing its place in sports history. The ball shown here was used by the donor, Thomas Weber, during the early 1970s in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: associated place
content: United States: Virginia
topic: label: name of sport
content: Basketball
label: level of sport
content: recreational
label: web subject
content: Sports
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
label: See more items in
content: Artifact Walls exhibit
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Thomas E. Weber
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1980.0682.01
label: catalog number
content: 1980.0682.01
label: accession number
content: 1980.0682
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ball
label: Object Name
content: basketball
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: synthetic rubber (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: orange (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 in; x 25.4 cm