Happy Hairston Basketball Card
date: label: date made
content: 1972
name: label: depicted
content: Hairston, Happy
label: publisher
content: NBA Properties, Inc.
label: publisher
content: Topps Chewing Gum
label: maker
content: Topps Chewing Gum
label: maker
content: NBA Properties, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: This Happy Hairston basketball card is number 121 in a series of 264 that was manufactured by the Topps Company Inc. for the 1972-1973 National Basketball Association season. The front of the card features a posed picture of the Los Angeles Lakers forward on a blue background. The card’s reverse features a small cartoon image illustrating the factoid that “Happy had his own radio show in Cincinnati,” as well as a short biography and career statistics. Hairston played for the Cincinnati Royals, Detroit Pistons, and Los Angeles Lakers during his 13 year NBA career, winning a championship as a member of the 1971-1972 Lakers.
label: Description
content: It is apparent Hairston is wearing his jersey backwards, which looks strange compared to modern cards but was common in basketball cards until the early 1970s. It is believed that the player’s would forfeit their fee to the team if the team name appeared so many players wore their jerseys backwards, wore their warm-ups, or posed in such a way to obscure the team name.
topic: label: Subject
content: Basketball
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: Basketball Cards
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1982.0568.079
label: catalog number
content: 1982.0568.079
label: accession number
content: 1982.0568
objectType: label: Object Name
content: card, basketball
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in; 8.89 cm x 6.35 cm