● From our sister site, TheSportsExaminer.com ●
The jacket worn by 1968 Olympic men’s 200 m bronze medalist John Carlos on the awards stand in Mexico City while he and gold medalist Tommie Smith raised their fists in their iconic protest against racism was sold in an online auction Sunday for $500,200.
The jacket was offered by Carlos, who swapped the jacket with a Senegalese athlete at the end of the ‘68 Games. The nephew of the athlete ended up with it, and contacted Carlos, and the money raised from the auction will help the nephew’s family.
Made by Wilson, the jacket appears to be in excellent condition and still has Carlos’ bib number – 259 – attached. Expected to bring around $50,000, it was at $18,500 two weeks ago, but with the Buyer’s Premium (22% added to the final bid), the out-the-door cost of the top is $500,200.
There was another Olympic item of note in the Heritage Auctions “Winter Platinum Night Sports Auction,” mostly devoted to items related to baseball, football and basketball. A silver “replacement medal” from the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games was also on offer, related to the 1983 ceremony in Los Angeles in which the family of Jim Thorpe was presented with the gold medals he won and which were later revoked by the International Olympic Committee for amateurism violations.
Thorpe was disqualified for minor payments he received for playing semi-pro baseball prior to the 1912 Games, and after decades of lobbying, the IOC, under then-President Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP), agreed in October 1982 to restore the medals to Thorpe’s family.
But there were just the two gold medals, for the men’s pentathlon and decathlon. Olympics expert Dr. Bill Mallon (USA) explained that there were six living Thorpe children and five attended the 18 January 1983 ceremony at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, and Samaranch presented replica gold medals – the originals were stolen decades before from a Swedish museum – to two and silver editions were provided for the other four.
The two gold medals were given to the Oklahoma Historical Society. One of the silver medals ended up in this auction, and according to Heritage Auctions:
“This medal, and two others issued to Thorpe posthumously, were consigned to this Platinum Night auction by an owner lucky enough to have purchased the rights to an Oklahoma City storage locker that had been abandoned by the Thorpe family. A copy of the purchase contract will be included with the sale.”
The medal sold, with the Buyer’s Premium, for $31,720.
The Carlos jacket was the fifth-highest price reached in the auction. A 1961 New York Yankees uniform worn by Roger Maris during his 61-home run year sold for $1.586 million, the highest price realized during the sale.
~ Rich Perelman
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