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Meet America's Oldest College Basketball Player, 73-Year-Old Ken Mink of Roane State

Oct 23, 2008 – 8:14 PM
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Michael David Smith

Michael David Smith %BloggerTitle%

In 1956, a 21-year-old basketball player at Lees Junior College in Kentucky named Ken Mink was kicked off the team after he was accused of covering his coach's office in shaving cream. Mink then left school and joined the Air Force, but he always regretted that he never finished playing college hoops. Now, at age 73, he's getting back in the game:

That was Mink, now a player for the Roane State Raiders.


Mink says he was shooting baskets in his driveway when it occurred to him that it wasn't too late to finish up his college basketball eligibility:
"I had been knocking down shot after shot, so when I came in the house I told my wife, 'I've still got it,' " said Mink, a 73-year-old semi-retired journalist. "She said, 'You've got what?' I said, 'I can still play.' "
Said Roane State coach Randy Nesbit, "Our weakness last year was experience; I think I've taken care of that.''

And Mink assures Nesbit has nothing to worry about regarding the whole shaving cream in the office thing: Mink says he was wrongly accused.
Filed under: Sports

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