Beyond the Arc : College hoops' 73-year-old player

Dream season turns sour for 73-year-old

Mike Miller — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:30:00 GMT

Ken Mink's return to college basketball has turned sour — just like it did 53 years ago.

Mink was kicked off the Lees College (Ky.) team as a freshman in 1956 when he was accused of spraying the coach's office with shaving cream. He says he was wrongly blamed.

Now 73, Mink became a minor celebrity when he made the roster at Roane State, a junior college outside of Knoxville. When he made his debut in November, he was the oldest person to ever play college basketball.

A few months later, Mink has been ruled ineligible to play by the National Junior College Athletic Association because of what Mink calls "a total miscarriage of justice."

"It's a nightmare. It’s déjà vu 1953," he said Friday. "My wife said, “Ken, are you cursed or what?”

The problem stems from the minimum amount of credits a player needs to maintain his eligibility. Mink enrolled in 12 hours, but when it looked like he might not pass Spanish, his coach, Randy Nesbit, suggested Mink take another class just in case.

The school suggested he enroll in an online course from Strayer University. Mink says he was told Strayer's are considered "a quality course and can be transferred to Roane without any problems."

So he plunked down $1,500 for an online sociology class and earned a "B." Good thing, too, because he did end up failing Spanish. Still, he was told the sociology course would offset Spanish and keep him eligible.

Except the NJCAA disagreed.

The organization contends Roane did not follow proper procedure to restore his eligibility. Mink played in a Feb. 7 game — and scored 2 points — but the NJCAA later ruled that Roane would have to forfeit that game because of Mink's participation.

Mink says the administrative decision boggles his mind, his coach's and his teammates. They think he should be eligible.

"The college president agreed. They appealed [Thursday]," Mink said.

"What’s bad about it is it’s so blatantly wrong, is that it’s terrible. Guys on the team are devastated, fans are devastated."

Roane played in Morristown, Tenn., against Walters State last week and talked to people who attended the game on the off chance he would play.

"They said, well, you’re not playing, and they left," he said. "Even the Walters State coach said, 'Ken, Why aren’t you dressed out?' I explained it to him and he said ‘What? I don’t care! Get your uniform on and play!' "

Roane State's last home game is Feb. 25. Mink hopes an elgibility decision is made by then, but he didn't sound optimistic on Friday.

"Maybe they’ll see the logic of what they’re doing and reverse themselves before Wednesday," he said.

"I'm hoping this little cloud over my head gets going."

Mink makes his mark -- and the world cheers

Mike Miller — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:26:00 GMT

Ken Mink’s in the record books. Now he can focus on the rest of the season.

Mink, a 73-year-old college basketball player for Roane State (Tenn.), scored two points in a 93-42 win on Monday night. He’s the oldest person to play college hoops.

Mink, who played for Lees College (Ky.) in the ‘50s, missed his first shot attempt, but later sunk two free throws to cement his spot in history.

“I found myself on the free-throw line 52 years after my last college game,” Mink told reporters after the game. “I said, ‘Just relax and shoot it like you know how to all day long.’ I just floated the shots in there. I’m in the books now. I can relax a little bit.”

You can see video of Mink’s game here (it’s at the end of the feature) and read more about his backstory and why he’s playing this season here.

Mink’s become quite the celebrity. Various media outlets, including Sports Illustrated, the Wall Street Journal, The Today Show and several other news outlets have done stories on his college hoops career. Monday’s game’s was no different.

Stories popped up around the country and overseas. The International Herald Tribune (The N.Y. Times’ Global edition) and the London Daily Telegraph both carried stories about Mink.

Now, we’ll wait to see what else Mink has in store for us. After all, he’s gunning for more than just two points in a single game.

“Ideally what I’d like to do is play 10 minutes of a game. That’s what I’m training my body to do,” Mink said last week. “But I’d like to hit a couple of shots and score in several games.”

Mink, 73, ready for shot at hoops history

Mike Miller — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:10:00 GMT

Ken Mink’s ready for his shot.

The Roane State (Tenn.) senior may become the world’s oldest college basketball player on Monday. He’s no ordinary senior. The last time Mink played college hoops, Dwight Eisenhower was President.

The 73-year-old hoopster has garnered plenty of attention in his return to the court. Newspapers, TV and Internet stories have popped up about Mink. “The Today Show” wants him as a guest. A Hollywood screenwriter reportedly wants to capture his story.

When the Raiders open their season against King College, the Guinness Book of World Records will be paying attention. “Inside Edition” will have a film crew on hand.

The attention’s nice, but right now, Mink’s more concerned about how he’ll fare. He last played college hoops at Lees College (Ky.) in 1956. If Mink does see the court, he knows he’ll be a little nervous. It’s been a while since he’s been on that stage.

“Fifty-two years,” Mink says. “Can I retain that memory? Can I recapture that? I don’t know. It’s going to be a mystery for me.”

Thankfully, there won’t be a lot of pressure on Mink. Roane, a community college about 35 miles west of Knoxville, is expected to be among its league’s better teams this season. According to its coach, Randy Nesbit, the Raiders are a deep, fairly talented team. If Mink does play, it’ll probably be for a few minutes. But don’t expect him to be left behind.

“He does have his physical limitations,” Nesbit says. “But he’s also got this moxie about him. He’s going to hit his shots if he’s open. You think ‘Oh, he’s 73, he’s going to freeze up. Nope. He’ll hit that 20 footer.”

That shooting ability keeps Mink from being a publicity stunt. He’s extremely mobile (his 40-yard dash is 6.6 seconds) and agile (he sports a 20-inch vertical) for a septuagenarian, but isn’t in the same class as some of the team’s other players. That’s not the point, though. He just plays his game.

“I don’t profess to be as good as these guys,” Mink says. “But I do know they can’t let me roam free.”

Besides, he’s seen plenty of stiff defense in practice, usually because of his teammates’ pride.

“They don’t want to be the guy who has their buddies say ‘The old guy took you to the bank!’ ” Mink says. “I’m not getting anything easy.”

Nesbit wants other teams to approach Mink the same way. His spot on the roster isn’t a publicity stunt, even if it could seem that way.

“We’re not trying to show anyone up,” Nesbit says. “I’m trying to put myself in the opposing team’s place. We’re not a juggernaut, but we’re going to be pretty good. There are probably going to be some games where we have comfortable leads. All of a sudden, there’s a 73-year-old guy coming in? What’s the other team going to think?”

Nesbit said he’d try to tell other coaches about Mink in an effort to avoid any kind of embarrassment, though the media attention has alleviated some of that pressure.

Besides, Mink’s sure to become a fan favorite. How many other players will have their own cheering squad?

Mink’s wife, Emilia, was skeptical about his hoops dream. (“She was a little dubious about the idea at the beginning,” Mink says.) Now, she’s trying to convince some of their friends to form a ’50s-style cheerleading group, complete with poodle skirts and personalized cheers. He’s become quite the “Golden Oldie.”

“They might use ‘Ken, Ken, he’s our Medicare man,” Mink says. “That might be a moniker the other kids pick up.”

Actually, various cheers have already been a hit. Mink’s become a bit of a local celebrity at Roane, usually in the form of well-wishers and enthusiastic hoops fans.

“People have recognized me around campus,” he says. “Everywhere I go, it’s ‘Ken!’ like in the old ‘Cheers’ episodes where they’d go ‘Norm!’”

If Mink hits a jumper on Monday, the crowd will probably make a “Ken!” cheer bring down the house. Expect nothing less with a bit of history on the line.

A 73-year-old college hoops player? Believe it

Mike Miller — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:16:00 GMT

The average male life expectancy is 75 years. By then, Ken Mink’s college basketball days will barely be over.

Mink, 73, is one of the newest players on Roane State (Tenn.), a junior college about 35 miles west of Knoxville. The 6-foot, 190-pound Mink is listed as a senior on Roane’s roster. No kidding.

The records aren't clear, but he's likely the oldest person to ever play college hoops.

Mink, a semi-retired journalist who lives in Farragut, ~~Ky.~~ Tenn., played for Lees (Ky.) Junior College until 1956 when he was dismissed – wrongly, he says -- for allegedly covering the coaches’ office with shaving cream. It didn’t hamper his love for hoops, though.

He stayed fit through the years with various athletic activities (Golfing, snow skiing, hang gliding, hiking and basketball), but realized he could still hoop when he was shooting baskets in his driveway last fall.

"I had been knocking down shot after shot, so when I came in the house I told my wife, 'I've still got it,' " Mink told the Knoxville News Sentinel. "She said, 'You've got what?' I said, 'I can still play.' "

That prompted Mink to write various schools, asking about hoops opportunities. Roane’s coach, Randy Nesbit, gave him a shot. Mink spent the summer getting into shape, shooting baskets and playing with a senior team from the area in three state tournaments.

Now, he’s playing with guys more than 50-years younger.

For context, most college basketball players are in their late teens or early 20s. Utah State’s Gary Wilkinson will be among the oldest D-I players this season. He just turned 26.

Older athletes occasionally make their marks in college sports, which doesn’t have an age limit for eligible athletes. (Regulations in Division I sports and junior colleges relate to participating in organized sports, not age.)

Charlie Bickford played for the University of Maine in Augusta in 2006 when he was 52 and a fan favorite.
The year before, Russ Maki, 52, was studying criminal justice at the Western Upper Peninsula (Mich.) school when he made the roster as a walk-on.
Even college football’s featured an older player recently. Mike Flynt, 59, dealt with injuries last season but finally played for his alma mater, D-III school Sul Ross State. Even better, he was part of the winning play against Texas Lutheran.

However, Mink has them all beat.

He says he was a good high school player in the ‘50s and had several scholarship offers, but went to Lees because it offered a full ride. He says he averaged about 12 points a game until his dismissal.

He can still shoot (click here for video), moves pretty well for a septgenarian and has bonded with his younger teammates.

Mink is unlikely to play for more than five or six minutes a game for Roane State, which opens its season on Nov. 3. Conditioning isn’t the issue as Roane State coach Randy Nesbit says Mink can take care of himself on the court. But adjusting to today’s game and picking up the Roane offense could be a challenge.

“There’s a lot of complicated offensive and defensive schemes that I have to learn, but the other players have been helping me every step of the way,” Mink told the Roane County News.

Being a non-traditional student making a 30-mile commute from his home outside Knoxville isn’t easy, either.

Mink takes 12 hours of classes (Spanish, Computer Science, U.S. History and Criminal Justice), practices a couple hours a day and also edits the Web site Travellingadventurer.com, which he founded in 2002.

Roane’s ideal ending to the year – after the Guinness Book of World Records officials reportedly attend the Nov. 3 game – is to “get 20 points this season” and eventually write a book on his Roane State experience.

Then again, he could always shoot for another record.