Ken Mink: The New King Of Old School

There have been a lot of movies based on basketball. There is He Got Game, Glory Road, Coach Carter, Hoosiers and yes Air Bud. However, 51 years ago Ken Mink dropped out college to enter the Air Force and now 51 years later Mink is playing basketball at Roane State Community College at the age of 73.

 Located in Harriman, Tennessee, Roane State is less than a day away from tip-off from their regular season against Spartanburg Methodist. Mink will be there tomorrow who is measured at 6’0 and 198 pounds.  The last time Mink played college basketball was when Dwight Eisenhower was President.

How times have changed but the love of the game still continues to this game. When Dr. James Naismith invented the game back in 1891, he never would have thought that a 73 year old man would be competing at the junior college level against kids that could be his grandchildren.

Mink has survived conditioning, the hardest part of training camp. Some players tried out and quit the very next day. Mink continued to take a beating everyday during practice.

In a telephone interview with the Daily News, Mink said, “I’ve been holding my own athletically in practice, believe it or not.” Mink also went on to say everyone besides him can dunk on his team but Mink will leave you dribbling.

Mink is not going to be starting for the Roane Raiders, Coach Nesbit does believe that Mink will be getting some minutes off the bench when the outcome is not hanging in the balance.

Tomorrow will is very important day for Mink as it was 52 years ago when he joined the air force where he spent four years in the service. After a 38 year career in the newspaper business, Mink went back to work on his game where he contacted several community college coaches about playing.

Mink has spent the last mouth doing suicide sprints, down and backs, and even behind the back passes in hopes of earning minutes. Whatever the outcome is, Mink has landed the attention of the media.

Can you imagine getting blocked by Mink? This is what Spartanburg Methodist has to worry about tomorrow.