In the summer of 1992, a legendary squad of American basketball talent brought home the gold medal from Barcelona, Spain. For the first time, the U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball Team boasted professional players. Led by co-captains Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, the team not only won gold; they annihilated each opponent by an average winning margin of 44 points. They blasted Croatia in the championship game by the final score of 117-85. The “Dream Team” was coached by Chuck Daly along with assistants Lenny Wilkens, P.J. Carlesimo and Duke's legendary Coach K. Every player on the squad brought impeccable credentials to the table: Magic, Bird, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Clyde Drexler, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen, and David Robinson. The 12th and final player was Duke star Christian Laettner, the reigning NCAA Player of the Year and the only college player chosen.
Offered in this lot from Laettner's personal collection is an official program from the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics signed by all 12 Dream Team members inside on pages 36 and 37. Each player has signed in bold 9-10/10 black marker on a two-page spread with a birds-eye view of Air Jordan soaring for a dunk. Patrick Ewing has signed twice, including the cover, making it 13 total player autographs. The irony of Ewing signing twice is that he is often the only player Dream Team player missing on team-signed memorabilia from the famous squad (especially basketballs). According to Christian, Ewing became a favorite of the late Mrs. Laettner (Christian’s mother) during the tournament, and he was happy to oblige her autograph requests. The program remains in NM-MT condition overall. A rare full team-signed item with a full LOA from PSA/DNA and letter of provenance from Christian himself.