The United States’ disputed loss to the Soviet Union in the Men's Basketball final at the 1972 Munich Olympics is generally regarded as the game that changed the face of the sport.
A tough-minded 6'4" guard from the University of Hawaii, Tom Henderson was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the 1974 NBA draft. He went on to have a productive nine-year (1974–1983) professional career, playing for the Hawks, the Washington Bullets, and the Houston Rockets. Henderson accumulated 6,088 career points and 3,136 career assists, and he reached the NBA Finals three times, winning with the Bullets in 1978.
Henderson was also a member of the 1972 USA Olympic Basketball team. He was the third leading scorer on the team behind Dwight Jones (86) and Mike Blanton (75), with 73 total points in the Olympic games. In the final controversial showdown with the Russians, he led the team (tied with Jim Brewer) with 9 points.
From the book, Stolen Glory, Henderson is quoted as saying, “After everything that happened at the end of the final game, I wasn’t going to accept the silver medal. We all agreed in the locker room: We’re not taking the silver medals. It’s in my will. I think I was the first one to tell my kids that if I die, "Don’t take no silver damn medal.”
With the possibility of never being able to own a 1972 USA Olympic medal, this is the next best thing. All 12 members of the squad received a 14k gold ring made by JLS (J. Lewis Small) a company known more for their small college championship rings than something of this magnitude. Manufacturer’s stampings appear inside the band along with Henderson’s name. A reddish/blackish stone resides in the center with USA in gold embossed over the stone. The Top of the ring reads, “Courage in Munich 1972” which was ironic since the team suffered this devastating loss along with the massacre of 4 Israeli athletes inside the Olympic Village.
On the left shank of the ring reads – HENDERSON and under his name is a basketball with his jersey # 6 beneath that. On the right shank engraved in gold is the word MUNCHEN (the German pronunciation of Munich) and a USA shield. This is the first ring from this team to ever hit the open market. It is accompanied by a copy of the original pawn slip from Thomas Henderson and a copy of the book, Stolen Glory. The book has been signed on individual pages by the players on the team which include: Mike Bantom, Jim Brewer, Tom Burleson, Doug Collins, Kenny Davis, Jim Forbes, Tom Henderson, Bobby Jones, Dwight Jones, Kevin Joyce, Tom McMillen, and Ed Ratleff.