IOC rejects efforts to put ’72 basketball medals in Hall of Fame

Members of the 1972 U.S. Olympic basketball team have talked about finally retrieving those silver medals they vowed to never accept and left behind in Germany.

No, they still don’t want them for themselves.

They believe the medals belong in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, but the latest attempt to get them from the International Olympic Committee has been thwarted.

To give the medals to the Hall of Fame, the IOC told the players they first would have to accept them.

“If we have to accept them, then that’s not going to be an option,” said Tom Burleson, a center from N.C. State who played on the team.

It’s the same nonstarter it was 50 years ago Friday.

It’s not that the IOC disagrees with the Hall of Fame option. The Olympic governing body would let members of the team do what they want with the medals — once they’ve followed the organization’s procedure for obtaining them.

Tom Mcmillen, a forward from Maryland and a member of the 1972 team, called the IOC’S requirement“sort of ridiculous” and came up with a possible solution to the impasse: Have a third party accept the medals so they could go to the Hall of Fame.

“What we talked about was, given what the IOC’S position is, we could say,‘ok, give us the medals,’ and then we reject them by giving them to the Naismith museum,” Mcmillen said.

Team USA lost to the Soviet Union 51-50 in the 1972 final, which ended in controversy and confusion. Officials restarted the game twice in the final seconds, allowing the Soviets to finally score the winning basket.