Return to basketball at age 73 has made Mink media magnet
Just one of the guys
HARRIMAN - About 20 minutes prior to tip-off against Maryville College's junior varsity on Jan. 12, the Roane State men's basketball team emerges from the locker room split into two lines along either side of the court. The line on the right is attacking the goal for layups, while the line on the left grabs the rebound as the ball comes through the net.
A minute or two has ticked off the clock when one of them breaks line and goes over to the scorer's table, turning a knob until the bass of a hip-hop song rattles the gym floor.
It's a pre-game routine not unlike most others - only there's 73-year-old Ken Mink.
He dribbles toward the goal, noticeably less agile than his college-aged Roane State teammates. More than one camera clicks and television cameramen quickly hoist their equipment.
On this particular night, CNN has sent a crew to this community college in a town of fewer than 7,000 to catch a glimpse of the oldest person to ever play collegiate basketball. A writer for ESPN.com also has made the trip, traveling from his base in Oxford, Miss., to research the Mink piece he's been working on for a month.
"When I first talked to the coaches about trying out, I knew enough about the media to understand there would probably be some wide-spread regional reaction," said Mink, a retired journalist who served as an editor for the News Sentinel 1972-1985 and maintains on online travel magazine. "I'm thinking mainly East Tennessee, a little from Nashville, maybe Memphis, but no big major publications - it's really been amazing how it's gone."
The legend has been written: Mink played one season in 1956 at Lees (Ky.) Junior College, but was kicked off the team for allegedly covering the coach's office in shaving cream, a charge he vehemently denies. Fifty-two years later, the Farragut resident sent word to eight local colleges that he was looking for a tryout and a chance at playing out one last dream season.
"I think the average age of our team was about 19 coming into this year," said Roane State coach Randy Nesbit, who was the only coach to respond. "I figured if we added Ken he would put our average age up to 21 and take care of our inexperience."
Of course, Nesbit jokes. But the former player and coach for The Citadel who has been a mainstay in the Tennessee Junior Community College Athletic Association for nearly two decades did have legitimate reasons - other than selling a few more tickets.
"I like the idea of having a different presence around instead of having 10 guys in a locker room cussing and just engaging in locker room talk," said Nesbit, the type of coach who is more concerned with bounce passes and shot pockets than no-lookers and dunks. "I think the guys genuinely enjoy having him around, too."
When the team travels for games, Mink, who is twice as old as the college itself and 23 years Nesbit's senior, could easily be mistaken as forward Keith Bauer's grandfather. Appearance isn't everything according to Bauer, a former Heritage High School standout who is often humbled by Mink's nonstop motor.
"Sometimes he has more energy than me. I guess it's true what they say about when you get older you get young again," said the sophomore, whose 22-point performance was lost amidst the post-game commotion surrounding Mink.
Since being featured on ESPN's top-10 plays of the day for a shot he hit in a pre-season practice, Mink has been written about in The New York Times, Sports Illustrated and soon will be the topic of a 6,000-word story on ESPN.com. He's been featured on nearly every national TV network, and over the holidays, he and his wife, Emilia, flew to New York City to make the talk-show rounds.
People lined up in the streets for autographs and pictures with Mink after he shot hoops with Regis Philbin, and then it was off to see Conan O'Brien, the late-night host who barely got a word in edge-wise.
Bauer and his teammates no longer pay any mind to the cameras and reporters at nearly every game. Mink doesn't receive any special treatment - he's just one of the guys.
"He surprisingly gets a lot of the hazing," Bauer said.
Will he ever get a pick for the pre-game music? Maybe Elvis?
"He knows better," Bauer said, hinting that Mink isn't too keen on the latest Lil Wayne joint. "But he did tell us he's working on a rap song, so I guess he's trying to hang with the new school."
Mink admits he's in search of just the right hip-hop beat to go with the rap he plans to write about the team. He'll "put it on a cassette tape" for all his teammates when he's finished.
But even amidst all of the hoopla, the team remains focused on basketball. Mink is certain of it because he couldn't fathom cheapening this game, the same one he's been playing since layups were referred to as "crip" shots and the emblem on a basketball shoe was a star not a swoosh.
With fewer than four minutes remaining and Roane State leading 77-43, Mink, the only player still wearing his warm ups, walks behind the bench to do jumping jacks.
The horn sounds signaling a substitution, and the 50 or so spectators cheer as Mink enters the game. His wife, who is wearing a red, white and blue poodle skirt, has brought signs: "KEN CAN, HE'S OUR MEDICARE MAN" and "OUR GOLDEN OLDIE."
Nesbit yells for a defensive switch from man-to-man to a 2-3 zone, sending the 6-foot Mink to the middle of the lane. A Maryville player drives and Mink stands tall, deflecting the ball for his first steal of the season.
"I know the game, but my reflexes aren't what they were 50 years ago," said Mink, following Roane State's 87-51 win, or what he might call a "shellacking."
Mink has logged minutes in six games for Nesbit, who chuckles when prompted for his star's stats. Without blinking an eye, the coach recites: 3-of-4 from the free-throw line, 0-for-2 from the field and "no turnovers but he's been close."
Opposing defenders are determined to keep the ball away from Mink. One coach told his team if "they let the old guy score" they'd be walking home.
"I hit a free throw that game, but I don't know if they walked home," he said.
Mink and Nesbit take time on the court seriously, and Mink isn't entertaining the delusion of a magical game-winning shot as Roane State (10-9) enters the bulk of its region schedule Wednesday at Chattanooga State.
"I feel like I'm doing good things, and I'm not contributing to any problems when I'm in there. This has been my dream, and now that I'm here it's an incredible thing," said Mink, who is also sure to note his first semester report card of three Bs and a C, although he had to drop Spanish. "All the people I know in my Sunday school class, they couldn't run this floor one time, and I'm out here running it all the time. They say I'm their miracle guy."
