CHS, Hank Baskett honored with gold football

Staff photo: Kevin Wilson

A gold football bearing Hank Baskett’s name was sent to Clovis High School as part of the National Football League’s High School Honor Roll. The league sent more than 3,000 balls to high schools for each graduate who either coached or appeared on the roster in one of the previous 49 Super Bowls.

Staff report

With Santa Clara, California, set to host Super Bowl 50 today, the National Football League has wasted no opportunity to put a golden touch on the game.

One small part of that touch is now enshrined at Clovis High School.

The school, and 2001 graduate Hank Baskett, were honored with a gold football bearing Baskett’s name and as “part of Super Bowl History” in Super Bowl XLIV in 2010.

The football was one of more than 3,000 sent to more than 2,000 schools across the country that had a graduate either play or coach in one of the title games. The football was one of eight distributed to New Mexico high schools.

The game between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts included one of Baskett’s least favorite moments in a five-year pro football career with three different teams. The Saints opened the third quarter with an onside kick, the first to start a second half in Super Bowl history, which caromed off Baskett’s facemask.

The Saints recovered and scored a touchdown to take a 13-10 lead. The Colts scored a touchdown on the next drive, but were shut out the rest of the way in a 31-17 Saints victory.

Clovis High School was notified of the Super Bowl program in September with a letter to Principal Wayne Marshall and brochures on the package coming its way.

Each football came in a gift box, with a personalized letter and a stand with “Super Bowl High School Honor Roll” in embossed gold letters.

The ball, which has been in CHS Athletic Director Dale Fullerton’s office, was shown during halftime of the Clovis boys basketball game against Alamogordo on Friday night. The football will be placed in the school’s trophy case at Rock Staubus Gymnasium, next to Baskett’s photo and a shelf below a display that notes his 2001 award as the Albuquerque Journal New Mexico athlete of the year.

Fullerton said he hasn’t yet heard word from Baskett about an in-person presentation later, but hopes that one could be done before the 2016 Clovis High football season.

Baskett, an undrafted free agent out of the University of New Mexico, played 65 games with the Colts, Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings. He caught 77 passes for 1,098 yards and six touchdowns in his National Football League career.

Baskett and running back Jerry Nuzum are the only Clovis High graduates to play in the NFL.

Nuzum played for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1948 to 1951.