Illinois State University's Doug Collins holds an autographed ball featuring the signatures of players, coaches, and team personnel from the 1972 U.S. Olympic basketball team. Three-year-old Patrick Dowd of Normal, whose family purchased the souvenir as part of a September 5 fundraiser for St. Joseph's Hospital in Bloomington, shares a chair with the hoops superstar.Collins played a key role on the hard luck U.S. squad during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, West Germany. The American collegians (there were no "Dream Team" professionals back then) lost to the Soviet Union in the controversial gold medal game in which the final three seconds were replayed twice, or enough extra time to give the U.S.S.R. a 51-50 victory. In protest the U.S. refused to accept their silver medals. Collins, an all-American at ISU, was the first pick in the 1973 National Basketball Association draft. Today he's an NBA television analyst and an adviser to the Philadelphia 76ers.
