Indiana teen treasures memory of beating Obama at hoops

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Anthony Nowaczyk, now a 15-year-old freshman at Elkhart Central High School in Indiana, plans to hold onto the basketball he used to beat then-candidate Barack Obama in a game of ‘P-I-G’ when the Obama campaign bus stopped near his home last spring.

Nowaczyk told the Elkhart Truth newspaper that he rushed to nearby Riverview Elementary School on May 4 after a friend told him of the campaign stop. The youngster talked to Michelle Obama, who suggested that he ask the candidate if he wanted to shoot around.

Obama accepted, and the two played a game of P-I-G with Elkhart City Council President Rod Roberson, a former all-Big Ten point guard at Northwestern. ‘It was fun,’ Nowaczyk told the newspaper about playing -- and beating -- Obama. ‘It was great. Then to find out he’s our president? It’s just cool.’

The newspaper reports that Roberson hasn’t talked much about the game. ‘I won’t brag about it until after the inauguration,’ he said. ‘Because I want to say, ‘I talked trash with the president.’ ‘

-- Greg Johnson