Bidding is still officially open for the 2014 Golden Goggles Awards online silent auction, which is one of the highest-revenue fundraisers that the USA Swimming Foundation runs every year. The silent auction closes Monday, November 24th at 8:30pm Eastern.
There are many of fantastic gifts, including tickets to one of golf’s biggest tournament, a full-in trip to Paris for the French Open, and an autographed art print from the movie “Frozen.” There’s even a leftover set of medals from the 2012 Olympic Trials and a poster signed by all 10 U.S. medalist from the 2012 Olympics, which have seen the most active early bidding.
All of those things are well-and-good, but even after being open just a few hours, they’ve already been bid out of the price range that we suspect most (but not all) of our readers have set aside for charitable contributions this year.
There’s one item, however, that might be in your price range, and we think it’s the coolest thing up for grabs this year, and the bidding, as of posting, is only at $130.
This item is a one-of-a-kind leather belt handmade by the legendary Gary Hall, Jr. The best, and perhaps most famous, swimmer of his time, Hall has a total of 10 Olympic medals to his name, including 5 golds, and was legendary for his behind-the-block pre-meet antics.
For the auction, he’s donating a belt that he made himself that is adorned with an antique swimming-themed belt-buckle from Japan that is estimated to be from c. 1937.