FIBA brings back the memories by posting their 1970s pickup game with The Jackson 5

Jael Rucker

FIBA brings back the memories by posting their 1970s pickup game with The Jackson 5 image

In honor of the #flashbackfriday vibes, FIBA posted a major throwback of The Jackson 5 aka The Jacksons’ visit to the Philippines in 1976, where they participated in a little pickup action. 

To put things into perspective, FIBA aka the International Basketball Federation is the world governing body for basketball, and they are the ones responsible for determining what the rules of the game are, alongside organizing major international competitions like the FIBA Basketball World Cup. The organization was founded in 1932, but was beginning to expand with the progression of basketball being recognized as a national sport by the time the mid-1970s rolled around.

Fast forward to 1976, the organization was working on connecting and working with some of the biggest names in entertainment, hence The Jacksons. Not much is known about the results of this pickup game, but a quick look at the picture shows Jackie, Marlon and Randy Jackson as active participants, and Michael as an…inactive participant as he wasn’t dressed in a jersey (that’s okay though, he would go on to play against Michael Jordan in the short film for his 1992 hit single “Jam”).

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After the visit, Michael is reported to have said, “I've been to a lot of countries all over the world. But I've never in my life seen people so nice as the people in Manila.”

We also don’t know the results of the pickup game as far as who won, but what we do know is that nearly fifty years later, FIBA still values this moment enough to have posted it, which tells you everything you need to know.

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Jael Rucker

Jael Rucker has worked as the Associate Commerce Editor at PureWow, focusing on analytics and trends to pitch stories and optimize articles that build and engage their audience. Her work has also been seen in Footwear News and WWD. Prior to 2024, she was the style and pop culture editor at ONE37pm for over three years, contributing numerous product reviews, brand profiles and fashion trend reports, which included interviewing Steph Curry, Snoop Dogg and more.