SPALDING NEVER FLAT^™ SETS SIGHTS ON WORLD RECORD
Sponsors Duke and Carolina Students in World's Longest Basketball Game

Springfield, MA, January 2006
Spalding, the world's largest basketball equipment brand, has been touting its recently introduced NEVER FLAT^™ basketball as the most durable ball in the marketplace. Guaranteed to hold air up to 10 times longer than traditional basketballs, the Spalding NEVERFLAT basketball will be put to the test as the official ball of what is expected to be the world's longest basketball game.

Spalding has joined with students from two of college basketball's biggest rivals, Duke and North Carolina, for a good cause. The Spalding NEVER FLAT Duke Carolina Student Basketball Marathon will attempt to set a Guinness World Record when it plays a three day, 58-hour long continuous basketball game with no timeouts or intermissions. The event tips off at Fetzer Gymnasium at UNC-Chapel Hill beginning Saturday Jan. 14, 2006 at 8 a.m. and runs through Monday, Jan. 16 at 6 p.m.

The event, the culmination of a year-long fundraising competition between the two schools, will raise funds for Hoop Dreams Basketball Academy, a nonprofit organization that works to help children with life-threatening illnesses regain a sense of normalcy in their lives through athletics.

"The Spalding NEVER FLAT basketball sets a new standard for sustained performance, the same ideal shared by these college students attempting to set a world record for the world's longest basketball game," stated Christy Hedgpeth, Spalding senior manager of marketing. "When you think about it, Spalding, Duke, and North Carolina each share a storied history within the context of this great game of basketball. Teaming up in this manner to benefit a worthy cause makes perfect sense."

In addition to the world record event, the Spalding NEVER FLAT basketball will be introduced in 2006 through a new national print and TV campaign in February followed by other promotional events tied to the NBA All-Star Game and Jam Session, February 15-20, 2006, in Houston, TX.

The Spalding NEVER FLAT Duke Carolina Student Basketball Marathon is the brainchild of Greg Richmond, a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"Our fanatical basketball fans and students have truly rallied around this event to bring the rivalry to a whole new level in attempting to set a world record and raising funds for Hoop Dreams Basketball Academy. We're grateful to Spalding, whose brand is synonymous with this great game, for their contributions, and thrilled to help kids with life-threatening illnesses," stated Richmond. "This event has provided students and the student organizations from both universities with an incredible opportunity to collaborate and serve the community."

As the event's title sponsor, Spalding has provided funding, NEVER FLAT basketballs and other products as well as administrative support to the cause. Its new Spalding NEVER FLAT basketball, the official ball of the projected world's longest basketball game, is expected to be bounced more than 100,000 times throughout the three-day event.

For more information on the Spalding NEVERFLAT Duke-Carolina Basketball Marathon, please visit http://www.basketballmarathon.com or www.hoop-dreams.net. To donate to either university's team, please visit http://www.basketballmarathon.com/involved/donate.htm.

ABOUT SPALDING

As a Division of Russell Corporation, the Spalding Group consists of three business units: Spalding in Springfield, MA; American Athletic, Inc. (AAI) in Jefferson, IA; and Huffy Sports, in Sussex, WI. The three companies, collectively combined, are now the largest basketball equipment supplier in the world. Spalding is the official basketball supplier of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the official backboard of the NBA and NCAA, the official volleyball of the King of the Beach Volleyball Tour, the official soccer ball of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) and the official football of the Arena Football League (AFL) and Pop Warner. For more information, visit www.spalding.com.