More than a billion Barbies have been produced since her debut in New York City on March 9, 1959. "You don't mess with a momma on a mission," she says.Īll they needed was one stubborn holdout: And after months of searching every toy store within 100 miles of her home, Marilyn had managed to locate 28 of the 29 NBA Barbie dolls - which seems impossible, at first, until you meet Marilyn. In the internet days of the early 2000s, searching still meant logging countless hours on the phone and in the car. "She could have been any color or race and we still would love her just as much." "I was bananas for Barbie by then," Candice says. And I'll never forget how very intentional she was about finding a complete collection of dolls from a sport she loved that looked just like me."Īlthough the majority of their growing collection was made up of Black NBA Barbies, the ultimate goal for Marilyn and Candice was to complete the set. "More than anything else, though, this is one of my connections to my momma. "For me, the connection with Barbie was representation, first, and of course her ultimate fabulosity," says Candice, 32, who was her high school valedictorian, went the business Barbie route in earning her MBA and now works for the USDA in Atlanta. The challenge was especially powerful for the Harveys: Marilyn was a Michael Jordan fanatic and a starter on the first women's basketball team at Pike County High in Brundidge, Alabama Candice, as a kid, slept in Barbie sheets, sent Santa a complaint letter for not bringing her a Barbie Jeep and, for a short time, dreamed of dental school after seeing a dentist Barbie. That memorable Pistons logo and the other 28 NBA team logos were featured on the back of every NBA Barbie doll box near a special 888 number for more info on the dolls and the phrase: Own all 29 NBA Barbie dolls and have the coolest collection in the world! Barbie's sartorial timing on the collab was rather impeccable, since nearly half the teams during this NBA era incorporated some kind of funky variation of purple or teal in their outfits, starting with Detroit's horrifically awesome teal horsehead jerseys. The dolls also came with white high-tops, knee braces, an official NBA basketball the size of a marble and a large hairbrush that, proportionately, was the size of a cello. In 1999, the NBA and Mattel teamed up to sell a one-time, leaguewide collab featuring Black and white Barbies outfitted in each franchise's authentic uniform and warmup top. Most of them knew that for years Harvey, a hoops junkie with a force-of-nature personality, had been on a mission to secure the entire NBA Barbie doll collection for her Barbie-obsessed daughter, Candice, who was then 13. Out of respect for Harvey, a prep basketball pioneer in Alabama, a longtime nurse and the family matriarch, the raucous room of nearly 100 family members from across the country fell silent. She grabbed the microphone and prepared to issue her loved ones an ultimatum. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserĪ mother's vow to find a Dallas Mavericks Barbie leads to a worldwide chaseįIVE YEARS INTO her NBA Barbie quest, a frustrated Marilyn Harvey stood up in the closing moments of her 2004 family reunion in Alabama.
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