Who was the oldest player to play in the NBA ?

 Following the recent SuperBowl the next NFL conversation topic would most likely be the future of  Tom Brady. It is kind of strange to see a 42 year old player getting so much attention. And as someone whose knowledge of sports is mainly rooted in basketball, I found myself wondering who holds the old age record for an active player in the NBA ? 

This photo of Robert Parish is quoted from Wikipedia and is in the Public Domain

Taking a lookg at the wikipedia list of oldest (and youngest) players it would seem that the modern era record holder is Forward/Center Kevin Willis who retired at 44 years and 224 days, but that is misleading, because Willis only playerd 5 games in his last season, and did not play at all in a previous season. This is the same for official record holder Nat Hickey, a legendary basketball and baseball (!) player of the 1920s-1940s er. Hickey was an NBA coach in 1946 when he reactivated himself for two games. 

So, the current REAL record holder is Robert Parish. He played consecuteively between the 1976/77 season and the 1996/96 season (following a 4 year college career which is worth a separate post). Parish played at least 72 games in all of his professional seasons prior to his last one, in which he played 43 games averaging 9.4 minutes a game.  He retired at the age of 43 years and 254 days. 

Now, that is a true active last season! 

I say this with pride as a Celtics fan, and I say this with shame, as this record was made in the uniforms of the Chicago Bulls (a period in Parish's life that is worth a separate post as well). 

Did you wonder why did I stress the record holder as current? becase Parish's record is under threat. Forward/Guard Vince Carter, a.k.a "Vinsanity", who is the NBA player holding the record for most seasons played (22), is currently 43 years and 30 days. 

Carter, the only NBA player to have played in four different decades  (1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s) is currently the oldest active NBA player. If he is able to return next year and keep his current level of play (which is not close to the peaks of his career, but good enough to give him a spot in at least half the teams in the league) he may break the record yet. 

We started with football, so we'll finish with that too. 

Who is the NFL players who retired oldest?

George Blanda, the legendary quarterback and placekicker, played 26 seasons of professional football, the most in the sport's history. He retired in 1976 at the age of 48.  When he retired, he was also holding the most points scored record. 

Adam Vinatieri , the legendary placekicker, is the oldest active player in the NFL at the age of 47. 

He holds NFL career records for most points scored (2,673),most postseason points scored (238), among other records. It seems a reasonable speculation that he has a good shot at becoming the NFL's oldest active player ever in a year.