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Lot # 1231: 1962 Wilt Chamberlain 100-Point Game Ticket Stub PSA PR 1

Category: Basketball

Starting Bid: $5,000.00

Bids: 24 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Spring Classic 2022",
which ran from 5/20/2022 7:00 PM to
6/11/2022 10:00 PM



The single-game NBA record for most points in a game was set on a cold, rainy night, not in a big city, but in Hershey, Pennsylvania, at the Hershey Sports Arena on March 2, 1962. Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain, the 7'1" center for the Philadelpha Warriors, set the record in scoring 100 points as the Warriors defeated the visiting New York Knicks 169-147. Offered is a rare ticket stub to that game, a game that is one of the most iconic events in pro basketball history. The NBA was in its 16th season and still financially struggling at that time. NBA teams sometimes scheduled "home" games in nearby smaller cities when their home arena was unavailable because of NHL hockey games or other events. At that time, the Philadelphia Warriors scheduled several games each year in Hershey. Only 4,124 fans were in attendance, and the game was not televised. No film or video of the game has been discovered, and the only audio is a partial play-by-play of the fourth quarter. In the 1961-1962 season, Chamberlain averaged a still NBA record 50.4 points a game. At halftime, the Warriors led 79-68 and Chamberlain had 43 points. Warrior point guard Guy Rodgers said, "Let's get the ball to Dip (Wilt - the Big Dipper). See how many he can get." The Warriors coach, Frank McGuire concurred. With ten minutes to go in the game, Chamberlain had 75 points, three fewer than the 78-point record he set earlier in the season. At this point, Warrior forward Tom Meschery noted that the game result started to become secondary to Chamberlain reaching 100 points. The Warriors concentrated all their efforts into helping Chamberlain score 100, so the Knicks, not wanting to be embarrassed as the team to give Chamberlain the record, started to foul other Warrior players before they could pass the ball to Wilt. In turn, the Warriors started to foul the Knicks as soon as New York had the ball in an effort to get the ball back so they could set up Chamberlain. With less than a minute to play, Chamberlain had 98 points and the Warriors had the ball. They got the ball to Chamberlain in the low post and Chamberlain missed, Ted Luckenbill rebounded, and the Warriors got the ball to Chamberlain, who again missed, and finally, after another Luckenbill rebound, Joe Ruklick passed up an easy lay-up and passed to Chamberlain for a close in dunk or lay-in (reports differ). Two hundred spectators happily raced onto the floor, and after a delay, the game resumed. Chamberlain then stayed near mid-court, later explaining why he didn't try to score more because "100 sounded better than 102." Chamberlain actually lived in New York City at the time, and after the game he hitched a ride back to Harlem with Knick forward Johnny Green and two other Knicks. Chamberlain nodded off to sleep a few times, and he later humorously recalled that when awake he would hear the Knicks calling him "the [expletive deleted] who scored a hundred points on us." The 11.5" x 1.75" stub has been encapsulated and graded PSA PR 1. It's a ticket stub to the biggest individual scoring game in NBA history, by a man who seemed larger than life. With so few spectators at the game and the passage of time, it's a rare memento of an earth shattering performance.

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