SCP Auctions April 2011 Internet Auction

The 1967 NBA All-Star Game was played January 10, 1967 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California. On paper, the East looked like the runaway favorite with a squad that featured luminaries like John Havlicek and Don Ohl in the backcourt, Jerry Lucas and Chet Walker on the wings and Bill Russell in the middle. And that was the bench. The first unit featured guards Hal Greer and Oscar Robertson, forwards Bailey Howell and Willis Reed and center Wilt Chamberlain. “Ridiculous,” groused Rick Barry, one of the sacrificial lambs on the West squad that year. Of the 10 East team members, seven would go on to be selected among the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, a list that included Chamberlain, Greer, Havlicek, Lucas, Reed, Robertson and Russell. “The East team was positively loaded,” Barry recalls. “Wilt, Oscar, Greer, Havlicek, Lucas, Reed, Russell...I mean, isn’t there some kind of rule that limits the amount of talent that one team can have on the court at same time?” The West squad wasn’t a bunch of second-stringers exactly, what with Barry, Elgin Baylor, Bill Bridges and Dave DeBusschere as the forwards, Jerry West, Guy Rodgers, Jerry Sloan and Lenny Wilkens in the backcourt and Nate Thurmond and Darrall Imhoff in the paint. But compared to an East team that averaged nearly a half-dozen years’ experience per man, it clearly was the new kid on the NBA block. In spite of appearances, the Western Conference All-Stars defeated the Eastern Conference All-Stars, 135-120. The game featured the ejection of a frustrated Red Auerbach (who retired at the end of the previous season) as head coach of the Eastern Conference. Auerbach became the only coach to be ejected in an All-Star Game. In spite of his ejection, Red received the offered trophy plaque from league president J. Walter Kennedy for his participation in the NBA’s memorable 17th annual All-Star Game. The 12 ½”x9” wood plaque features decorative elements such a metal figural player and descriptive engraved placard. Near mint condition. Includes a letter of provenance from the Auerbach estate.