By the time Wilt Chamberlain donned this Lakers jersey, he had already established himself as the most prolific scorer and rebounder the game had ever seen. He was the prototype of the NBA's big man, the man who scored 100 points in a single game, seemingly scored and rebounded at will for the decade of the 1960's and - to a degree not matched by any other athlete in professional sport - came to have part of his legacy defined by the linkage to his greatest competitor of the era, Bill Russell.
Upon his arrival in Los Angeles after a storied career with the Philadelphia and later San Francisco Warriors and then the Philadelphia 76ers, Chamberlain joined two other contemporary first-tier Hall of Famers, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor. Donning the purple and gold jersey offered here yielded a rare holy trinity, with three of the game's brightest stars sharing the court at the same time. It would ultimately produce Wilt' second and final NBA title in 1972, a season in which the club reeled off 33 wins in a row en route to a then-record 69-13 season mark.
This remarkable shirt heralds Wilt's arrival in Southern California, a masterpiece produced by Tiernan of Glendale, Calif., whose tagging appears at the bottom of the front tail. The jersey shows sublime game usage traits throughout. All elements of the jersey are intact and ideal; all of the white and gold tackle twill lettering and No. 13 display the expected wear and slight puckering, along with barely a whisper of any fraying of the delicate stitching. It is quite simply a museum-worthy artifact that marks the arrival of Chamberlain in Los Angeles and neatly foreshadows the emergence of an NBA squad that would dominate like no other of the period. One of the finest Wilt Chamberlain jerseys extant, this gamer formerly resided in the renowned collection of SCP Auctions President David Kohler.
Comes with a Letter of Authenticity from MEARS (A10).