Wilt-Chamberlain
Fourth-grade class photo of 6-foot Wilt Chamberlain up for bid in Goldin auction
Despite nearly dying of pneumonia as a small child, Wilt Chamberlain had sprouted to 6-foot-tall by the time he was 10 years old.
A few years later, the 6-11 teen entered Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, where he was a track & field star and led the Hilltopper basketball team to two city championships in three years while breaking the city scoring record with 37.4 points per game. According to ESPN’s Hal Bock, “Wilt the Stilt” was “scary, flat-out frightening” and “changed the game in fundamental ways no other player did.”
After an All-American career at the University of Kansas, “The Big Digger” became one of the greatest players in NBA history, winning two championships, four MVPs, one Finals MVP and becoming the only player to ever score 100 points in a game.
At nine years old, Chamberlain towered over his fourth-grade classmates and teachers in a famous class photo. A Type 1 original photo of the class picture, which Chamberlain received in 1945, is now up for bid in the December Elite Auction at Goldin Co.
The photo of the “The Big Dipper” is one of several historic Type 1 original photos in the auction, which runs through Dec. 30.
Also features is a Type 1 original photo from Muhammad Ali’s pro debut in 1960, when the 18-year old future champion (then known as Cassius Clay) won his first of 56 career victories while wearing patriotic “USA” trunks from his amateur Olympic days. The classic photo is one of only two PSA-certified Type 1 examples in existence.
“We've seen tremendous interest in early Type 1 photos from debuts, milestones and even childhood,” said Goldin founder and CEO Ken Goldin. “First it was [Michael] Jordan, [Mike] Tyson and Serena [Williams] who were breaking records with their photo prices. Now it's time for ‘The Greatest’ and ‘Wilt the Stilt’ to show what they can do. Seeing them so young in original photos is an incredibly rare sight.”
Other original Type 1 photos in the auction include:
• The only known LeBron James rookie debut photo from 2003 where he is shown warming up before his first NBA game at age 18.
• Satchel Paige rookie debut game in 1948, depicting his first pitch for the Cleveland Indians.
• Pelé at the 1958 World Cup Final in Sweden where the 17-year-old soccer star is seen at 17 shaking hands with Swedish King Gustaf Adolph.
• Tiger Woods in 1994 on the putting green the same year he graduated high school before starting college at Stanford. A similar 1994 Woods snapshot recently sold for more than $7,500.
• A pre-rookie gem from March 28, 1984 where Michael Jordan is 21 years old with an original signature matching his college-era style autograph.
• Michael Jordan in the 1990s floating above three New York Knicks who are frozen in place, watching “His Airness” in awe.
