1960s NBA – Page 9 – From Way Downtown

Philadelphia 76ers: A Touch of Class, 1968

Pat Williams is a 28-year-old promotional whiz kid the 76ers stole out of the Philadelphia Phillies’ farm system.

Jerry West: A Very Special Agony, 1970

The thing West does is not just play basketball brilliantly, but play it best when it counts the most. This is the rarest of things.

Emmette Bryant: Living the NBA Dream, 1970

Now the world knows what Bryant did for the Celtics when he got a chance to play for them last winter. He steadied them for a playoff position, then produced many clutch moments in the burst to glory.

Rick Barry Rates His All-Time Opponents, 1980

As one of the few players who had the chance to play pro basketball in three different decades (the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s), it also was my fortune to play both against—and with—most of the great players produced by the National Basketball Association.

The Two Faces of Walter Dukes, 1963

Dukes isn’t especially proud of his roughneck reputation, but neither does he sound like a guy who wants to play Ferdinand the Bull.

Walt Hazzard: ‘Rook’ as in Rookie, 1965

Walt Hazzard takes it in stride. He is sure he will be one of the stars of the game.

Elgin Baylor: Record Book Worst Enemy, 1965

Elgin Baylor is a basketball player—and horse player—who announces in the car on the way to the airport, “I will give Jerry my nose any day for his knees. I need two good knees. My nose can take care of itself.”

Elgin Baylor: The Irreplaceable Laker, 1973

Little kids across the country dribble and shoot the Elgin Baylor way. On playgrounds, future basketball stars don homemade jerseys bearing the famous number 22.

Is Pro Basketball Getting Too Rough? 1964

Wilt Chamberlain might object to this observation, but a lot of the excitement and color of pro basketball lies in the bruising body contact between big men in action.

Did Jerry Lucas Outsmart Himself? 1963

Seldom in the history of American sports, and certainly never in the history of basketball, has so bright a student and so brilliant an athlete faced so uncertain a future as Jerry Ray Lucas.