A high school senior’s summer job could net him $1 million a half-century later, thanks to a gift from a Lakers trainer.
Grey Flannel will offer a game-used Wilt Chamberlain jersey from the 1970-71 NBA season, matched to multiple games, including Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, at auction, with estimates ranging between $500,000 to $1 million.
The jersey has never appeared at auction before and comes directly from a towel boy who received it in 1971.
After being offered a basketball scholarship to Loyola University of Los Angeles (now Loyola Marymount University) in 1971, the consignor (who wishes to remain anonymous) took a job arranged by the school's athletic department working as an assistant to Los Angeles Lakers trainer Frank O’Neal.
One of his last tasks for the team was packing up gear to start the new season.
“While packing, Frank O'Neal informed me the new uniforms for the upcoming season had arrived. I was told to pack the previous season's uniforms for storage,” the consignor wrote in a letter of provenance shared with cllct. “Trainer O'Neal said I could take one of the 1970-71 uniforms.”
Chamberlain was his favorite player, so he didn’t have to think very long before selecting the Hall of Famer’s jersey from the group.
Now, after being lost in the family for a number of years, that jersey has arrived at Grey Flannel, which has photo-matched it to four games from the 1970-71 season, including the opener of the West finals, as well as found "apparent matches"to an additional four games, including Game 5 of the WCF.
Photo-matched Chamberlain jerseys are incredibly rare, with only a handful appearing at public auction, most notably in September 2023, when Sotheby’s sold a Chamberlain jersey worn in the 1972 NBA Finals Game 5 for $4.9 million. Most recently, SCP sold a Chamberlain gamer from his 1959-60 rookie season for nearly $1.8 million.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.