Julius Erving never made the kind of money current NBA players make and are arguing to keep making during the NBA's lockout. However, Erving did play professionally for 16 years, including the 1983 World Championship Philadelphia 76ers.
Tuesday afternoon an interesting e-mail caught my attention because the heading read Dr. J's Personal Memorabilia at Auction." I could not open the email fast enough. To my surprise here was the list of items Dr. J is parting ways with:
Dr. Js 1974 and 1976 New York Nets ABA World Championship ring
1983 Philadelphia 76ers World Championship ring
1996 NBAs 50 Greatest Players ring
MVP trophies from 1975-76 (ABA) and 1980-81 (NBA)
1977 and 1983 NBA All-Star game MVP trophies
1979, 1981 and 1985 Eastern Conference All-Star game-worn uniforms
1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers game-worn road uniform
His final game-worn jersey from Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference playoffs
Erving is working with SCP Auctions, which will open the items to bidding Friday Oct. 28 on their website scpauctions.com. The auction will remain open through Nov. 19.
In a press release the 16 time All-Star issued the following statement.
I am very excited to work with SCP Auctions to offer my personal collection of memorabilia to collectors and fans, said Erving. It is my hope that the buyers of these items will derive much pleasure from their ownership. I also hope these treasures initiate much discussion inside and outside of basketball circles that help to preserve my legacy. It pleases me to support my lifelong charity, the Salvation Army, with a portion of the proceeds. My family and I thank all of the fans for their continued support throughout the years.
It is the biggest one player pro basketball collection to hit the market, David Kohler, President and CEO of SPC Auctions said. Its fantastic.
NBA
The minimum bid for that ring is 25,000, but Kohler believes they set a record with that ring. Adding up the minimum bids for the laundry list above it totals close to 175,000, but Kohler expects this auction to be far more lucrative than that.
Kirk Gibson, currently the Arizona Diamondbacks manager, a couple years ago we auctioned off five or six items from his famous pinch-hit home run in the 1988 World Series, Kohler said. The bat went for 577,000 and the auction brought in 1.2 million.
Like Erving intends to do, Gibson gave a portion of his earnings to charity.
Kohler, who began his company 32 years ago, said he had been in discussions with Erving for the past year. Dr. J decided it was time share his memorabilia with fans because this year marked the 25th anniversary of his retiring from basketball and many of the items had been in storage for some time.
E-mail Dei Lynam at dlynam@comcastsportsnet.com