Season of the 76ers: The Story of Wilt Chamberlain and the 1967 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers [Hardcover]

Wayne Lynch (Author), Billy Cunningham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 21, 2002

Destroying a dynasty.

That was the mission of Wilt Chamberlain and 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers.

For eight straight years, the Boston Celtics had dominated the National Basketball Association. Each and every season during that stretch, a new NBA championship flag was hoisted to the top of the hallowed Boston Garden. No team had been able to stop them. Nobody thought any team could or would.

Season of the 76ers, The Story of Wilt Chamberlain and the 1967 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers, chronicles the unprecedented, record-setting championship journey of the team that finally stopped the Celtics and became the new kings of the NBA. It tells the story of the legendary Chamberlain's personal triumph over Boston and their leader, Bill Russell, arch rivals who had annually thwarted Chamberlain's championship dreams and had left him branded a loser.

But Chamberlain couldn't defeat the Celtics alone. He was reunited with fiery and focused Coach Alex Hannum, the only NBA coach ever to have beaten Boston for the championship. He was surrounded by the best supporting cast of his career: Hal Greer and Chet Walker, two talented offensive stars transplanted from a bygone NBA franchise; Luke Jackson, the league's first true power forward; Billy Cunningham, a sixth man loaded with instant energy and offense; Wally Jones and Larry Costello, a pair of basketball reclamation projects; and, Matty Guokas and Bill Melchionni, a couple of hometown rookies.

Chamberlain remade his game, forsaking his own incredible scoring prowess in favor of handing out assists to teammates. In turn, the 76ers remade basketball history, rocketing to an unmatched 46-4 record out of the gate and not stopping until they reached 68-13, a regular season mark never previously achieved in NBA history--or even imagined back then.

The book gives fans a fascinating, month-by-month look at the team's amazing season, a season that also saw Chamberlain pursued by both a rival basketball league and the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. It also recounts in vivid, play-by-play detail one of the most historic playoff series in the annals of the NBA.

s20The 76ers battled the Celtics again in a much-anticipated post-season confrontation. But this time the results would be different. Amid chants of "Boston is dead" from the long-suffering, Celtics-hating fans at Philadelphia's Convention Hall, the 76ers won the series quickly and decisively. They went on to defeat sharp-shooting Rick Barry and the San Francisco Warriors for the NBA title.

In 1995, the 76ers took their place among the top ten teams in NBA history. Season of the 76ers makes the strong case that they are the best NBA team of all time. Packed with pictures, playoff box scores, and reproductions of the 76ers' championship yearbook, the book is not only the biography of a great team, it is a fun- and fact-filled sports collectible.

The NBA's 2001-2002 season marks the 35th anniversary of that special "Season of the 76ers"--a fitting time to relive this team's unforgettable achievements.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lynch gives a near play-by-play account of the nail-biting season when the Sixers finally ended the Boston Celtics' eight-year winning streak in this sentimental but sometimes stirring hagiography of the team and their coach, Alex Hannum. The subtitle is apt, for Chamberlain dominates the book as he dominated the game; the rest of the story, though well-researched and competently told, seems a little thin in comparison. The most captivating sections are those that describe how the team was put together after this, the narrative blurs into a series of plays, games and scores that become numbing in spite of Lynch's clipped, dramatic prose and copious dialogue drawn from press accounts and interviews that he conducted over the last few years with team members and coaches. Lynch, vice-president of news and programming for NewsChannel 8 in Springfield, Va., is an adamant Sixers fan, a position that may alienate certain readers while endearing him to the other fans of the team who are likely to read this book. Enthusiasts of NBA history and Chamberlain should also find something here to hold their attention. 18 pages of photos not seen by PW.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Using numerous sources, including personal interviews, Lynch chronicles what some say was the greatest season in the National Basketball Association's history in this interesting tale of the 1966-67 Philadelphia team, which, according to Lynch, personified power basketball. They were virtually unbeatable as led by the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Chet Walker, Wally Jones, and Billy Cunningham, who incidentally wrote the foreword. The author, a self-proclaimed 76ers fanatic, is the Emmy Award-winning vice president of news and programming for NewsChannel 8 in Springfield, VA. The work features 16 photos, appendixes of Chamberlain's records, and pages from the 1967-68 Philadelphia team's yearbook. Not a necessary purchase for public libraries, but buy where demand warrants, especially in the Philadelphia area. Larry R. Little, Penticton P.L., BC
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (February 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031228277X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312282776
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,204,035 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE TELLING OF A SEASON OF GREATNESS, February 9, 2003

By A Customer

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This review is from: Season of the 76ers: The Story of Wilt Chamberlain and the 1967 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers (Hardcover)

THIS IS THE STORY OF ONE OF THE MOST DOMINATING TEAMS IN ANY SPORT. THE SIXERS WERE PRACTICALLY UNBEATABLE DURING THEIR INCREDIBLE SEASON OF 66-67. THIS IS A MONTH BY MONTH SUMMARY OF THE HIGHLIGHTS AND EVENTS WHICH BROUGHT THE SIXERS TO THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP. THE FIRST PART OF THE BOOK LEADS UP TO THE EVENTS WHICH BROUGHT THE TEAM TOGETHER. IT PROVIDES AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT INDIVIDUAL GAMES, ESPECIALLY THE PLAYOFFS. ALSO AN AFTER SEASON SUMMARY OF HOW THE TEAM LOST TO THE CELTICS IN 67-68 AND THE EVENTUAL BREAKUP OF THIS GREAT DYNAMO. ALSO SOME GREAT STATS AND SOME NOSTALGIC PHOTOS PROVIDE US WITH A GOOD BOOK. RECOMMENDED.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Games Do Not Tell The Entire Story, April 15, 2007

By 

Bicycle Day - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Season of the 76ers: The Story of Wilt Chamberlain and the 1967 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers (Hardcover)

Entering the 1966-1967 season, Wilt Chamberlain was at the crossroads of his storied NBA career.

Criticized by many inside and outside the NBA as being a selfish player who only cares about his scoring statistics - at the expense of team honors - a frustrated Chamberlain publicly lashed out at players, coaches and league officials in an April 1965 interview in Sports Illustated, entitled, My Life In A Bush League.

But one season later, Chamberlain seemingly revamped his game - notching MVP honors by leading the league in scoring and rebounds, but also ranking third in assists and playing a tenacious defense - as the Philadelphia 76ers put together arguably the greatest NBA season ever by winning regular season 68 of 81 games enroute to the championship, defeating the San Francisco Warriors in six games.

To put the regular season in perspective, the 76ers captured the Eastern Division by eight games over Boston and would have won the Western Division by 24 games over San Francisco.

In a flawed account of the season, author Wayne Lynch places the focus on Chamberlain, though what coach Alex Hannum assembled proved to be a historic lineup of talent, which included Chet Walker, Hal Greer, Wali Jones, Billy Cunningham and Lucious Jackson.

Lynch relies heavily on game-by-game accounts and fails to breath life into the statistics through oral histories or previous accounts by 76er players and opponents. He sacrifices what could have been truly an outstanding overview for just the facts surrounding jump shots, rebounds and layups.

Games alone do not tell the entire story of a championship season. And without a perspective from the hardwood floor and locker room, the stats overwhelm a text that essentially is without the sweat and heart of a team.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long Overdue Book on a legendary team, November 15, 2005

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bix lang "pastafagiole" (Davenport, Iowa USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Season of the 76ers: The Story of Wilt Chamberlain and the 1967 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers (Hardcover)

Only Philadelphia could totally neglect the greatest NBA team of alltime for over thirty years. I remember going to the old Convention Hall in Philly and watching Wily, Chet, Hal, Billy and Luke and the boys obliterate opposing teams. Big Luke was my favorite player---he set picks for Cunningham, Greer, and Walker; he played tenacious defense, and rebounded like a demon. He sacrificed much of his own scoring production for the good of the team. Wilt said Luke was the most intimidating player in NBA history. Wilt recalled with a laugh that whenever Willis Reed saw Jackson walking done the tunnel onto the court during warmups, Reed began to visibly shake. A nice little ditty; I highly recommend it. Now I wish someone in Philly would produce a DVD highlighting that same 1966-67 season. That would be fun to watch.