Julius Erving g/u 1972 Atlanta Hawks warmup

[skipcareyisfat]

First off, before today I had no idea Erving played for the Hawks. Turns out he spent a couple of months with them in 1972 (all pre-season). Anyway, this afternoon I was at a frame shop owned by a collector-acquaintance of mine. He has a number of friends in professional sports, including players. One of them is also the Atlanta Hawks' equipment guy. (I don't know if he's the current one.)

He actually keeps the majority of his memorabilia on display at the shop. One item I noticed today is a 1972 Atlanta Hawks warmup top used by "Dr. J" and obtained directly from the Hawks equipment guy. I don't recall the size or make of the shirt but Erving's last name is written in thin marker in the collar tag. It has a nice, full autograph on the back. Erving recently signed it and, according to this person, was blown away upon seeing it. He apparently verified that it was the right size.

I am in no way saying the shirt is good or not. I know nothing about basketball stuff. I also realize that most athletes are from being reliable authenticators of g/u equipment. But, I seem to recall a few Dr. J collectors on GUU so I thought I'd throw this out to you guys. He's trying to locate any photo of Dr. J as a Hawk and wearing his shooting outfit. Does anyone have a photo(s) like this? I tried Getty, AP, Google, etc. and came up empty. Any other help would be appreciated.

If anyone is interested in contacting this person, email me and I'll pass his info along. I offered to post this for him and he agreed. I figured someone here could help.

Thanks much,

Jason
jctaylor101@yahoo.com

[bobw]

Erving played 2 exhibition games with the Hawks.

The first pic is from the game against the Carolina Cougars. They wore the green and blue uniforms. The portrait photo is from a Hawks program after he left the team but they left the photo inside.

[otismalibu]

Actually, Erving played 3 games with the Atlanta Hawks. Two against the Kentucky Colonels (one at Frankfort and one at Georgia Tech) and one against the Carolina Cougars. The only game photo I've seen of Erving is the one against the Cougars. I think the Hawks were changing to the red uniforms with the pinstripes that year, so maybe that's why the program shot has Doc in the new style jersey. A Hawks fan once told me that they more the older style (blue green) for the pre-season, then switched to the pin stripes.

I've seen a signed white pinstripes warmup jacket. Have also seen the matching game shorts (with a GFC letter) and the matching warmup pants. Have never seen the pinstripes jersey. The shorts also had a letter from Joe O'Toole (think that was his name) who was a Hawks employee.

My guess is that the pinstripes set was never game worn. Event (program photo) worn at best. When Doc made his last visit to the Omni in 1987, the presented him with a #54 Hawks jersey and it was the same style as seen in the game photo above. You can see that pic at Corbis.

Those scans that bobw posted sure look familiar :D

A few years back, the Hawks played the Sixers on TNT. Someone from TNT was looking for pics of Doc with the Hawks and had contacted a fellow that runs a hoops website. He forwarded the message to me and I sent the above scans and a couple others to TNT. The guy said he wouldn't have enough time to get permission to show the pics, but I taped the game anyway and sure enough, they showed all the scans I sent him.

[bobw]

Oops, sorry Otismalibu, forgot to credit where I got the first photo. :) The second one came from the Hawks program I had for sale that you mentioned on the remembertheABA group a few months back.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o186/bobw_photos/drj.jpg

[otismalibu]

Bob,

Well, I just scanned that one out of a book...so it's not like it's mine.:)

Great Squires photo of Doc in the blue road jersey. I've never seen that one before. I saw George Gervin's rookie blue Squires on eBay a few years back. Sweet.

[bobw]

I have the original slide of the Erving. I bought it in a collection of slides and photos of the ABA.

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o186/bobw_photos/img938a.jpg

Gervin in Virginia
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o186/bobw_photos/img939a.jpg

[skipcareyisfat]

Guys,
Thanks for the input and the photos. I'm having a few things framed by this guy and when I pick them up I'll see if he'll let me take some pics of the shirt. I'll post them here so you can see it. It looks pretty cool.
-Jason

[otismalibu]

Jason,

Is this the shirt? If you look real close at the letter, I think it might say team issued, but it's hard to read.

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/1269045

The story I was told, was that a Hawks announcer scooped up Doc's entire game worn Hawks uniform.

Bob,

Shoot me an email, would ya? I tried sending the private message, but I got the standard ...has chosen not to receive private messages or may not be allowed to receive private messages

otismalibu@yahoo.com

[skipcareyisfat]

Greg,
That's it! Nice find. I forgot that the owner said he tried to sell it through Geppi's, but it didn't receive any bids. As for whether it came from the announcer or equipment guy, I don't recall. He mentioned the guy's name - might've been O'Toole - but I don't remember. You'd think someone out there would've bid on this. Who knows.
Thanks again,
Jason

[otismalibu]

You'd think someone out there would've bid on this. Who knows.

What was the opening bid? It's a nice vintage warmup...and signed. But IMO, it was never worn by him. Below is a picture of Doc sitting on the Hawks bench during his brief stay with them. You can see the players on the bench are still wearing the old style.

The photo below is part of JT's ABA Basketball Memorabilia collection.

http://www.abamemorabilia.com/


http://www.abamemorabilia.com/images/216.jpg

[skipcareyisfat]

I don't know what the opening bid was. You could be right about it being issued rather than worn. He definitely needs to locate a shot of Irving in the shirt.

[Stefano61]

here is another picture of the good ol' doctor during practice in his brief Hawks stay