An interesting summer game a few miles away from my home back in 1969. I played in several games against Kutsher’s in the summers of my relative youth ( 17-26. It was a high level of basketball.
This is not working. It’s a photo of a 1969 game at Kutsher’s in which Kareem and Wilt are tipping off against each other.
I will go with this photo instead from Kutsher’s. It’s Wilt, Kareem, the Big O, Maurice Stokes and Roy Campanella. Kareem and Wilt at Kutsher's - Google Search
I will NEVER forget the 72 playoff between the 72 Lakers (69-13 with a 33 game win streak) and the (66-16) Milwaukee Bucks. (BTW it was the Bucks / Kareem that snapped that win steak). Lakers won 4 -2 but it was a tremendous series. One game was dcided by a fortuitous bounce of the ball off a refs leg for the Lakers. The Wilt and Kareem match up was iconic. Thank you for sharing.
I remember seeing that. It got me thinking. We have all seen an inbounding player bounce the ball off of an opposing player often for an easy basket. How often does an inbounding player bounce the ball off a ref for something similar? I have never seen it, but it could happen.
You played on the same floor with Wilt, Kareem, Oscar, and Maurice Stokes? Damn. Best player I ever was on the floor in a game with was Derek Harper. I don't count shooting around with JWill as being in a game.
Let me clarify. I did not play against any of those guys. I did play against the current Kutsher’s basketball teams when we had our local team made up of college players. So, the future NBA players that I played against in actual games at Kutsher’s included guys like Otto Moore and John Kuester. They became NBA players, but not of the ilk of the names you mentioned. Maurice Stokes was paralyzed when he first showed up in the Catskills. Alcindor, Wilt and other greats would get together every year to play a charity game at Kutsher’s for the benefit of Stokes, and, later on, for the benefit of other former players who were racking up huge medical bills. Wilt, did play on the regular Kutsher’s summer team when he was a bellhop at Kutsher’s but that was well before my time. I did meet Wilt at my old high school when the Philadelphia warriors team was playing a charity game that started right after the end of my seventh and eighth grade basketball practice. I was either 11 or 12 years old at the time. By the way, Wilt’s coach at Kutsher’s when he was playing for the Kutsher’s summer team was Red Auerbach. That was pretty impressive, for a hotel to have Red Auerbach as it’s coach.
