This is some pretty rare video from 1964, of a Game 7 between the (then) St. Louis Hawks and the (then) San Francisco Warriors.
There are at least three Hall of Famers in this game: Wilt Chamberlain and Nate Thurmond for the Warriors, and Bob Pettit for the Hawks.
San Francisco started both Chamberlain, who was 7-1 and 27, and Thurmond, who was 6-11 and 22, and that was unusual in that era. However, both were supremely athletic, and that allowed the Warriors to play both at the same time.
Pettit at
that point was 31 and nearing the end of his career. He was an early prototype of what we now tend to call a stretch-four. At 6-9, he was a gifted outside shooter. He was also a talented rebounder, and like contemporary Bill Russell, played with a burning intensity.
Of these three Hall of Famers, Chamberlain passed away in 1999, and Thurmond in 2016.
Pettit lives. Along with Richie Guerin and Cliff Hagan, he is one of the oldest former NBA players. Hagan and Guerin are both 94, while Pettit is 93.
However, none of them are the oldest former NBA player. That would be Bob Cousy, who will turn 98 in a couple of weeks.
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