You Want His Tickets? Line Forms Behind Us
Marc Stern of Malibu, vice chairman of a Los Angeles asset management firm, told an incredible story during a downtown business meeting Wednesday. Pat Haden, who was at the meeting, passed it along.
Stern, as an 18-year-old sophomore at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., bought two tickets to see the Philadelphia Warriors play the New York Knicks at nearby Hershey on March 2, 1962. But a professor scheduled an exam for the next day. So he gave his tickets away.
And that was the night Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points.
Stern, now a Laker season-ticket holder, had to attend a birthday party Sunday night. So he gave his tickets away.
And that was the night Kobe Bryant scored 81 points.
“If Marc ever wants to give his tickets away again,” Haden said, “the recipient is bound to see a good game.”
Another viewpoint: Stern, reached at his office, said, “Two historic games, 44 years and 3,000 miles apart with one common thread -- stupid me.”
Added Stern: “A lot of people claimed to have had tickets to that game in Hershey, but I may be the only person who claims to have had them and not gone to the game. And I can’t imagine anyone else having tickets to the Wilt game and the Kobe game, and not attending either one.”
Trivia time: After Chamberlain scored 78 points for the Warriors in a triple-overtime game Dec. 8, 1961, what was Warrior coach Frank McGuire’s prophetic comment?
An obvious parallel: Reader Joel Rapp of Los Angeles says Bryant’s 81-point game reminds him of a time when a Dodger fan called his friend and excitedly announced, “Sandy Koufax just pitched a no-hitter.”
And his friend replied, “Great! Did the Dodgers win?”
A key stat: Of Bryant’s performance, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel said, “He scored 26 in the first half, 47 in the second and eight points during halftime. Even more impressive, he had two assists. That’s what is important, being a team player.”
Doing the impossible: On Phil Jackson’s Sirius Satellite Radio show, co-host Mike Yam said to the Laker coach: “Before Kobe got that 81, if I had asked you last week if it was possible for a player to score 80 points in a game, what would you have said?”
“No,” Jackson replied, “not in this day and age. There are just too many double teams, traps, good defensive situations that present themselves.”
Looking back: On this day in 1991, Vernon Maxwell of the Houston Rockets scored 30 points in the fourth quarter of a 103-97 victory over Cleveland. Maxwell finished with 51 points. At the time, Chamberlain, David Thompson, George Gervin and Michael Jordan were the only NBA players to have scored 30 points or more in a quarter.
Trivia answer: Of Chamberlain, McGuire said, “He’ll get 100 points someday.”
And finally: “How about Kobe Bryant?” said NBC’s Jay Leno. “He scored 81 points. They may change their name from Lakers to ‘The Laker.’ ”
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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.