This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 12/1/2011.
This ring comes to us directly from the family of Irv Gack, former business executive for the St. Louis Hawks from 1959 to 1974. To our knowledge, this is the earliest NBA Championship ring ever sold. After losing to the Boston Celtics in the 1957 NBA Finals, the 1957-58 St. Louis Hawks would return to the Finals to face Boston once again. In Game 6, with St. Louis leading the series 3-2, Bob Pettit scored 50 points in front of a home crowd of 10,218 to give the Hawks their first and only NBA Championship. Gack is widely known to have been involved in a 1967 scuffle with Hall of Fame referee Earl Strom. In 1967, the St. Louis Hawks, playing in Memphis at the time, had a game-winning buzzer beater against the Philadelphia 76ers called back by Strom, giving the Sixers the win. An irate Gack yelled to Strom, calling him a “gutless bastard” as the referee headed to the locker room. Strom then leaped over the scorer’s table and grabbed Gack by the shirt as the two started to tussle. As enraged fans started coming down from their seats, Sixers center Wilt Chamberlain put a bear hug on Strom, pulled him off Gack and carried him toward the locker room. This size 10.5, 14k gold staff members ring weighs 20 grams. The top panel reads “CHAMPIONS 1957 1958 NBA” surrounding St. Louis’ “Hawk” logo perched atop a basketball net with “ST. LOUIS HAWKS” in relief below on the silver raised portion. The left and right panels feature laurelled leaves and scrollwork in relief. The left panel reads “I” and the right panel reads “G”, both in relief in silver. The inside of the ring is stamped “14K”. The ring is in VG condition from regular wear and is accompanied by a LOA from the Gack family. This is the oldest NBA Championship ring that this auction house has ever handled.