“Sustained Excellence” is a periodic series looking back at the 50th anniversary of Bill Russell’s coaching debut season, and at the Celtic dynasty in general.
In anticipation of Wilt Chamberlain’s arrival on the NBA scene in the fall of 1959, owner Eddie Gottlieb lined up a whopping 31 pre-season exhibition games for his Philadelphia Warriors.
A born promoter and forward-thinking guy, Gottlieb had founded the nationally-prominent South Philadelphia Hebrew Association teams (the SPHAs) and was pretty much the guru of all things athletic – not just basketball – in the area dating to before the Depression.