Missing Sports Treasures

The vertical challenges to our male specie notwithstanding, we are a nation having a major basketball fixation. For our concluding installment, here are hoopdom's key memorabilias whose whereabouts remains a mystery.

Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point Ball - Several conflicting accounts surrounds the whereabouts of the ball Chamberlain used to score 100 points on March 2, 1962 in Hershey, Pennsylvania versus New York. Crane operator Kerry Ryman claims that as a 14 year old, he grabbed the ball from Wilt's hands and played with it for several years. Then Philadelphia Warriors publicist Harvey Pollack said he placed the ball on Wilt's gym bag. Joe Ruklick, Wilt's backup, also said he did the same thing. Chamberlain himself had another version. He said he gave the ball to teammate Al Attles, with Attles denying he ever had it. In 2000, Ryman's ball went for $551,000 (p27.55 million) at Leland's auction house but suspended the sale because its authenticity was suspect. Six months later, the ball was re-auctioned and sold for $67,791 (p3,389,550). The original relic? ESTIMATED VALUE : $600,000 (p30 million)

Artis Gilmore's ABA Title Ring - Before that massive, 7'2" being disguised as Shaq set foot on this planet, another 7'2" was dominating the post and held the American Basketball Association's all-time record for blocked shots. Artis Gilmore, although not as hulking as Shaq, had an Afro hairdo bigger than a hot air balloon. He was the main man of the 1975 ABA champion Kentucky Colonels. In the late 70's while playing for the Chicago Bulls, his championship ring was stolen from a hotel room. The bygone bling's estimated value? $15,000 (p750,000)

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Reign for ten years as the world's greatest basketball player, retire three times, unretire twice. Obviously, a shipload of memorabilia accumulates. In what could be expensively elusive cardboards, here are three of Michael Jordan's valuable "Rare Airs" :

Steak Dinner Coupon - In 1988, a limited edition MJ trading card was offered by a Chicago Chevrolet dealership when you buy a $26,000 Chevy Blazer. A smiling portrait of MJ is on the front of the card; on the back is a coupon for an exclusive dinner inside a glassed-in room at Jordan's steakhouse. Oscar Gracia, author of "Collecting Michael Jordan Memorabilia", has seen only two of these cards and he has one of the two. How many cards were given out, no one exactly knew. Restaurant personnel threw the cards away when people turned them in for dinner, that's why getting across them is hard. ESTIMATED VALUE : $2,200 (p110,000)

Double A Baseball Card - In 1994, Fleer made MJ's first baseball card when on his first retirement, he joined the Chicago White Sox Double A farm team, the Birmingham Barons. The company was not satisfied with MJ's photo so it destroyed the 90,000 cards it has printed. A few cards were kept by Fleer company employees and after 12 years, only three have surfaced. Most collectors don't know they exist because they are so limited. ESTIMATED VALUE : $1,500 (p75,000).

Yugoslavian Sticker - The world produced items that bear MJ's image. From dolls to plates to towels. A sticker made by a Yugoslavian publication, CAO, was printed in 1989, and is by far, the hardest to find. Because of the war between the Serbs and the Croats then, the cards disappeared and only six were known to exist. Collectors have travelled to Yugoslavia in search for these stickers. ESTIMATED VALUE : $3,000 to $3,500 (between p150,000 to p175,000)

Hey guys, if you come across these treasures, you got the Holy Grail of sports memorabilias. email at [email protected]