The Sixers will honor the 40th Anniversary of the 1983 World Champions at the Sixers game tonight.

Boy, does this take me back to the basement, in those bins leftover from the fire with all that stuff Mom had saved?

And there among all those sports articles others had written about Dad was Dad’s byline in The New York Times.

Dad’s not one to write–ever. And how’d he get published before me? So it struck me as unusual.

And even better, he wrote about the most extraordinary topic ever–winning the title for the 76ers as a player for the 1966-67 team and as a coach for the 1982-83 team.

It’s the only two titles the Philadelphia 76ers have seen, and Dad was part of them both.

Dad’s perspective was unique back then and still is for those who have yet to learn about the Sixers’ great past. Hopefully, this excites you for next week’s reunion recap.

And it was so good I’m posting it again 40 years later.

But first, I had to ask Dad if it was okay to republish his article.

And he laughed (especially when I was shocked at how good it was). But he remembered writing it for his friend at the New York Times (and the friend helped a little).

So here it is.

Billy Cunningham: The 76ers 2 Titles
by Billy Cunningham
New York Times, June 19, 1983

I played on the Philadelphia 76ers’ 1966-67 team that won the National Basketball Association championship. I am the coach of the 76ers’ team that won the title this season. Which team was better?

I realize comparisons of this type are a major topic among sports fans, but it’s a question that I find impossible to answer.

There are a lot of similarities between both teams, but 16 years is a long time in the fast-moving game of pro basketball. Player styles have changed and coaching has become more sophisticated.

The league in 1966-67 had ten teams, compared with the 23 we now have. The 1966-67 team was a power team with everything centered around Wilt Chamberlain.

Defensively, we would funnel things toward Wilt to take advantage of his shot-blocking and rebounding abilities. He averaged 24.1 points and 24.2 rebounds a game that season. We did not run the way teams do today or make the outlet pass after a defensive rebound. After Wilt took down the rebound, he held it in his huge hands like a grapefruit. He would wait for the defense to get back, and he timed himself beautifully as we waited for the guards, Hal Greer and Wally Jones, to come up so he could give them the ball. We would then go down to the other end and run a set offense.

Once Wilt got the ball on offense, he would post up. The ball would remain stationary and the players would move. Wilt averaged eight assists a game.

Alex Hannum was a great coach for that team because of the fear and the respect he commanded. He had coached Greer, Larry Costello, Dave Gambee and Chet Walker in Syracuse and Wilt in San Francisco. They knew what he wanted and he knew the players’ capabilities.

And Alex developed a special relationship with Wilt. Both Alex and Wilt liked fast cars, and I’ll never forget a night in San Francisco that season when they raced their cars from the airport to the Jack Tar Hotel, which was in the center of the city. They both kept cars in San Francisco. Wilt owned a Maserati and Alex owned several cars.

It was 1:30 in the morning, and Wilt took the lead and spotted a policeman. Wilt got off at the next exit while Alex continued to run his car at 100-plus miles an hour and was pulled over by the police.

Wilt got back on the parkway at the next exit and while the police were writing out a ticket for Alex, Wilt passed him–at a much slower rate. He just beeped the horn.

That was my second season in the league, and my role on the team was similar to Bobby Jones’s role with the Sixers now in that we were both sixth men. I was more of an offensive player, whereas Bobby is more of a complete player.

Then, there was one coach. Now, teams have at least three coaches on a ball club, counting scouts. There was no scouting in those days, no films, and no scouting reports as there are today. The preparation today is more sophisticated. All Alex had to do was put in a set offense and defense around Wilt.

We practiced, but Wilt didn’t. He didn’t like practice. He just made appearances and watched us work. He averaged almost 48 minutes a game.

Both 76er championship teams came after two seasons of coming close to winning championships.

In 1965, the 76ers lost the seventh game of the Eastern Conference final to Boston, 110-109. That was the game in which John Havlicek made the big steal in the closing seconds to end our hopes. In 1966, my rookie season, we lost to the Celtics in five games in the conference final.

The 1980-81 76ers went through the season with great anticipation of a championship and lost to the Celtics in five games in the conference final.

The 1980-81 76ers went through the season with great anticipation of a championship and lost to the Celtics in the Eastern final, also by a point, 91-90. The 76ers were beaten for the title in six games in 1982 by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Both championships were won on the West Coast, the 1966-67 team won in San Francisco, and this season we won in L.A.

Both teams had two great stars whose careers were missing only a championship. Wilt then and Julius Erving, the Doc, now. Both were past 30 and had won every individual honor but never an N.B.A. title.

From the first day of training camp each season, both teams promised that nothing would distract them from winning the title. Both teams had similar attitudes–that individual goals were not important.

Some people thought we would win a championship as soon as we signed Moses Malone before this season. But I can tell the coaches went to training camp very concerned for several reasons.

We didn’t know if Moses would be able to adjust to our team because he came from Houston, a team that did not run. We were unsure whether Moses could fill the defensive void left by our trading away Caldwell Jones and Daryl Dawkins. We knew he was a great offensive player, but we weren’t sure about his defense. And we were unsure what effect a dramatic change in style would have on Moses. We didn’t know whether he could adjust to us or whether we would have to make adjustments for him.

We also had some apprehensions about whether Doc and Moses could play together.

After two days in training camp, we had our answer. Moses would make the adjustments to the team. He did everything we asked of him. Moses and Doc blended so well.

Both players had always been asked to score a lot of points. Now when they played with each other, there was no problem, for each had achieved everything he could individually. They had only one more goal–a title.

Each player changed his game. Doc concentrated more on defense and passing rather than scoring. Moses focused more on defensive rebounding and making the outlet pass rather than carrying the load with his offensive rebounding.

This had happened with Chamberlain as well. Wilt had averaged 50 points a game one season, and he had achieved all the individual goals. But he showed he was a complete basketball player, making passes, blocking shots and rebounding.

We were a running team this season, the best running team I ever coached. We were able to create off our defense by pressuring teams into taking the tough shots.

I remember that after we had beaten the Celtics in four of the five games in 1967 in the Eastern final, they brought champagne into the dressing room for us to celebrate. It was a great feat. The Celtics had won the last eight championships. I went over to Wilt that night and offered him some champagne so he could get involved in the celebrating. Wilt turned me down. He said, “No champagne until I get that ring.” We got it in San Francisco.

After we beat Milwaukee for the Eastern final this season, someone in our front office asked me if I wanted champagne brought in. I told him to wait. I remembered what Wilt had told me then.