32

I was just thinking about 32 while watching young Blake Griffin wear it in the all-star game.

It used to be a battle over numbers like 32 and 33. Kareem would wear 33, and Larry Bird would have to wear a different number. I was surprised that there wasn’t a more experienced Western all-star who wore 32. Now players wear more “non-traditional” numbers, like 1, 2, 6, 16, 18, 37, and 91.

Back in the day all basketball numbers were 1-5 and 10-50. No numbers ending in 6, 7, 8, or 9, so the referees could signal player numbers when they fouled. John Havlicek wore 17 because so many other Celtic numbers were retired, right?

I’m having a hard time remembering 32s.

Jim Brown…52%

Sandy Koufax…14%

Magic Johnson…23%

OJ Simpson…6%

Steve Carlton…2% (great, but avoided the press).

Karl Malone…1% (can’t believe I left him off my list!)

Kevin McHale…1%

Bill Walton…1%

Marcus Allen (wore 34 at USC)

Billy Cunningham

Dr J for the Nets (better known as # 6 for the Sixers)

Franco Harris

Elston Howard

Buck Leonard

Jerry Lucas

Shaq (except in LA)

Detlef Schrempf (my favorite)

Braves Steve Bedrosian, Charlie Leibrant, Dennis Martinez, Mike Hampton, and Derek Lowe.

Falcon Jamal Anderson.

Infamous Hawks Jon Koncak and Boris Diaw.