For real, serious sports poster collectors and enthusiasts, this feature is for you! On a periodic basis, I’ll be using this blog to display and describe the holdings of The Flagg Collection – the personal collection of rare and vintage posters collected by me, Neil Flagg, the founder and President of SportsPosterWarehouse.com.
Now, I wouldn’t call myself a Golden State Warriors fan by any stretch – but that being said, I don’t think I’d part with this one for anything right now. Many poster collectors aren’t even aware that the ProMotions company, famous for their 1971-72 series of Major League Baseball team theme art posters, also produced posters of the NBA Basketball teams of the era. Certainly, their artist nailed it with this one – simply beautiful!
This poster had to have been released late in the 1970-71 season, and would have been discontinued just months later, as the franchise announced after that season that it would be renaming the franchise to the Golden State Warriors (four years after moving to the Oakland Coliseum Arena – better late than never…) Nonetheless, the San Francisco theme shines through with the cable car imagery. The legendary “The City” uniforms of the day are faithfully reproduced in both home and away color schemes.
It’s been a long time since I added this one to the collection – probably obtained it in a larger purchase of old ProMotions posters 15 years ago. I’ve never seen one of these available since, so this is a prized acquisition, especially given its renewed relevance during this Warriors renaissance era. Stephen Curry himself would probably love to have one of these on his wall! Or perhaps, the families of some of the legendary superstars of that late-’60s/early-’70s era of Warriors basketball – Rick Barry, Nate Thurmond, Jerry Lucas, Jeff Mullins, Ron Williams, Al Attles and the rest.
As a an iconic keepsake of an era and a franchise, and as simply a brilliant work of basketball art, this one is an all-time legend. As with most of the posters in The Flagg Collection, I’ve had this one canvas-transferred to preserve it forever with durability, in an easy-to-display format. Some day, a museum piece, to be sure!
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