Before the advent of the shot clock in basketball, teams would sometimes resort to a tactic called "Stall Ball" where a player would hold the ball for nearly the entire quarter and either force the other team to foul (putting him to the line) or hold for the final shot. It was not uncommon for these types of games to have final scores of 4-2. While the tactic sometimes worked (the famous 1954 Milan high school team that the movie Hoosiers was inspired by used this tactic) it was awful to watch and extremely boring. The 1956 oversized photo offered here shows University of California star Joe Hagler as he employed the scheme, holding the ball for 7 minutes and 40 seconds of an 8 minute quarter! In his defense, he was playing Bill Russell's USF team! A well known moment in basketball, this is the only image from this game we have ever seen. Oversized and in great shape, the photo comes with a photo-copy on another angle of this shot which really adds to the history of the piece. USF won on their way to the national championship, but this game was actually close, 33-24 (the tactic almost worked).

Size: 7x12
Designation: Vintage 1
Condition: 4.5/5
Quality: 5/5
Overall Grade: 9.5/10