You can buy a 1971 Milwaukee Bucks championship ring. But what is that name engraved on it?
A rare piece of Milwaukee Bucks history is up for auction.
A 1971 championship ring is available for bidding at Lelands.com. It's got the NBA logo engraved on it, along with "20 straight" to commemorate the winning streak the eventual champs went on from Feb. 6 to March 8 that year.
The ring also includes the name "Bob Wolf."
The team went 50 years before winning another title in 2021, so maybe some names on the 1971 roster have been lost to memory. But there certainly wasn't a Bob Wolf running the court alongside Lew Alcindor, Oscar Robertson, Jon McGlocklin and Bobby Dandridge.
Maybe it was a front-office worker? Like the Bob Wolf who was a star at Marquette, the first MU player picked by the American Basketball Association?
Nope.
This Bob Wolf was a sportswriter who covered the Bucks for the Milwaukee Journal that championship season. Yes, the guy who wrote game stories was awarded a championship ring.
Wolf was a legendary journalist who worked at the Milwaukee Journal for 39 years, retiring in 1986. He also covered the Braves for all 13 of their seasons in Milwaukee, including their World Series championship in 1957. He was the beat writer for the Bucks for their first eight seasons.
Wolf died at 81 in 2003.
"He was the star of the sports staff," Mike Kupper said in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel obituary in 2003.
Before his journalism career, Wolf served in the Army during World War II. He received the Purple Heart for wounds he suffered on Okinawa, including the loss of his left hand.
McClocklin has funny stories about Wolf covering the team. After beating the Bullets in Baltimore to win the title, the team was waiting for Wolf so they could fly back to Milwaukee.
"The Journal and Sentinel writers were Rel Bochat and Bob Wolf, who covered us, traveled with us. We were on commercial airlines," McGlocklin told WTMJ in 2021. "So the next day we're on the bus and we're waiting on Boucher and Wolf. So Bob Wolf had a prosthetic arm. We couldn't find Bob's arm. And Boucher, we couldn't find his shoes. They couldn't find his shoes. So he ended up with Wolf's shoes. And we found Bob's arm under the bed. And finally got on the plane."
No wonder the team gave him a ring.
The ring has been sold before, fetching $5,985 in 2016, though it has a new stone to replace a green gem. As of Friday morning, the ring has four bids with the top one at $6,655.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Bucks 1971 championship ring up for auction
