On the one hand, you have the most dominant player in basketball history, along with four playmates.
On the other, you have three future pros - not cup of coffee types, either - and a fourth guy who was regarded, at the time, as being superior to the three who went pro.
When the Daily News decided to tackle the interesting and enjoyable task of selecting the Top 10 high school basketball teams in Philadelphia history, the chief argument became: Who's No. 1?
Do we go with the Overbrook team of 1954-55, featuring 7-foot Wilt Chamberlain and his 47-point league scoring average? Or do we opt instead for the Overbrook team of 1957-58, with the three-pack of pros (Walt Hazzard, Wally Jones and Wayne Hightower) and the guy who would become a schoolboy All- America the following season, Ralph Heyward?
"Oh, boy," said Paul Ward, coach the '58 team, who now is retired and living in Cherry Hill. "I wouldn't put my foot into that one."
From other precincts, the reports were unanimous . . . "Forget that '58 team. Wilt's team has to be No. 1."
Indeed it does.
Too many people, we feel, have fallen in love with the '58 team in retrospect. Sophomores Jones and Hazzard were just starting to become players. Jones, in fact, was a substitute for most of the season, until Howie Horenstein was lost to mid-year graduation. As much talent as they possessed, Heyward and three-sport star Richie Richman were also underclassmen.
In high school ball, isn't experience supposed to be an important ingredient in what separates great teams from good teams?
As '58 supporters will be quick to point out, the '55 team did lose a game.
In December 1954, Wilt and his buddies traveled to Farrell, Pa., for the Farrell Lions Tournament. The Hilltoppers lost to the host, 59-58, in the final. Farrell would go on to win the PIAA state championship.
Frankford coach Vince Miller, Overbrook's second-leading scorer that season, has a scrapbook crammed with articles. The papers covering Farrell lamented the shaky officiating and referred to the "hometown" decision.
"Know what I remember distinctly?" Miller said. "After the game, Farrell fans came to our locker room to apologize. Farrell fans! You take it from there."
For people who would question how one school could have produced three of the Top 10 teams, munch on this: 11 Overbrook products have played in the NBA.
This was not an easy list to compile. Much agonizing occurred.
