1961-62 Fleer Wilt Chamberlain #8 RC

Fleer fills an empty court

Basketball cards had arrived about once a generation: Bowman in 1948, Topps in 1957. When the Frank H. Fleer Company issued its 1961-62 set, no basketball card set had appeared for four years, and Fleer had the field to itself.

The Philadelphia company, founded by Frank H. Fleer in 1885, was best known for gum. In 1928 Fleer employee Walter Diemer created Dubble Bubble, the first commercially successful bubble gum. Fleer's basketball set was cautious: 66 standard 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch cards with black-and-white photos brightened by colored caption blocks and team logos, and backs with personal details, a short biography and statistics, the card number set in a blue band.

Sixty-six cards fit exactly twice on a 132-card press sheet, so every card was printed in equal numbers. There are no short prints, high numbers or variations. The set's stars, Chamberlain, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson among them, each appear twice: a close-up portrait, which collectors treat as the true rookie card, and a second In Action card. Bill Russell appears on two cards too, #38 and #62, though they are not his rookies.

The Big Dipper

Wilton Norman Chamberlain was born August 21, 1936, in Philadelphia, the sixth of nine children. He was 6 feet tall at 10 and 6 feet 11 when he entered Overbrook High School, where he scored 2,252 points, led the team to a 56-3 record over three seasons and picked up the nicknames Wilt the Stilt, Goliath and his favorite, the Big Dipper. More than 200 colleges tried to recruit him.

He chose Kansas, lost the 1957 national championship game to North Carolina in triple overtime, and was the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Tired of college ball, he sold a story titled "Why I Am Leaving College" to Look magazine for $10,000 and, because the NBA then barred players until their college class graduated, joined the Harlem Globetrotters in 1958 for $50,000.

With the Philadelphia Warriors in 1959-60 he averaged 37.6 points and 27.0 rebounds and won both Rookie of the Year and MVP. Over 14 seasons he scored 31,419 points and grabbed 23,924 rebounds, won four MVP awards and two championships (1967 and 1972), and led the league in scoring seven times and rebounding eleven times. He is the only player to average 30 points and 20 rebounds in a season, which he did seven times, and he never fouled out.

He entered the Hall of Fame in 1978 and died of congestive heart failure on October 12, 1999, at 63.

The 50-point season

The card was in packs during the most extraordinary scoring season in league history. In 1961-62 Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds and scored 4,029 points, still the only 4,000-point season. He averaged 48.5 minutes a game, playing 3,882 of his team's 3,890 minutes; he would have played them all if he had not been ejected late in one game.

On March 2, 1962, against the New York Knicks on a neutral court in Hershey, Pennsylvania, he scored 100 points, making 36 of 63 shots and, unusually for him, 28 of 32 free throws. No video of the game exists; only a radio recording of the fourth quarter survives.

The season still ended in Boston. The Warriors met the Celtics in the Eastern Division finals, and after Chamberlain tied Game 7 at 107 with 16 seconds left, Sam Jones hit the winning shot with two seconds to go. Russell, not Chamberlain, won the MVP that year.

In the wider world, Roger Maris hit his 61st home run, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, and the Seattle World's Fair opened the Space Needle.

The grocery store copy

PSA 9 copies drove the market's first big run. In 2021 they sold for between $288,000 and $450,000, and on June 21, 2022, a PSA 9 sold privately for $670,000. An SGC 9 brought $159,483 at auction in 2022.

Then a better one surfaced. A family member found a Chamberlain rookie that had sat in a grocery store closet in Crosby, Minnesota, for more than 60 years. Graded by SGC, it received a perfect 10, the only 10 that grader had ever given any 1961-62 Fleer card. In September 2024 it sold privately for $1.7 million, the most ever paid for a pre-1980 basketball card.

The buyer, who stayed anonymous, sent it to PSA for crossover grading, saying PSA cards carry a premium for this set. In October 2024 PSA graded the card a 10 as well, its fourth for the card out of more than 2,100 it had graded. The buyer said he had no plans to sell. Another PSA 10 sold at auction for $976,000 in August 2025.

What to look for in a PSA 8

The 1961-62 Fleer set is known for factory and printing defects, which is what made the grocery store copy's perfect grade so striking. The card is seen in high grade more often than some other key rookies in the set, but it suffers from the same condition problems.

PSA 8, Near Mint-Mint, sits just below the elite tier. PSA's own figures list 185 copies at 8, 33 at 9 and only a handful higher. A PSA 8 sold for $45,140 on July 12, 2026; for comparison, a PSA 7 brought $19,215 in September 2026 and a PSA 9 $348,000 in January 2022.

Make sure the card is #8, the portrait. Chamberlain's second card in the set is an In Action shot and is not considered his rookie.

The numbers

1961-62 season (card year)

80 G, 48.5 MPG, 50.4 PPG, 25.7 RPG, 2.4 APG, .506 FG%, .613 FT%; 4,029 PTS and 2,052 REB

March 2, 1962 vs. New York

100 points: 36 of 63 FG, 28 of 32 FT

1961-62 honors

All-Star, All-NBA First Team; second in MVP voting

1959-60 rookie season

72 G, 37.6 PPG, 27.0 RPG; MVP, Rookie of the Year, All-Star MVP

1960-61 season

79 G, 38.4 PPG, 27.2 RPG, .509 FG%

Career (1959-1973)

1,045 G, 31,419 PTS, 30.1 PPG, 23,924 REB, 22.9 RPG, 4,643 AST

Titles and honors

2 NBA championships, 4 MVPs, 1972 Finals MVP, 13 All-Star selections, Hall of Fame 1978

Timeline

1. Aug 21, 1936

   Wilt Chamberlain is born in Philadelphia.

2. 1957

   Kansas loses the NCAA title game to North Carolina in triple overtime; Chamberlain is named Most Outstanding Player.

3. 1958

   Chamberlain leaves Kansas and joins the Harlem Globetrotters for $50,000.

4. 1960

   Chamberlain wins Rookie of the Year and MVP for the 1959-60 season.

5. 1961

   Fleer issues its 66-card basketball set, with Chamberlain's rookie as #8.

6. Mar 2, 1962

   Chamberlain scores 100 points against the Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

7. 1962

   Chamberlain finishes the season at 50.4 points per game; Boston wins Game 7 of the East finals on a late Sam Jones shot.

8. 1967

   Chamberlain wins his first title with the Philadelphia 76ers.

9. 1972

   Chamberlain wins a second title and the Finals MVP with the Lakers.

10. 1978

    Chamberlain is inducted into the Hall of Fame.

11. Oct 12, 1999

    Chamberlain dies at 63.

12. Apr 25, 2021

    A PSA 9 sells for $450,000.

13. Jun 21, 2022

    A PSA 9 sells privately for $670,000.

14. Sep 4, 2024

    A copy found in a Minnesota grocery store, graded SGC 10, sells privately for $1.7 million.

15. Oct 2024

    The same card crosses over to PSA as a 10, its fourth for the card.

16. Aug 2025

    A PSA 10 sells at auction for $976,000.

17. Jul 12, 2026

    A PSA 8 sells for $45,140.

The world in 1961

• May 4, 1961

  The Freedom Riders begin interstate bus rides to test desegregation rulings.

• May 5, 1961

  Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space.

• Oct 1, 1961

  Roger Maris hits his 61st home run, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record.

• Oct 27, 1961

  Soviet and American tanks face off in Berlin.

• Feb 3, 1962

  The United States announces its embargo against Cuba.

• Feb 20, 1962

  John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth.

• Apr 21, 1962

  The Seattle World's Fair opens, and with it the Space Needle.

• Jul 2, 1962

  The first Wal-Mart store opens in Rogers, Arkansas.

Daily price data

FLOAT reprices this card every day from completed sales. Last updated November 12, 2026.

No completed sale at PSA 8 is on record yet. The same card at other grades:

Every grade and recorded sale for this card

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1961-62 Fleer Wilt Chamberlain #8 RC is number 41 of 100 in the trading cards entries of the FLOAT 100. 97 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (39 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The finest known copy sat in a grocery store closet in Crosby, Minnesota, for more than 60 years.
• That copy was the only SGC 10 ever given to any 1961-62 Fleer card, and PSA later graded it a 10 as well.
• Fleer printed the set two full sets to a sheet, so Chamberlain's card was printed in exactly the same numbers as every common.
• In his 50.4-point season Chamberlain finished second in the MVP vote, behind Bill Russell.
• There is no video of Chamberlain's 100-point game; only a radio recording of the fourth quarter survives.
• Chamberlain played 3,882 of his team's 3,890 minutes in 1961-62.
• Chamberlain left Kansas after selling a magazine story, "Why I Am Leaving College," for $10,000, more than an NBA player then earned in a season.