What happened to the coin that determined the fate of the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns in 1969?
PHOENIX  A Milwaukee police officer jumped on John Ericksons desk as Wes Pavalons cigarette wound up in the Milwaukee Bucks' general manager's ear thanks to a celebratory hug in the team offices. A devastated Jerry Colangelo left his office in Phoenix and drove around for hours. In New York, J. Walter Kennedy pocketed the most famous  or infamous if you worked or rooted for the Phoenix Suns  coin in NBA history. The unlikely sibling cities came into the league together as expansion franchises in 1968, but it was a coin flip on March 19, 1969, that altered the paths of the two teams forever. UCLA center Lew Alcindor, now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was the prize of that college draft class. Phoenix was 16-66 in the West and Milwaukee was 27-55 in the East and the league had to flip a coin to determine which franchise would pick first. As they prepared for the coin flip, Colangelo held a poll in a local newspaper to see how the fans wanted him to call the flip. "I wanted the fans to participate in that decision, win or lose," he said. 51.2% said call heads." Meanwhile in Milwaukee, Erickson was calling oddsmakers in Las Vegas. "I remember him telling me that and I'm like, really, you called Las Vegas and you asked about the odds?'" his daughter Lew Ellen recalled. It was a big deal. He called to check that because he was trying to figure out everything he could do." Memory and reporting vary as to how the call was made, however. Colangelo maintains he asked Kennedy if the Suns could make the call, which was fine by the commissioner if the Bucks were OK with it. And, they were. Which would make sense because Erickson said in a 1989 story in the Kansas City Star that his Vegas insiders told him to always have your opponent do so. But in that same story, Erickson recalled a sealed envelope was opened to determine who called it. Regardless of how it came to be, the Suns were awarded the call. "And he described how he was going to flip it in the air, and we would then find out who won," Colangelo recalled. "We made the call that we wanted to call heads. But heres what took place. Visualize if you would. He flips the coin in the air, it lands in the palm of his hand heads, and then he flips it over on his other hand, on the back side of his hand, and of course it was tails. So, it came up heads, but he flipped it over to tails." The celebration commenced in Milwaukee and dejection weighed down Phoenix. "I often have said that little move from flipping the coin  think about what that move meant to two franchises and what that coin flip did," Colangelo said. "We were, I was, devastated by that loss." Alcindor transforms Bucks; Suns are cursed  The coin flip was important of course, but the Bucks needed one more element for it to actually prove fortunate  Alcindor had to agree to an NBA contract. He had initially agreed to do so, eschewing a more lucrative offer from the ABA, but the paperwork had yet to be signed. "The first thing that I remember about it is that most important is that my dad said Lew Alcindor was a man of his word and he kept his word," Lew Ellen Erickson said. "They made the deal and it was literally Lew Alcindor giving my father his word. That's what I remember most, is the integrity of it. That it was done on a handshake." RELATED:Kareem Abdul-Jabbar debuted with the Bucks 50 years ago; here's what people were talking about as the game approached  RELATED:Kareem vs. Wilt: The rivalry of legendary big men became one of the great subplots of early-70s Bucks basketball  Alcindor would win Rookie of the Year that season and, in 1970-71, he and Oscar Robertson would lead the Bucks to their only NBA championship. The duo led the Bucks to a conference finals in 1972 and another NBA Finals in 1974. The Bucks franchise would go to conference finals in 1983, 1984, 1986 and 2001 before reaching the NBA Finals again this season. The Suns, meanwhile, didn't have much luck after that coin flip. With the No. 2 pick, they drafted Neal Walk, a 6-10 center from the University of Florida who would go on to have a decent NBA career. In the 1976 NBA Finals against Boston, the Celtics got away with calling a timeout they didnt have when the game was tied in regulation and eventually beat the Suns in triple overtime. In the 1979 Western Conference finals, the Suns had to run out the final 30 seconds of Game 7, but Walter Davis traveled, giving the Seattle SuperSonics a chance to win in the final seconds  which they did. The Suns finished second in the 1987 NBA draft lottery, losing out on the chance to draft David Robinson. John Paxson hit a game-winner for Chicago to win the 1993 NBA Finals for the Chicago Bulls over the Suns. Phoenix blew a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals to Houston in 1995, losing Game 7 by a point. In 2007, they had players suspended in the playoffs for leaving the bench and there have been inopportune playoff injuries to Danny Manning, Cedric Ceballos, Joe Johnson and Steve Nash. Now, fate has brought the teams together 53 years after they were birthed and 52 years after the coin flip. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame doesn't have it. No one in the commissioners office knew where it was. It wasnt in Milwaukee. It wouldn't be in Phoenix. "It wasn't a particularly important item at the time, I guess," surmised former Bucks play-by-play voice Eddie Doucette. "It never crossed my mind," Colangelo said. "The thing that I had to do was kind of bury the whole experience, the coin flip experience as best I could. So, some of those things  as you raise that question  yes it should've been (saved). Because it's one of the most infamous coin flips of all-time." RELATED:When Bucks and Suns met in 1978 playoffs, it was a new dawn for Milwaukee (and an upset win)  RELATED:50 years ago, the Milwaukee Bucks were NBA champions: An oral history of the 1970-71 season  The idea that Kennedy maybe used it to buy lunch was humorous to many, but unbeknownst to nearly everyone, he knew enough to save it. Only it remained tucked away in a tin, the first one on top of others believed to be used for other coin flips from his time as commissioner. J. Walter Kennedy died in 1977 and of his three children, his daughter Kathy remained in the family home until she retired to Florida. His home office had remained fairly untouched and as the family cleaned it out, they saved some NBA heirlooms. J. Walter's son, Robert, and his wife, Bartan, came into possession of the tin of coins. Not much was thought about it until the Journal Sentinel reached J. Walters grandsons, Bob and Chris Kennedy. "He held on to things, for sure, that seemed to be of importance," Bob Kennedy said. He had some of those Kennedy half dollars in his drawer and they were clearly there for a reason. I dont think anyone has ever sat down to put together what that reason might have been." Bartan knew where it was in her home, pulled it out, and sure enough inside was a 1964 Kennedy half dollar  along with a 1971 Milwaukee Bucks championship ring. Considering the unbroken line of family possession, there is no reason to believe that coin is not the coin that sent Abdul-Jabbar to the Bucks, especially considering it is paired with the only championship ring J. Walter's family believe he received from a team. "I knew that they had some things that they had taken from his drawer," Bob Kennedy said. "I remember knowing that there were some coins in it, but I didnt really  I clearly know the story, it changed the NBA for all of eternity  but I never really put that together that that tin of coins might hold this coin. It was right on the top." As Milwaukee and Phoenix come together in the NBA Finals on the 50th anniversary of the Bucks' lone title and just over 52 years after the coin flip forever altered each franchise, the coin has not only been rediscovered but fond memories have been rekindled. RELATED:These are the Naismith Basketball Hall of Famers with connections to the Milwaukee Bucks  RELATED:It took a hustler, a native son, a priest's blessing and a city hungry for sports to bring the Bucks to Milwaukee  John Erickson died on March 18, 2020, at the age of 92. "I just think this is amazing 50 years later, it really is," Lew Ellen said. "It's really exciting. It's a great story." The same can be said for the Kennedys, as Robert died on Nov. 22, 2002, at the age of 77. "Weve been kind off meaning to put stories together with a lot of his stuff," Bob Kennedy said. "I dont even know that they knew  I think with Kareem they did  but I don't know early on that they even knew they were making history. (J. Walter) left a really big mark on the league and it was not known at the time that the NBA was going to be  if you think about what it is now compared to (1967)." Even Colangelo has found some peace with the coin flip, chalking it up to the business of basketball. But as for this NBA Finals, "I'm happy, excited," he said. "I would hope of course that Phoenix would get its first championship." "That would be wonderful," Doucette said. "I mean, cmon, 50 years. It took this long for the boys to get back to the throne room."