From elation to deflation

An anonymous bidder spends $551,844 at Leland's New York auction house 24 years ago today for the basketball that Kerry Ryman of Annville, Pa., says that he, as a 14-year-old kid, snatches from the hands of Wilt Chamberlain after Chamberlain scores his 100th point in a 1962 game against the New York Knicks at Hershey Arena.

(Paul Vathis photo)

Within two weeks of the auction in 2000, the auction house puts the sale on hold as questions abound concerning whether the ball Ryman owns actually is the one Chamberlain uses for his single-game record 100th point back on March 2, 1962 in Hershey.

Just over five months after Leland’s cancels the ball’s auction in 2000, the ball goes back on the block.

This time, on Oct. 6, 2000, the gavel falls at $67,791 – quite the drop from the half mil-plus from the original winning bid.

“I’m not disappointed,” Ryman says after the second auction. “What's money?”