25 years ago today on June 7, 1993 Drazen Petrovic was killed in a tragic automobile accident at the age of 28. Already a legend in Europe, Petrovic joined the Portland Trailblazers for the 1989-1990 season at the age of 25 (the Blazers had selected him in the 1986 draft and owned his rights). He was coming off his best NBA season with the New Jersey Nets in 1992-1993, and entering the prime of his career. He was one of the league’s best shooting guards, but yet was very underrated during his short four-year tenure in the NBA. The criticism of the league at the time was that they weren’t promoting the new wave of European talent, and at the time of his death Petrovic was contemplating returning to Europe to play. The Nets retired his jersey in 1993, and history has come to respect how great of a player Petrovic was. He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2002. His Champion jersey is one of the rarest and highly collectible.

 

Chicago-area department store Carson’s ran this advertisement on December 3, 1996 to promote Champion’s retro line of NBA 50th Anniversary jerseys. The focal point of the ad is the Limited Edition Pro Cut Michael Jordan 50th Anniversary Commemorative Rookie Jersey. It’s the only authentic jersey that Champion released for the NBA 50th Anniversary collection. It was limited to 200 and available only by phone order from Carsons. This is the “Holy Grail” of Jordan jerseys. I’ve only seen two come up for auction on Ebay in my nearly 20 years of collecting.

The photo of the jersey in the ad is actually not the official size that Champion produced. Note the jock tag is a size 46 in the ad. That was Jordan’s standard size throughout most of his career (Size 46 with Body Length +3). But in his rookie season, Jordan started with a size 42 and then switched to a Size 44 with Body Length +4…

 

So Champion actually produced these to the exact rookie season specs. Below is a photo of the jersey. Note that it’s not double-tagged. It has the jock tag, Size 44. On the interior hem is the additional tag indicating Body Length +4…