Nowadays, the first selection of the NBA Draft is awarded by a secret lottery, held in an underground bunker in Secaucus, New Jersey, and observed by one human, one gnome, and one banker. Back in 1969, it was awarded by the toss of a coin.

In 1969, the two teams contesting the top pick were the previous year's expansion brothers: the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns. That year's draft had a stud, a clear-cut #1 who would lift whichever team chose him from NBA obscurity.

The stud was a 7'2" center from UCLA named Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor (Not a Jew). He went to Milwaukee. Phoenix lost the toss and had to settle for the mustached man pictured on the left, a 6'10" center from Florida, Neal Walk. Jew.

Alcindor became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (yeah... Not a Jew) and led Milwaukee to the NBA title in two years, before departing for Los Angeles, breaking all kinds of records with the Lakers, and appearing in "Airplane!". Walk... ummmm... Walk wasn't that bad of a player.

Walk spent eight years in the league with the Suns, Jazz, and Knicks, and even scored 20 points per game during the 1972-73 season. But he wasn't Abdul-Jabbar. Not even the same ballpark.

Although... you won't see Abdul-Jabbar in the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame any time soon, we guarantee you that.