Classic Card - Kevin Willis

Kevin Willis could crush a ball with his bare hands and he perfected the 3-point stance. 

Thanks to the success of last week’s Shaquille O’Neal card, I’ve decided that the “Classic Card of the Week” segment is here to stay!

In fact, here is THE card that set it off.

I’m not sure if I was looking for Human Highlight Film photos or what, but I stumbled across this Kevin Willis staredown pose and immediately had to start reading, mostly out of fear.

I started loving this game in 1986, when I watched Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb go at it in the Slam Dunk contest. I quickly became an Atlanta Hawks fan, which meant I had to give some love to the rebounding force known as Kevin Willis.

I was also a big fan of these ‘92-93 Stadium Club cards. The image quality and glossy card stock was definitely a step up from your standard Topps fare, and the “Skills Rating System” on the back was ingenious, even if they did pull the numbers out of thin air.

So here you go. If you don’t like this card, you’re probably not going to like this segment. If you DO like this card, let it be known, and you’ll get a new one every week…

Kevin Willis, 1992-93 Stadium Club

Kevin Willis is arguably the last link to those legendary Atlanta Hawks teams that were pretty good, but not really. It is impossible to think of the late 80’s/early 90’s Atlanta Hawks without immediately seeing a visual image of Kevin Willis in the background of a Dominique Wilkins poster. Or, possibly, you see this very image instead. Or, even more unlikely, you rarely think about the late 80’s/early 90’s Atlanta Hawks, in which case you can go to hell.

Kevin Willis was famous for his T-Rex arms and humongous biceps, which were on par with those of David Robinson. In fact, the only difference between the two men was that David Robinson had a small face and Kevin Willis had a huge face. And they played for different teams. And Robinson was a 10-time All-Star who blocked 4 times as many shots in half as many seasons.

But Willis could rebound his face off! So to speak. For statistical proof, let’s check the back of the card:

Remarkable rebounding season, finishing 2nd in NBA…Had as many as 33 boards in one game…

“As many as?”

Not sure why that is there, but 33 rebounds in one game has to be some sort of Hawks’ record. Even more amazing was that all 33 boards came off of missed Kevin Willis shots. In addition, the famed “Sporting News Skills Rating System” clocks Kevin Willis’ “Intimidation” factor at a 4.5.

This means two very important things:

1) I sure as balls never want to see a 4.6!

2) Intimidation is, in fact, a skill. So there.

Kevin Willis also perfected the “triple-threat” position, as evidenced by this photo.
With this particular pose Kevin Willis could:

A) Throw a chest pass to Dominique Wilkins.

B) Crush the basketball with his bare hands.

C) Dribble through his legs as many as 33 times.

If you cannot put yourself in a position to do all three of these things, then you may as well not play basketball. Any coach will tell you that.

————————————————————————————————————————————————
Mike Kenny was born and raised in NJ, but recently moved to Arizona where he is now a contributing sports columnist to a weekly newspaper in Glendale. His blog — MikeKenny.blogspot.com — contains his weekly columns, other “stuff,” plus a wide array of more classic cards. Tell him what you think, or submit your own classic NBA card at: mkenny59@hotmail.com.