Before the 76ers retired a single jersey, before any other name was sewn into the fabric of Philadelphia's basketball identity, there was Hal Greer. The guard from Huntington, West Virginia, who broke barriers as the first African American to play for a public college in his home state at Marshall University, pulled up from the elbow against the San Francisco Warriors on February 7, 1970, and buried the kind of mid-range jumper that tormented opponents for a decade and a half. Greer poured in 36 points, five rebounds and seven assists in Philadelphia's 115-111 victory, the same sweet stroke that Dolph Schayes, his former coach and fellow Hall of Famer, declared the greatest from 15 to 18 feet in basketball history, including Michael Jordan's. That shot carried the Syracuse Nationals through their transformation into the 76ers, fueled a 1967 championship alongside Wilt Chamberlain on a 68-win team widely considered among the greatest ever assembled, and earned Greer the 1968 All-Star Game MVP after a record-breaking 19-point quarter on 8-for-8 shooting. A 10-time consecutive All-Star and seven-time All-NBA Second Team selection, Greer scored 21,586 career points across 1,122 games, both franchise records that still stand. His number 15 became the first ever retired by the 76ers in 1976, and his place on both the NBA's 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams confirms what Philadelphia already knew: Greer's consistency, his relentless professionalism, and his deadly pull-up defined an entire era of basketball in the city of brotherly love. · Feb 8, 1970