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Perfectly Awful: The Philadelphia 76ers' Horrendous and Hilarious 1972-1973 Season
During the 1972–1973 basketball season, the Philadelphia 76ers were not just a bad team; they were fantastically awful. Doomed from the start after losing their leading scorer and rebounder, Billy Cunningham, as well as head coach Jack Ramsay, they lost twenty-one of their first twenty-three games. A Philadelphia newspaper began calling them the Seventy Sickers, and they duly lost their last thirteen games on their way to a not-yet-broken record of nine wins and seventy-three losses.
Charley Rosen recaptures the futility of that season through the firsthand accounts of players, participants, and observers. Although the team was uniformly bad, there were still many memorable moments, and the lore surrounding the team is legendary. Once, when head coach Roy Rubin tried to substitute John Q. Trapp out of a game, Trapp refused and told Rubin to look behind the team’s bench, whereby one of Trapp’s friends supposedly opened his jacket to show his handgun. With only four wins at the All-Star break, Rubin was fired and replaced by player-coach Kevin Loughery.
In addition to chronicling the 76ers’ woes, Perfectly Awful also captures the drama, culture, and attitude of the NBA in an era when many white fans believed that the league had too many black players.
Charley Rosen recaptures the futility of that season through the firsthand accounts of players, participants, and observers. Although the team was uniformly bad, there were still many memorable moments, and the lore surrounding the team is legendary. Once, when head coach Roy Rubin tried to substitute John Q. Trapp out of a game, Trapp refused and told Rubin to look behind the team’s bench, whereby one of Trapp’s friends supposedly opened his jacket to show his handgun. With only four wins at the All-Star break, Rubin was fired and replaced by player-coach Kevin Loughery.
In addition to chronicling the 76ers’ woes, Perfectly Awful also captures the drama, culture, and attitude of the NBA in an era when many white fans believed that the league had too many black players.
- GenresSportsNonfiction
216 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
7 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Charley Rosen
32 books8 followersCharles Elliot Rosen is an American author and former basketball player and basketball coach. Rosen has been selected for induction into the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame with the Class of 2024.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 21, 2022
While it was interesting to learn more about this infamous season, this really read more like game recaps and newspaper reports rather than a true nonfiction book. Would have liked a better flow and some more in depth information.
February 21, 2016
Review:
It isn’t often that one can find a book on losing teams or seasons so when I saw that a book was written on one of the worst teams in professional sports history, I was happy to obtain a copy for review. From the description, I was hoping to be entertained while reading the book and to learn a few things about the team.
That hope was partially fulfilled in Charlie Rosen’s recap of the 1972-73 season of the Philadelphia 76ers, a season in which they only won 9 of 82 games and held the record for the worst season in the NBA until the Charlotte Bobcats had a worse season in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season. The hope to be entertained while reading the book was met, while the information in the book was not newly published or insightful. This despite the interviews Rosen conducted with several players.
The stories of what some of the players would say about coach Roy Rubin were funny as well as some of the antics of both coach Rubin and some players. Those anecdotes made good reading between game recaps. Those were short and read much like the box scores in the daily newspapers. While these allowed the reader to keep up with the progress of how poorly the team was performing, it did make the book feel more like a long newspaper article instead of a book.
The other disappointing aspect of the book for me was the errors that were in the book that didn’t require research or fact checking to point out. The most glaring of these was on the inside cover flap, where the coach of the team for the first 51 games of the season, Roy Rubin, was printed as “Lou Rubin.” There were two others I caught right away that were not about the 76ers, but still ones that even casual fans might catch. One was the name of Hall of Fame player Rick Barry, who was called “Rich” and the name of the team the 76ers defeated in the 1967 NBA Finals. That team was called the “Golden State” Warriors in the book, but they were known as the “San Francisco” Warriors at that time. These type of errors are the type that good editing would catch.
Between the errors and the style of writing in the book, this proved to be a disappointment to me as it was one I was eager to read. It does merit two stars for the entertainment aspect of the book. This book would be recommended only for a reader just wants to read it for entertainment and not for research or history.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book through in exchange for an honest review.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
It isn’t often that one can find a book on losing teams or seasons so when I saw that a book was written on one of the worst teams in professional sports history, I was happy to obtain a copy for review. From the description, I was hoping to be entertained while reading the book and to learn a few things about the team.
That hope was partially fulfilled in Charlie Rosen’s recap of the 1972-73 season of the Philadelphia 76ers, a season in which they only won 9 of 82 games and held the record for the worst season in the NBA until the Charlotte Bobcats had a worse season in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season. The hope to be entertained while reading the book was met, while the information in the book was not newly published or insightful. This despite the interviews Rosen conducted with several players.
The stories of what some of the players would say about coach Roy Rubin were funny as well as some of the antics of both coach Rubin and some players. Those anecdotes made good reading between game recaps. Those were short and read much like the box scores in the daily newspapers. While these allowed the reader to keep up with the progress of how poorly the team was performing, it did make the book feel more like a long newspaper article instead of a book.
The other disappointing aspect of the book for me was the errors that were in the book that didn’t require research or fact checking to point out. The most glaring of these was on the inside cover flap, where the coach of the team for the first 51 games of the season, Roy Rubin, was printed as “Lou Rubin.” There were two others I caught right away that were not about the 76ers, but still ones that even casual fans might catch. One was the name of Hall of Fame player Rick Barry, who was called “Rich” and the name of the team the 76ers defeated in the 1967 NBA Finals. That team was called the “Golden State” Warriors in the book, but they were known as the “San Francisco” Warriors at that time. These type of errors are the type that good editing would catch.
Between the errors and the style of writing in the book, this proved to be a disappointment to me as it was one I was eager to read. It does merit two stars for the entertainment aspect of the book. This book would be recommended only for a reader just wants to read it for entertainment and not for research or history.
I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book through in exchange for an honest review.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
May 12, 2015
Charley Rosen's book "Perfectly Awful" about the dismal 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers reminds me of Dan Akroyd's reoccurring Saturday Night Live character of Leonard Pinth-Garnell and "Bad Conceptual Theater." In it, Garnell reviews a horrible production with the catch phrase, "Now that was really bad.."
Well, the Sixers were "really bad" in 1972-73, winning only nine games that year and proving to be one of the more inept teams in NBA history.
Rosen does a nice, light job of covering that season. He admits to using game accounts and box scores from daily newspapers, along with a few interviews. However, I found the context was somewhat shallow. He could have included how the other teams were doing that year and give a more complete view of the league. Perhaps a deeper picture of the season's progress would have played better, along with more players from that season. Instead, we get a game-by-game account of each Sixers' contest only and how they lost.
There are nice moments, though. When Roy Rubin (identified wrongly as "Lou Rubin" in the jacket copy) once tried to remove John Q. Trapp from a game in Detroit, Trapp motioned toward the stands. Rubin said he saw someone stand up, open his jacket and flash a holstered gun. Trapp stayed in the game.
Rosen only briefly on the racial tensions of the 1970s, although he promised to do so in the intro.
For fans of the NBA, especially those who remember that season, this is a fun book. It's light reading that can be picked up and set down at leisure and still be completed within a few days.
Well, the Sixers were "really bad" in 1972-73, winning only nine games that year and proving to be one of the more inept teams in NBA history.
Rosen does a nice, light job of covering that season. He admits to using game accounts and box scores from daily newspapers, along with a few interviews. However, I found the context was somewhat shallow. He could have included how the other teams were doing that year and give a more complete view of the league. Perhaps a deeper picture of the season's progress would have played better, along with more players from that season. Instead, we get a game-by-game account of each Sixers' contest only and how they lost.
There are nice moments, though. When Roy Rubin (identified wrongly as "Lou Rubin" in the jacket copy) once tried to remove John Q. Trapp from a game in Detroit, Trapp motioned toward the stands. Rubin said he saw someone stand up, open his jacket and flash a holstered gun. Trapp stayed in the game.
Rosen only briefly on the racial tensions of the 1970s, although he promised to do so in the intro.
For fans of the NBA, especially those who remember that season, this is a fun book. It's light reading that can be picked up and set down at leisure and still be completed within a few days.
March 5, 2015
Fun if not perfect account of the worst team in NBA history, for now. Rosen is a little too dependent on non-Sixers such as Phil Jackson and Neal Walk, but makes up for it in getting actual Sixers in there. The lower ranks of the NBA in the early 70's is rather unheralded even when compared to the ABA. Having every single game in there is also a bit much, and they don't touch on would-be Sixer John Brisker's craziness and eventual disappearance, but they did at least highlight John Q. Trapp's eccentricities. The hearsay about Roy Rubin's sexuality is a weird part; he's already the James Buchanan of pro basketball.
October 8, 2020
Usually when you read a book about and athlete or an athletic team the athlete was an MVP or the team won a championship. Well this book looked at the 72-73 Philadelphia 76ers, 9-73 team. I liked reading about the players and their professionalism regardless of the serious losing season. I really liked how the author ended the book and said how the athletes to this day are upbeat regardless of the record and they there were lessons they learned from that season that is still with them today. Fun read.
June 2, 2016
Important to document this team and its players from a different era in sports history. Some of the stories are incredible (John Q Trapp) and it is well researched. I would have liked to see further explanation and discussion though of why the Sixers played several home games in Hershey and Pittsburgh for example
March 7, 2016
Didn't know a lot about this team other than the dismal record, so it was interesting to see how they got to the depths they did, and to find out about the players and coaches who were a part of it.
May 5, 2015
A fun read, compiled in game-by-game chronicle form about the 1972-73 Sixers, one of the worst teams in NBA history. No big surprise but still reassuring that pro sports franchises, owners, and coaches then and now are just mortals and prone to incredible stupidity.
October 3, 2014
Quick and easy read. Nice game-by-game approach, butmore context would help.
March 28, 2022
Shares the experiences of the first worst team of the NBA. A college coach is hired to coach a team with little talent, he makes if half-way and is fired. A player is selected to finish the season as coach. Stats for each game. Trades rearrange players on the Titanic. No pix, no index. Swearing. Comfort read, familiar player names.
July 4, 2025
I was a little disappointed in the book, as it essentially was an accumulation of repetitive game summaries. There was very little in depth analysis of the season, atmosphere in Philadelphia, or the reactions of the fanbase.
I was a child during this terrible season, and the book did bring back some memories of that historic season.
I was a child during this terrible season, and the book did bring back some memories of that historic season.
March 6, 2015
A game-by-game review of the 76ers' 9-73 season of 1972-73, with comments from players, coaches and the team trainer. About the only significant development of that season was the first coaching job for Kevin Loughery, who took over in midseason.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews