Harvey Wade “Swede” Hallbrook is one of the most interesting stories in basketball history. Born in Portland, Oregon in 1933, he played basketball at a young age and throughout high school, being that he was always the tallest person around. During high school, he once recorded 50 points and 34 rebounds in a game. Hallbrook joined the Oregon State Beavers at the start of the 1954 season and people began to notice his enormous stature. Life Magazine’s deemed Hallbrook as the “World’s Tallest Basketball Player” in their January 18, 1954 edition, standing at 7'3". He struggled to fit into normal college life, often missing classes and even disappearing, which led to his college career being cut short. Although he did not finish school, he was able to make his professional basketball debut in 1956 with the Wichita Vickers and eventually made it to the NBA during the 1960-61 season with the Syracuse Nationals.

Offered here are his extremely long and tall Oregon State Warm Up Pants from his college basketball days. The Howard Maple Sporting Goods brand sweatpants have a 39” inseam and “HALLBROOK” is written in black permanent marker inside the waistband. They have a silky, tan color with orange and black stripes running down the leg. The bottom of the sweatpants feature foot long zippers and black and orange stripes on the elastic twill bottoms.