Fifty years ago, gas cost 25 cents a gallon and the Hawks won the NBA championship. Hard to say now which boggles the mind more.

The 2008 NBA Finals, tipping off Thursday night, mark the golden anniversary of the 1958 Finals when the Hawks —- then based in St. Louis —- upset the Bill Russell-led Boston Celtics. That was the Hawks' first NBA championship. A half-century later, it remains their only championship.

What, no one feels like celebrating the 50th anniversary?

Just one NBA franchise has gone longer than the Hawks since winning the championship. Only six franchises in all of North American major-league sports have gone longer.

So, before watching the Lakers play the Celtics for the 2008 NBA championship, we rewind to 1958, when the league had only eight teams, the playoffs ended in April instead of June, and the Hawks were champs.

HOW THE HAWKS WON

The player most responsible for the Hawks' lone championship, forward Bob Pettit (below), is now 75 years old, living in New Orleans. Fifty years ago, in one of the great individual performances of NBA postseason history, he scored 50 points —- including 19 of the Hawks' final 21 —- in a championship-clinching 110-109 Game 6 victory over the Celtics in St. Louis. Bill Russell, the great Celtics center, was playing on an injured ankle. Pettit played his entire NBA career with the Hawks, but retired in 1965, three years before the team moved to Atlanta.

THE YEAR THAT WAS

Just how long has it been since the Hawks won the championship? Flash back to 1958:

> The United States had 48 states. Alaska and Hawaii had not yet joined the union.

> Dwight D. Eisenhower was president.

> A first-class postage stamp went up in price —- from 3 cents to 4 cents.

> The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 34 percent —- to 584.

> Major League Baseball arrived in California, the Giants moving from New York to San Francisco and the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

> A baby boy named Michael Dean Woodson was born in Indianapolis. He's now 50 years old —- and the Hawks' coach.

INFLATION, NBA STYLE

$12,000: Average NBA player salary in 1958

$5,356,000: Average NBA player salary in 2008

KEEPING POOR COMPANY

Only one NBA franchise has gone longer than the Hawks without a championship: the Sacramento Kings, whose only title came in 1951 as the Rochester Royals. But, if it makes you feel any better, the Hawks' drought is only half as long as baseball's Chicago Cubs, who last won the World Series 100 years ago. The major-league teams with the longest current championship droughts:

Franchise..............League..Last Title

Chicago Cubs ..........MLB ....1908

Arizona Cardinals* ....NFL ....1947

Cleveland Indians......MLB ....1948

Sacramento Kings*......NBA ....1951

San Francisco Giants*..MLB ....1954

Detroit Lions..........NFL ....1957

Atlanta Hawks* ........NBA ....1958

Note: There are other major-league teams that have never won a championship, but all of those teams came into existence after 1958.

* The Cardinals won the 1947 NFL title as the Chicago Cardinals, the Kings the 1951 NBA title as the Rochester Royals, the Giants the 1954 World Series as the New York Giants and the Hawks the 1958 NBA title as the St. Louis Hawks.

HALL OF FAME LINEUP

Four players on the 1957-58 Hawks are in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame:

Bob Pettit, forward: Third in NBA history in rebounds per game behind Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.

Ed Macauley, center: Acquired, with Cliff Hagan, in 1956 from Boston for draft rights to Bill Russell.

Cliff Hagan, forward: Played entire NBA career with Hawks; later athletics director at Kentucky.

Slater Martin, guard: Earlier won four NBA titles with Minneapolis Lakers; seven-time All-Star.

Note: The 1957-58 Hawks' coach, the late Alex Hannum, also is in the Hall of Fame as a coach.

EPILOGUE

The Hawks returned to the NBA Finals in 1960 and 1961, losing to the Celtics both times. The Hawks moved from St. Louis to Atlanta in 1968. In 40 seasons here, they have not once reached the NBA Finals.

Sources: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Hawks, AAA Auto Club, NBA Players Association, staff research.