Wilt Chamberlain. I loved the way he intimidated other players, changed the direction of their shots, and changed the course of the NBA game as we know it today. But the Lakers have lost their fast break because Chamberlain does not look for an outlet pass. He played basketball and ran track and field at the University of Kansas, played professional basketball with the Philadelphia Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, and Los Angeles Lakers. Harveys Take: Wilt scored 135 points in a 24 hour span -- 73 against the Bulls and 62 points against the Celtics. And that did not include the kids who snuck into the arena in the usual ways. The club featured dancing waiters and waiters on roller skates. And in that season he dropped 100 points against the New York Knicks. He made it! He learned when he was 34 years old. What Wilt did was shatter that quota the whole notion that this league would be a white mans enclave. FILE - Wilt Chamberlain, of the Philadelphia Warriors, holds a sign reading "100" in the dressing room in Hershey, Pa., March 2, 1962, after he scored 100 points, as the Warriors defeated the New York Knicks. We already had the top 10 amazing facts on Chamberlain on the channel, and in this video, we'll try to further debunk the myth that is Wilt the Stilt. What was Wilt up to? Another observation is how unathletic and unskilled these guys look compared to current day scrubs even, Miles Bridges Expected To Re-Sign With Hornets, Lakers Not Interested In Pursuing Kyrie Irving; Mavericks Optimistic He'll Re-Sign, Sixers Have 'Optimism' Joel Embiid Could Return For Game 2, Celtics Hope To Hire Stephen Silas As Assistant Coach, Jimmy Butler And Tom Thibodeau: Kindred Souls Turned Rivals, Snoop Dog Joins Neko Sparks' Bid To Buy Senators, Joel Eriksson Ek Tried To Play With Broken Leg, Panthers Restricting Tickets Sales To Keep Maple Leafs Fans Out, Marc-Andre Fleury Wants To Stay With Wild, Even As Backup, https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=2046249&start=780#p91917155. If you are having problems using this website, including problems accessing any portion of this site using screen reader technology, please call 215-952-7000 or email 76ersservice@76ers.com for assistance. Mark Tulin (author) from Long Beach, California on January 29, 2019: Very true, Mouser. WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. 2023 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. Ive had never seen Russell more distraught than that game when Wilt grabbed 55 rebounds. This is a half-filled arena. Just to name a few: Once Wilt got upset with me and dunked the ball so hard it went through the rim with such force that it broke my toe as it hit the floor. The average center in Wilt's prime was taller and heavier than they are now. You can spot Harvey courtside this season, jotting down stats. Wilt ran the 100-yard dash in 10.9 seconds, threw the shot-put 56 feet, he triple jumped 50 feet, and he won the Big Eight high jump three straight years." James' junior season high school football stats were indeed solid. It scared the hell out of me. Really not a reason for that one. 11. His high jump was 6'6" when the world record was 7'1". They were on a trip to Russia and they were assigned a tight locker room. Copyright 2023 Legends Clothing Co. | Website builder by Shopify, Comments have to be approved before showing up, On a early summer day in the 1980s Chamberlain decided to play some pick up basketball at UCLA. Wilt scores, and you hear Campbell leaning forward and screaming into his microphone: He made it! Its debatable that Kobes 81 may never be reached again, so Wilts 100 remains the stuff of legend something no mere mortal could actually attain. Amid so many sports records, why does this milestone still resonate? Post #1 by 70sFan Thu Jul 1, 2021 10:50 pm . Chamberlain's late age dominance is well documented. Harveys Take: Often overlooked in the enormity of Wilts scoring records was his ability as a passer. Wilt also claimed to have been able to snatch change off of the top of the backboard. This article will compare and contrast these things in order to try to determine who is the best QB of all time. How good was Wilt Chamberlain really? Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Jimmy Butler and Tom Thibodeau remain linked. You'll recognize these famous names, but do they belong on the list? Wilt Chamberlain's age is 86. His dominance of his sport was overwhelming. Is Michael Jordan still number one? Hannum was convinced it would have been the 180lb guard Al Attles but it turned out to be the (at the time 300lbs) Wilt Chamberlain The 21 assists was a Sixers single-game assist mark for many years. Well, in a seven-game series versus Russell, Wilt averaged nearly 29 rebounds per game against him and in the final Game 7, grabbed his 200th of the series., The Sixers lost Game 7 on Sam Jones shot, 110-109.. Wilt Chamberlain played 14 seasons for the Lakers, Warriors and 76ers. They wanted to see the guy who scored 100 points. Defenders used to hang all over Wilt and nothing was called. Wilt was playing pickup games against Magic Johnson and Norm Nixon in his mid-forties. Michael Jordan is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player to ever live. On the 11th anniversary of his death, a man who was courtside for many of Wilts majestic performances weighs in on a daunting task: ranking Wilts most memorable achievements. Auerbach wanted Chamberlain to go to a New England university, so he could draft him as a territorial pick for the Celtics, but Chamberlain didn't agree. How does that change our relationship to the feat itself? Wilt Chamberlain's accomplishments are widely known, from his 100 points in a game, 25,000 woman or never fouling out of a basketball game. Wilt and Arnold stared on the movie Conan the Destroyer together. He won the Rookie of the Year award, 4 MVP awards, 1 Finals MVP award and 2 NBA championships. The yellow ride, called Searcher One, was built for Chamberlain in 1996 at a reported cost of $750,000. Wilt was an oversized LeBron, which is even more amazing that it sounds when you think what happens to the body with that scaling. When someone asked Wilt to explain why he did so well from the line, he responded: I cant., We knew something big was in store because earlier that day, Wilt lit up the arcade in Hershey, taking on all comers and knocking em down whether it was shooting clay pigeons or pinball., Im glad I wrote 100 on a piece of paper for Wilt to hold up after the game for The Associated Press photographer because otherwise, Im not so sure people to this day would believe he actually scored 100.. Wilt must have been bored during the end of basketball, because the thought crossed his mind for him to think, Man, I should play pro volleyball but it happened. Wilt didn't sleep the night before he scored 100. Wilt owned a famous nightclub in NY during the 60s and 70s. He played occasional matches for the IVA Seattle Smashers before the league folded in 1979. During a game against Boston, Wilt committed a hard foul on K.C. The team featured several prominent track athletes. On Point is produced by WBUR for NPR. While Chamberlain was indeed renowned as an incredible pick-up artist and ladies' man, for him to hit such a lofty number he would have needed to bed 1.2 women a day every single day from the age of 15 until he wrote the book. Want a digest of WHYYs programs, events & stories? Even though the era in which he played and the level of his competition will always be used to contextualize his feats, his jaw-dropping stats are still an official part of NBA lore and are likely never to be seen again. I remember watching this first clip somewhere (probably the same video). Legend has it that it featured the only working air-conditioning in Harlem. There wasn't anything he couldn't do in sports. Wilt Chamberlain is not the greatest basketball player ever, (hes my third best) but he is a better athlete than any man, woman, or demigod who has ever done what he did. A dipper dunk! I was heartbroken when he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in the early '70s. And the game, you know, has been launched into sports mythology. They met back up at the start of the second half and Wilt told Walter Okay, Walter. 1. This is the thing about Wilt: He was 71, and he had to be even bigger in the way he told his stories. He beat the immortal NFL player, Jim Brown, in a race, when he played with the Harlem Globetrotters. Wilt credits the Globetrotters for advancing his basketball growth helping him to improve his overall ball handling skills. Wilt Chamberlain. That's completely insane. But the game was played in Hershey because the league was trying to grow new fans. Still Auerbach was a great mentor to Chamberlain at Kutshers during the summer. Not even Wilt himself came within 6 PPG of his record 50.4 PPG in 196162 and the leagues most elite scorers of the past half century have come no closer than Michael Jordans 37.1 PPG in 198687. But later in life, he realized that when he walked down the street, people would point at him and say, There goes the guy that scored 100 points.. (AP Photo/Paul Vathis, File). There was a quota in the NBA that owners in the league limited the number of opportunities for Black players to just one or two per team initially, and then three [or] four. Since then, only six rookies have cracked 50 in a game with Brandon Jennings being the last back in 2009. Not to be overlooked but Wilt also scored 34 points.. Known for shooting a fake horse with a fake gun. Gambling is now legal in Massachusetts! He achieved an average of 30.1. Its a monumental scoring achievement that sets social media ablaze. The interview below has been condensed and edited for clarity. 2. Only Kobe Bryants 81-point performance has even come close and it doesnt seem physically possible that a player could fit in 19 more points than he did in that game. " scenarios in sports history. Wilt Chamberlain was 7-1 (216 cm) tall. Oscar Robertson, the great NBA star, would later say that Wilt saves the league. When the issue of championships comes up, I am reminded of a quote Wilt once gave in an interview (I used to have it on videotape from a documentary on the history of basketball) where he said, "The Boston Celtics had to figure out how to beat Wilt Chamberlain, but I had to figure out how to beat the Boston Celtics." But there are only a few where people actually remember the number involved. Stars like Bumpy Johnson, Sammy Davis Jr., Malcom X, Frank Lucas, Nicky Barnes, Willie Mays, Sonny Liston Langston Hughes, Muhammad Ali were all known to hang around Smalls Paradise. NBA rules didn't allow players who hadn't finished college, though, so Wilt signed up with the Globetrottters. 4. The 86-year-old basketball player was born in Philadelphia, PA. The Diet of an Athlete | Legends Blog Posted on June 19, 2019, Good Old Boys - Jason Williams & Randy Moss Posted on May 20, 2019, 23 Michael Jordan Stories Posted on October 24, 2018, 10 Greatest High School Basketball Teams of All Time Posted on January 10, 2019, Best Playground Basketball Courts in America Posted on December 30, 2014, Strangest Sports Memorabilia of All Time Posted on December 30, 2015, Biggest NFL Hits of All Time Posted on July 31, 2018, Talent Hot Beds of America Posted on February 25, 2018, Top 10 High School Football Teams Ever Posted on October 27, 2017, Youtube Volume 1 Posted on October 20, 2017. He was a scrappy, hard-nosed rebounder who averaged 13 points and 13 rebounds for the season. Dave DeBusschere, Terry Dischinger, Joe Strawder all tried to stop Wilt that game and it was pointless. And I think hes right. To celebrate, CLNS and FanDuel are giving players $200 when they bet $5. In his mid-forties, he was able to humble rookie Magic Johnson in practice. But safest of all rebounding records may be his 2,149 in the 196061 season. Wilt Chamberlain in 1972 with the Los Angeles Lakers. Phillies fans traveling to Clearwater, FL for Spring Training are frustrated by the MLBs lockout and cancellation of games. Theres no footage of the game, so its taken on a mythological quality to it something that doesnt seem real. We'll try to answer the question of how dominant he really was, why he only won two championships, and why he didn't really like to dunk - so stay tuned!How Good Was Wilt Chamberlain Actually? Chamberlain immediately became the team's top draw; who wouldn't want to watch a seven-footer play shooting guard? He participated in high jump, long jump, and even broad jump, but excelled in the 100 yard-dash, and the 400 metre. And then there's Wilt Chamberlain. Who Is The GOAT? Embiid's post-All-Star Game surge has led sportsbooks to make him a slight favorite over Jokic in the MVP race. He averaged 30.1 points, 22.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 1,045 regular-season games. Well, it was a difficult moment to be an usher. The greatest NBA record book ever is Harvey Pollacks NBA Statistical Yearbook. Eventually he dropped her off at 6 am the next morning. "Just to be in the record books along with staples in basketball . The next highest field goal attempt number on the Warriors was Paul Arizin, who had 18. Alex Hannum, the great Sixers coach told Wilt that the team didnt need him to dominate with his scoring but to get his teammates more involved. It's time to settle the age-long debate of who ran the ball best! A 50-point game is rightly celebrated today. To me, Wilt Chamberlain was the Greatest Athlete of all times. No, wilt bulked up muscle , not fat. Because it was not a certain future for the NBA. His contributions to volleyball earned him a spot in the sport's Hall of Fame. Theres Joe DiMaggios 56-game hitting streak. Meschery got it again, faked again, and got it blocked again. Its easy to imagine a future legend take the league by storm and erupt for a huge game in his first season, but the fact that so few freshmen have even come close to Wilts mark makes it seem very unlikely. So Im going to attempt to keep them brief. He was a legend when he played and still a legend today. the story goes Magic made a game ending foul call that angered Wilt greatly. Duane Morris investigation into Central Bucks finds no discrimination against LGBTQ students, Shapiro signs first bill, expands Pa. health insurance coverage for breast cancer screenings, 3 unions at Rutgers University have reached tentative agreements. I was lucky to see both play and didn't realize how amazing they were until I looked back. After he retired from basketball, he played professional volleyball. Schwarzenegger once remarked that "Wilt was the strongest Human being I have ever seen". Between yards, touchdowns, interceptions, supporting casts, and championships, it's hard to decide who is the greatest of all time. That year he became a board member of the International Volleyball Association, a fledgling pro coed volleyball league that only lasted until 1979, and brought his intimidating 7'1" frame to the Seattle Smashers' front line. The NBA initiated offensive goaltending, in which players couldn't touch the ball going in a downward trajectory toward the hoop or flick the ball away when it was within the cylinder of the basket. The mere mention of the Big Dipper's name evokes images of hoops dominance and romantic impossibilities. Please give today. He also played Volleyball after his NBA career, and became a star. He goes on to explain how he would lift up Arnold and Andre the Giant with one hand. One hundred for the 100-point game in Hershey, and 20,000 for his myth-makers boast that he had slept with 20,000 women. Wilts line from that game 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists. Although Gotty as he was known was round, his estimates for crowd totals never were because they seemed more realistic. Wilt played against a bevy of hall of fame big men. Chamberlain loved cars, and he was known for cruising around in his Cadillac convertible or a custom-made lavender Bentley he'd imported from England. And then theres Wilt Chamberlain. Philadelphia 76ers owner Ike Richman eventually talked Chamberlain out of the match, but the idea just wouldn't die. Before he was in the NBA, Wilt played for the Harlem Globetrotters. Why was this game in Hershey, and what does that tell us about the state of the NBA in 1962? WHYY host Avi Wolfman-Arent revisited that historic night with sportswriter Gary Pomerantz, the author of Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era.. Half-filled in the famous chocolate town of Hershey. Forty five of those came in the 1961-62 season when he averaged 50.4 points., Harveys Take: Even though the game was in Pittsburgh, it was considered a Sixers home game and Wilt treated the fans to an unforgettable performance., Wilt also had games of 15 and 16 field goals without a miss.. Wilt actually averaged 48.5 minutes per game that season. Fans wanted to see Wilt. He was reed-thin [and] no match for Chamberlain. In his 14-year NBA career, Wilt Chamberlain routinely put up video-game-like numbers. Quarterback is the most important position in football. When Wilt died, two numbers became the shorthand summary of Wilts life: 20,000 and 100. Most seasons leading the league in minutes: 8, Highest scoring average in a season: 50.4, Most seasons leading the league in field goal percentage: 9, Highest average in rebounds over a career: 22.9, Most free throws made in a game: 28 (and he was an awful free throw shooter). Its how we live. Wilt skipped his Senior season at Kansas choosing instead to play with the famed Harlem Globetrotters. Harveys Take: Look up in the NBA Guide and youll find Wilt has four of the top highest single-game performances. Now if a player just looks at a star the wrong way, he gets called for a foul!! He arrived several hours before the game and played an arcade shooting game in the area before tip off. Now, its exploding lights and flash and glamour. No matter where he went, Philly, LA, or with the Harlem Globetrotters, he dominated. Although the 20,000 feat would have been logistically difficult, Chamberlain allegedly told his on-and-off girlfriend Lynda Huey, "What's a zero between friends? Sometimes you take greatness for granted. Wilt Chamberlain had held 72 NBA records, according to NBA.com. Perhaps most impressive was Wilts proficiency from the free throw line that game. He was Great friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was at an All-Star Game in El Paso for Volleyball and a player on the East team (Wilt was in the West) was misquoted about Wilts imperfections on the court. It wasnt No one knew if the NBA was going to be launched into the stratosphere, as it has been in the decades that followed. On March 2, 1962 exactly 60 years ago the legendary Philadelphia Warriors center scored 100 points in a single game. Actually thats below average by todays standards. He became board member of the newly founded International Volleyball Association in 1974 and became its president one year later. Walter said Hello Mr. Chamberlain. On a early summer day in the 1980s Chamberlain decided to play some pick up basketball at UCLA. Cookie Notice He was with the Lakers when he asked Volleyball legend Gene Selznick how to play volleyball because he heard Gene was the best. As a small boy, I marveled at Wilt Chamberlain, admired his athletic prowess, fantasized about being him, taking finger rolls and dipper dunks in my homemade basketball court. Youre not going to get a shot off in the first half. And he kept the promise blocking all nine of Walters shot attempts. Most people have short histories. Wilt Chamberlain was the greatest athlete the world had ever seen and he doesn't let you forget it. Little did we know that this game would be a precursor to his 100-point game only a few months later. I saw the team win a championship for the Philadelphia 76ers in 1967. There are game tapes of him going up for a block and his fingers are parallel to the top of the backboard. That's the truth, I saw it. Back in 1962, it was more of a lounge act a league in search of itself, a carnival kind of atmosphere. Against the Knicks, Wilt took 63 of the teams 115 field goal attempts and made 36 of them. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979. He can barely dribble lol. In a 76ers game against the Warriors, he didn't shoot the ball the ENTIRE game. How fast did Wilt Chamberlain run the 100 yard? Aside from being one of the strongest players in the league, Wilt was rumored to be one of the fastest men on the planet. Its a cold Friday night in early March. Wilt was at a party with legendary NFL running back Jim Brown when they got into an argument about who is faster. WHYY offers a voice to those not heard, a platform to share everyones stories, a foundation to empower early and lifelong learners and a trusted space for unbiased news. He played the whole game and rarely fouled out. Its a pretty big arena, but its half-filled? At its peak the club featured more than 100 athletes. 1 | One of the fastest men on the planet. Wilt Chamberlain PPG 30.1 RPG 22.9 APG 4.4 HEIGHT 7'1" (2.16m) WEIGHT 250lb (113kg) COUNTRY USA LAST ATTENDED Kansas BIRTHDATE August 21, 1936 DRAFT 1959 EXPERIENCE 14 Years Stats Career Per Mode. Chamberlains single-season scoring record is so out of reach that only one player Michael Jordan in 198687 has even come within 1,000 points of it. There was never any athlete as good as number 13.
Sophie Countess Of Wessex Catholic,
Hamburg Altona Postleitzahl,
Html Website Code Copy And Paste,
Articles H