Wilt Chamberlain

Basketball Player

  • Born: August 21, 1936
  • Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Died: October 12, 1999
  • Place of death: Bel Air, California

American basketball player

Chamberlain revolutionized the game of basketball not only because of his height and skills but also because he was an African American in a game of white men. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978 and was chosen as one of the fifty greatest players in the history of the National Basketball Association.

Area of achievement Sports

Early Life

Little has been written about the early life of Wilt Chamberlain. He was one of nine children and was a talented athlete even as a youngster. His early love was track and field, and he excelled at the long jump, shot put, and the broad jump. Chamberlain did not play his first organized game of basketball until he was in the seventh grade. At six feet eleven inches when he started Overbrook High School in west Philadelphia, he quickly found that he was built for the game. His size was unusual in the early 1950’s, indeed, it was unusual for any time period.

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Chamberlain became one of the most dominating high school players in Philadelphia. He broke scoring records, had a high-school career total of 2,252 points, and had individual game performances of 90, 74, and 71 points. It was during high school that Chamberlain earned three nicknames that would follow him the rest of his life: Goliath, Big Dipper, and Wilt the Stilt. Wilt the Stilt was the one nickname he hated the most; his favorite was Big Dipper. Many have said that he gained this favorite nickname because he had to dip his head before entering or existing doorways.

Chamberlain was recruited by some of the best colleges and universities around the United States. He chose to enhance his talent for basketball by learning from one of the greatest coaches of the game, Forrest “Phog” Allen of the University of Kansas. (Allen had also coached Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp, who would become legendary coaches in their own right.) At the time of Chamberlain’s recruitment, the university had just completed construction of its fifteen-thousand-seat Allen Field House.

Life’s Work

Chamberlain led the Kansas Jayhawks through the Big Seven Conference in the 1956-1957 season. It was a tough year for Chamberlain, who endured racial taunts from fans, players, and people in general, especially when the team traveled to the South. In the 1957 Midwest Regional championship, Kansas had to defeat SMU (Southern Methodist University) in Dallas, Texas. One Jayhawks player recalled that Chamberlain was spat upon, pelted with debris, and subjected to vile racial epithets. Officials did little to maintain order. There were so many outrageous uncalled fouls, that Chamberlain’s teammates feared that he risked serious injury simply by staying in the game. Despite the uncivil actions by opposing players and referees, Chamberlain responded by playing some his best basketball, leading Kansas to a 73-65 victory over SMU.

Kansas would go on to compete for the national title in 1957 against North Carolina in Kansas City, Missouri. The game was one of the great basketball classics of all time. Chamberlain was guarded by two players, and sometimes three, during most of the game. The championship game went into triple overtime and was decided by a pair of North Carolina free throws with only a couple of seconds on the game clock. It was a heart-wrenching loss for Kansas players and fans but also for Chamberlain personally, who would carry the stigma of the game for the rest of his college and most of his professional career. Chamberlain had failed to win the “big” game. For many years, he considered that loss his most devastating, even though he was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Chamberlain returned for his junior year, but suffered a midseason injury from which he never fully recovered. The Jayhawks were not able to advance to the Big Seven league title and, ultimately, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament. Even though he earned All-American honors and averaged a record-breaking 30.1 points per game in twenty-one contests, Chamberlain left college and joined the exhibition team the Harlem Globetrotters. He was not allowed immediate entry into the NBA because it had a rule against signing college players who left college early to play in the NBA. Chamberlain was part of the 1959 Globetrotters team that toured to sold-out crowds in the Soviet Union. Years later, Chamberlain reflected on his time as a Globetrotter with fondness, stating that it was a time he was not jeered at for being black or asked to break records. He could just be “one of the guys.”

Chamberlain entered the 1959 NBA draft and made an immediate impact on the game. As a rookie with the Philadelphia Warriors (now the 76ers), he averaged an amazing 37.6 points and 27 rebounds during the regular season, while taking the NBA’s Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awards. During the postseason, Chamberlain ran into his nemesis and future Hall-of-Fame player, Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics, beginning one of the greatest rivalries the NBA would ever see. While he flirted with retirement after his first season because of harsh treatment by fans, media, and other players around the league, Chamberlain decided to come back for another year.

Luckily for the Warriors, Chamberlain returned. His second and third seasons in the league were even greater than his first. By the end of the 1962 season, he had averaged more than 50 points and 25 rebounds per game. He had also become the first player to break the 4,000 point barrier in a single season. Michael Jordan remains the only player to have come close to that record with 3,041 points during the 1986-1987 season. Other records that Chamberlain added to his impressive NBA resume include his 100-point game against the New York Knicks as well as an NBA record eleven seasons as the league’s rebounding leader.

Chamberlain played with several NBA teams. The Warriors moved to San Francisco in 1962, but Chamberlain was traded back to Philadelphia in 1965. As a 76er, he would earn three straight MVP awards. He also won his first championship with the 76ers in 1967. However, that feat did not keep the owners of the team happy, so they traded Chamberlain to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1968 after the 76ers failed to maintain a 3-1 game lead against Boston in the Eastern Conference finals of that year. With the Lakers, Chamberlain would help lead the team to an impressive 69-13 record in 1971-1972 season, a feat topped only by the Chicago Bulls in 1995-1996 (72-10), and a second NBA championship. Chamberlain would retire from the Lakers and the NBA in 1973.

Significance

After retiring as a player, Chamberlain tried coaching basketball and playing volleyball. He also wrote several books, opened a night club in New York, invested in the stock market, and invested in horses. He also became an actor, performing in the film Conan the Destroyer (1984) with Arnold Schwarzenegger and singer-actor Grace Jones. Chamberlain also was a major sponsor of many highly competitive women’s track, basketball, volleyball, and softball teams. He wanted to expand the popularity of women’s sports. In 1978, Chamberlain was elected into the NBA Hall of Fame, holding basketball records that may never be equaled or broken.

Those persons who new Chamberlain best teammates, coaches, and later NBA stars such as Jordan considered Chamberlain one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. He has been called a freak of nature by some and a gentle giant by others. Regardless, Chamberlain was larger than life. His immense height and stature and his tremendous athletic abilities changed forever the way basketball would be played.

Bibliography

Bjarkman, Peter C. The Biographical History of Basketball. Chicago: Masters Press, 2000. This biographical history compares Chamberlain with NBA greats Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, and Oscar Robertson.

Chamberlain, Wilt, with David Shaw. Wilt: Just Like Any Other Seven-Foot Black Millionaire Who Lives Next Door. New York: Macmillan, 1973. This book discusses the trials and tribulations of the basketball star during the 1960’s and 1970’s. The book deals with the racism faced by Chamberlain as well as criticisms leveled against him because his college team failed to win the “Big Game.”

Cherry, Robert. Wilt: Larger than Life. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2004. A fact-filled book that details the life and times of Chamberlain. Includes discussion of his feelings during big games to his behind-the-scenes activities with the many women he claims to have slept with.

Pomerantz, Gary M. Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era. New York: Crown, 2005. More like a film than a book, this publication not only focuses on the biggest game of Chamberlain’s career but also uses “flashbacks” to allow readers to connect with his past. Also discusses the state of the NBA in the early 1960’s and how that style of play helped change the way the game would come to be played and promoted.

Taylor, John. The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball. New York: Random House, 2005. A finely crafted historical chronicle of one of the great rivalries in the NBA’s early years. Includes biographies of not only Chamberlain and Russell but also other players of the period.

1941-1970: August 3, 1949: National Basketball Association Is Formed; March 2, 1962: Chamberlain Scores 100 Points In a Professional Basketball Game; May 5, 1969: Russell Retires as the Celtics Take an Eleventh NBA Title.