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Wilt Chamberlain

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Wilt Chamberlain
Personal information
Born(1936-08-21)August 21, 1936
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DiedOctober 12, 1999(1999-10-12) (aged 63)
Bel-Air, California
NationalityUSA
Listed height7 ft 1 in (2.16 m)
Listed weight275 lb (125 kg)
Career information
CollegeKansas
NBA draft1959: 3rd overall
Selected by the Philadelphia Warriors
Playing career1958–1974
PositionCenter
Career highlights and awards
Four-time NBA MVP
NBA Finals MVP
NBA Rookie of the Year (1960)
NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain (August 21, 1936–October 12, 1999), nicknamed Wilt the Stilt and The Big Dipper, was an American professional National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; and also played for the Harlem Globetrotters. The 7 foot 1 inch Chamberlain, who weighed 250 lb as a rookie[2] before bulking up to 275 lb and eventually over 300 lb with the Lakers,[1] played the center position and is one of the greatest and most dominant players in the history of the NBA.

Chamberlain holds numerous official NBA all-time records, setting records in many scoring, rebounding and durability categories. Among others, he is the only player in NBA history to average more than 50 points in a season (let alone 40) or score 100 points in a single NBA game. He also won seven scoring, nine field goal percentage, and eleven rebounding titles, and once even led the league in assists.[3] Although suffering a long string of professional losses,[4] Chamberlain had a successful career, winning two NBA titles, earning four regular-season Most Valuable Player awards, one NBA Finals MVP award, and being selected to 13 All-Star Game games and ten All-NBA First and Second teams.[1][5] Chamberlain was subsequently enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, elected into the NBA's 35th Anniversary Team of 1980, and chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History of 1996.[5]

Off the court, Chamberlain was also a successful businessman, authored several books and appeared in the movie Conan the Destroyer. He was a lifelong bachelor, but became notorious for his claim to have had sex with 20,000 women, a statement which has entered popular culture.[6]

Early years

Wilton Norman Chamberlain was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into a family of nine children. As his biographer Robert Cherry observed, he was a frail child, nearly dying of pneumonia in his early years and missing a whole year of school as a result.[7] In his early years, Chamberlain was not interested in basketball, because he thought it was "a game for sissies".[8] Instead, he was an avid track and field athlete: as a youth, he high jumped 6 feet, 6 inches, ran the 440 yards in 49.0 seconds and the 880 yards in 1:58.3, put the shot 53 feet, 4 inches, and broad jumped 22 feet.[9] But according to Chamberlain, "basketball was king in Philadelphia", so he eventually turned to this sport.[10] Because Chamberlain was a very tall child, already measuring 6 feet at age 10[11] and 6 feet 11 inches when he entered Philadelphia's Overbrook High School,[3] he had a natural advantage against his peers; he soon was reknowned for his scoring talent, his physical strength and his shot blocking abilities.[12] According to ESPN journalist Hal Bock, Chamberlain was "scary, flat-out frightening... before he came along, most basketball players were mortal-sized men. Chamberlain changed that.".[13] It was also in this period of his life when his three life-long nicknames "Wilt the Stilt", "Goliath", and his favorite, "The Big Dipper", were allegedly born because he always had to dip his head before entering a room.[1]

High school career

As a player of the Overbrook Panthers, Chamberlain averaged 31 points during the 1953 high school season and led his team to a 71-62 win against the Northeast High School of his future NBA team mate Guy Rodgers. He scored 34 points, won Overbrook the Public League title and a berth for the Philadelphia city championship game against the winner of the rival Catholic league, West Catholic.[14] In that game, West Catholic triple-teamed Chamberlain the entire game, and despite the center's 29 points, the Panthers lost 42-54.[14]

In his second Overbrook season, Chamberlain continued his prolific scoring, among them scoring a high school record 71 points against Roxborough.[15] The Panthers comfortably won the Public League title after again beating Northeast in which Chamberlain scored 40 points, and later won the city title by defeating South Catholic with 74-50. Chamberlain scored 32 points and had led Overbrook to a flawless 19-0 season.[15]

During summer vacations, Chamberlain worked as a bellhop in an affluent Jewish hotel named "Kutsher's". One day, Red Auerbach showed up, the Jewish coach of the Boston Celtics. He spotted the talented teenager and had him play 1-on-1 against B. H. Born, elected the Most Valuable Player of the 1954 NCAA Finals. Chamberlain won 25-10; Born was so dejected that he gave up a promising NBA career and became a tractor engineer ("If there were high school kids that good, I figured I wasn't going to make it to the pros"),[16] and Auerbach wanted Chamberlain to go to a New England university, so he could draft him as a territorial pick for the Celtics, but Chamberlain did not react.[16]

In Chamberlain's third and final Overbrook season, he continued his high scoring, once logging 74, 78 and 90 points in three consecutive games.[17]The Panthers won the Public League a third time, beating West Philadelphia with 78-60, and in the city championship game, they met Western Catholic once again. Scoring 35 points, Chamberlain led Overbrook to an easy 83-42 win.[17] After three years, Chamberlain had won Overbrook two city championships, logged a 56-3 record and had broken Tom Gola's high school scoring record by scoring 2,252 points, averaging 37.4 per game.[1][4][18]

After his last Overbrook season, over 200 universities wanted to recruit the basketball prodigy.[3] Among others, UCLA offered Chamberlain to become a movie star, the University of Pennsylvania wanted to buy him diamonds, and Chamberlain's Panthers coach Mosenson was even offered a coaching position if he could get the center.[19] Cherry described that Chamberlain wanted a change and therefore not want to go to or near Philadelphia (which also eliminated New York), was not interested in New England, and snubbed the South because of segregation; this left the Midwest.[19] In the end, after visiting Kansas University with reknowned college coach Phog Allen, Chamberlain then proclaimed he was going to play college basketball at the University of Kansas, also commonly known as KU.[19]

College career

In 1955, Chamberlain joined KU. Cherry described how shocked the young teenager was when he first arrived in the still-segregated city of Lawrence, Kansas: after being treated like a star in his native Philadelphia, he now saw places black people were prohibited to enter. Chamberlain reacted by simply ignoring these signs, eating and going out wherever he wanted.[20] When he found out nobody heckled him, he gave up his antipathy, and blacks were eventually treated better.[20] Cherry is split on Chamberlain's attitude: whilst Chamberlain was African-American, he argued that he was also sacrosanct from anti-black racism because he was too famous; had Chamberlain been more political and less self-centered, he could have made things better for African-Americans in general at Lawrence.[20] In any case, Chamberlain soon liked living in Kansas, especially enjoying the rich jazz scene in the near Kansas City.[21]

At KU, Chamberlain became a player for the Kansas Jayhawks freshman team under future Hall-of-Fame coach Phog Allen, whom he admired, and also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc, where he was the president of his pledge class.[22] Announced as "looking lighter than his 240 pounds, [able to] reach 9'6" up in the air [flatfooted], and a [wingspan of] 7'2"", his debut was highly anticipated, and he delivered: in Chamberlain's debut game for the freshman squad, the freshman Jayhawks were pitted against the varsity Jayhawks, who were favored to win their conference that year. Chamberlain dominated his older college mates by scoring 52 points (16-35 from the field, 10-12 on free throws), grabbing 29 rebounds and registering four blocks.[9] However, Chamberlain's prospect of playing under Allen was destroyed, because Allen turned 70 shortly after; by KU regulation, Allen had to retire. Chamberlain had a bad relationship with Allen's successor Dick Harp, fueled by resentment and disappointment: Cherry doubted whether he would have chosen KU if he had known that Allen was going to retire soon.[23]

On December 3 1956, Chamberlain made his varsity debut. In his first varsity game, the center scored 52 points and grabbed 31 rebounds, breaking both all-time college records in a 87-69 win against the Northwestern team of future NBA team mate Joe Ruklick.[24] His team mate Monte Johnson testified how athletic he was: "Wilt... had unbelievable endurance and speed... and was never tired. When he dunked, he was so fast that a lot of players got their fingers jammed [between Chamberlain's hand and the rim]." Reportedly, Chamberlain also broke Johnny Kerr's toe with a slam dunk.[24] By this time, Chamberlain had developed several offensive weapons that became his trademarks: his finger roll, his fadeaway jump shot, which he could also hit as a bank shot, his passing and his shot blocking.[24] Leading a talented squad of starters Maurice King, Gene Elstun, John Parker, Ron Lonesky and Lew Johnson, the Jayhawks went 13-1 until they lost a game 54-56 versus Oklahoma State in which Oklahoma held the ball the last 3:30 minutes without any intention of scoring a basket; in the days before the shot clock (introduced 1984 in the NCAA), this was still possible.[24]

As he did at Overbrook, Chamberlain again showcased his diverse athletic talent. He ran the 100-yard dash in 10.9 seconds, threw the shotput 56 feet, triple jumped more than 50 feet, and won the high jump in the Big Eight track and field championships three straight years.[25]

In 1957, in the days before the current 65-team March Madness was introduced, 23 teams played for the NCAA title. The Midwest regional tourney was held in Dallas, Texas, which was segragated back then. In the first game, the Jayhawks played the all-white Southern Methodist team, and KU player John Parker later told: "The crowd was brutal. We were spat on, pelted with debris, and subjected to the vilest racial epiphets possible."[24] In overtime, KU won 73-65 against SMU, and police had to escort the Jayhawks out to prevent the angry crowd from hijacking the team bus. The next game against Oklahoma City was equally unpleasant, with KU winning 81-61 under intense racist abuse.[24] In the semi finals, Chamberlain's Jayhawks defeated the University of San Francisco led by a certain Bill Russell with 80-56; the paths of Chamberlain and Russell would cross each other several times in the future.

Chamberlain made the First Team of the All-America squad and led his Jayhawks into the NCAA finals against the Tar Heels of North Carolina. In that game, Tar Heels coach Frank McGuire used several unorthodox tactics to thwart Chamberlain. At the tip-off, he sent his shortest player, Tommy Kearns, in order to rattle him, and the Tar Heels spent the rest of the night triple-teaming Chamberlain, one defender in front, one behind and a third arriving as soon as he got the ball.[4] In spite of the extreme fixation on Chamberlain, the Jayhawks shot a miserable 27% from the field, as opposed to 64% of the Tar Heels, and trailed 22-29 in halftime.[24] Later, North Carolina led 40-37 with 10 minutes to go, and then stalled the game: they passed the ball around without any intention of scoring a basket. After several Tar Heel turnovers, the game was tied at 46 at the end of regulation.[24] In the first overtime, both teams scored 2 points each, and in second overtime, Kansas in return froze the ball, keeping the game tied at 48. In third overtime, the Tar Heels scored two consecutive baskets, but Chamberlain executed a three point play, and KU only trailed 51-52. After King scored a basket, Kansas was ahead by one point, but then Tar Heel Joe Quigg was fouled on a drive with 10 seconds remaining and made his two foul shots. For the final play, Dick Harp called a play in which Ron Loneski should pass the ball into Chamberlain in the low post; however, the pass was too soft and was intercepted, and the Tar Heels won the game. Nonetheless, Chamberlain, who had scored 23 points and 14 rebounds,[24] was elected the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.[4] However, Cherry speculates that this loss was a watershed in Chamberlain's life: it was the first time that he was called a loser despite putting up impressive individual stats, the first of many occurrences during his career. Chamberlain later admitted that this loss was the most painful of his life.[24]

In Chamberlain's junior year, the 1957-58 NCAA season, the Jayhawks matches were frustrating for him. Knowing how dominant Chamberlain was, the opponents resorted to freeze-ball tactics and routinely used three or more players to guard him.[26] Team mate Bob Billings commented: "It was not fun basketball... we were just out chasing people throwing the basketball back and forth."[26] In addition, Chamberlain grew weary of the punishment inflicted on him; after a game against Missouri, he showed imprints of two rows of teeth in his arm. Still, Chamberlain averaged 30.1 points for the season and led the Jayhawks to a 18-5 record, losing three games when he was out with an urinary infection:[26] because KU was only second and back then, only conference winners were invited to the NCAA tourney, the Jayhawks' season had ended. It was only a small consolation that he was again named an All-American, along with future NBA Hall-of-Famers Elgin Baylor and Oscar Robertson plus old rival Guy Rodgers.[26]

Having lost the fun in NCAA basketball and wanting to earn money, he left college and sold the story named "Why I Am Leaving College" to Look magazine for $10,000, a large sum when NCAA players earned $9,000 in a whole season.[26] In two seasons at Kansas, Chamberlain averaged 29.9 points and 18.3 rebounds per game while totaling 1,433 points and 877 rebounds,[13] and led Kansas to one Big Seven championship.[5] By the time Chamberlain was 21, he had already been featured in Time, Life, Look and Newsweek magazines, even before he turned professional.[18]

For many years following Chamberlain's departure from the University of Kansas, critics claimed that he either wanted to leave the very white Midwest or was embarrassed by not being able to bring home the NCAA basketball tournament victory. In 1998, Chamberlain returned to Allen Field House in Lawrence, Kansas to participate in a jersey retiring ceremony for his number 13. Around this time, he is quoted as saying: "There's been a lot of conversation, since people have been trying to get my jersey number retired, that I have some dislike for the University of Kansas. That is totally ridiculous."[27]

Professional career

Harlem Globetrotters

After his frustrating junior year, Chamberlain wanted to become a professional player before finishing his senior year.[28] However, at that time, the NBA did not accept players who had not finished their last year of studies. Therefore, Chamberlain was prohibited from joining the NBA for a year, and decided to play for the Harlem Globetrotters in 1958 for a sum of $50,000.[1][4]

Chamberlain became a member of the Globetrotters team which made history by playing in Moscow in 1959, enjoyed a sold out tour of the USSR and prior to the start of a game at Moscow's Lenin Central Stadium, were greeted by the General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev.[29] One particular Trotter skit involved Trotters captain Meadowlark Lemon collapsing to the ground, and instead of helping him up, Chamberlain threw him several feet high up in the air and caught him like a doll. "[Chamberlain] was the strongest athlete who ever lived", the 210 lbs. heavy Lemon recounted later.[30] In later years, Chamberlain frequently joined the Trotters in the off-season and fondly recalled his time there, because he was no longer jeered at or asked to break records, but just one of several artists who loved to entertain the crowd.[31] On March 9, 2000, Chamberlain's number 13 was retired by the Trotters.[29]

Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors

On October 24, 1959, Chamberlain finally made his debut as an NBA player, starting for the Philadelphia Warriors. The Warriors' draft pick was highly unusual, as it was a so-called "territorial pick" despite the fact Chamberlain had spent his college years in Kansas, which is not a region covered by Philadelphia. However, Warriors owner Eddie Gottlieb, one of the NBA's founding fathers, argued that Chamberlain had grown up in Philadelphia and had become popular there as a high school player; and because there were no NBA teams in Kansas, he argued, the Philadelphia Warriors held his territorial rights and could draft him. The NBA agreed, marking the only time in NBA history that a player was made a territorial selection based on his pre-college roots.[1] Chamberlain immediately became the NBA's best paid player, earning $30,000 in his rookie contract; in comparison, the previous top earner was Bob Cousy of the Boston Celtics with $25,000, and Gottlieb had bought the whole Warriors franchise for $25,000 seven years ago.[32]

In the 1959-60 NBA season, Chamberlain joined a Warriors squad which was coached by Neil Johnston and contained Hall-of-Fame guards Tom Gola and Paul Arizin, plus Ernie Beck and his old rival Guy Rodgers - remarkably, all five Warriors starters were Philadelphians. In his first NBA game against the New York Knicks, the rookie center scored 43 points and 28 rebounds.[33] In his fourth game, Philadelphia met the reigning champions, the Boston Celtics of Hall-of-Fame coach Red Auerbach, whose offer Chamberlain had snubbed several years ago, and his old NCAA rival Bill Russell, who was now lauded as one of the best defensive pivots in the game.[33] In what was the first of many Chamberlain-Russell matchups, the Warrior outscored the Celtic with 30 points versus 28 points, but Boston won the game; Cherry called this outcome the first of many great duels between these pivots.[33] The rivalry between Chamberlain and his perennial nemesis Bill Russell would grow out to become the NBA's greatest on-court rivalry of all time.[5] Nevertheless, the two also became friends in personal life, similar to later rivals Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.[34]

In his first season, Chamberlain averaged 37.6 points and 27 rebounds, convincingly breaking the previous regular-season records. He only needed 56 games to score point number 2,102, which broke the all-time regular season scoring record of Bob Pettit, who needed 72 games to score 2,101 points.[35] Chamberlain won both the NBA Most Valuable Player and NBA Rookie of the Year awards, a feat equaled only by fellow Hall-of-Famer Wes Unseld in the 1968-69 NBA season, and broke eight NBA records. [35][4] Chamberlain capped off his rookie season awards by also winning the NBA All-Star Game MVP award with a 23 point, 25 rebound performance for the East.

The Warriors entered the 1960 NBA Playoffs and beat the Syracuse Nationals, setting up a meeting versus the Eastern Division champions, the Boston Celtics. Cherry described that Celtics coach Red Auerbach ordered his forward Tom Heinsohn to commit professional fouls on Chamberlain: whenever the Warriors shot foul shots, Heinsohn grabbed and shoved Chamberlain to prevent him running back quickly; intention was that the Celtics threw the ball in so fast that the prolific shotblocker Chamberlain was not back under his own basket yet, and Boston could score an easy fastbreak basket.[35] The teams split the first two games, but in Game 2, Chamberlain got fed up by Heinsohn and punched him: in the scuffle, the Warriors center injured his hand, and Philadelphia lost the next two games.[35] In Game 5, his hand was back to normal, and Chamberlain scored 50 points on Bill Russell. But in Game 6, Heinsohn got the last laugh, scoring the decisive basket with a last-second tip in.[35] Despite Chamberlain's outscoring Russell by 81 points, the Warriors lost the series 2 games to 4.[1]

The rookie Chamberlain then shocked the Warriors' fans by saying he was thinking of retiring. He was tired of being subjected to double- and triple teams, and teams coming down on him with hard fouls. Chamberlain feared he might lose his cool one day.[1] As Celtics forward Tom Heinsohn said, himself no stranger to dirty play against Chamberlain: "Half the fouls against him [Chamberlain] were hard fouls ... he took the most brutal pounding of any player ever".[1] In addition, Chamberlain was seen as a freak of nature, jeered at by the fans and scorned by the media. As Chamberlain often said, quoting coach Alex Hannum's explanation of his situation, "Nobody loves Goliath."[4] Eddie Gottlieb coaxed Chamberlain back into the NBA, sweetening his return with a salary raise to $65,000.[36]

In the following next season, Chamberlain surpassed his rookie season statistics as he averaged 38.4 ppg and 27.2 rebounds per game. He became the first player to break the 3,000-point barrier and the first and still only player to break the 2,000-rebound barrier for a single season, grabbing 2,149 boards.[37] Chamberlain also won his first field goal percentage title, and set the all-time record for rebounds in a single game with 55.[4] Chamberlain was so dominant on that team that he scored almost 32% of his team's points and 30.4% of their rebounds.[38]

However, Chamberlain's Warriors again failed to convert his play into team success, this time bowing out against the Syracuse Nationals of Hall-of-Famer Dolph Schayes in a three game sweep.[39] Cherry noted that Chamberlain was "difficult" and did not respect coach Neil Johnston, who was unable to handle the star center. In retrospect, Eddie Gottlieb remarked: "My mistake was not getting a stronghanded coach... [Neil Johnston] wasn't ready for big time."[40]

In his third Warriors season, the Warriors were coached by Frank McGuire, the coach that had masterminded Chamberlain's painful NCAA loss against the Tar Heels. In that year, the center set several all-time records which have never been threatened since. In the 1961-62 NBA season, he averaged 50.4 points and grabbed 25.7 rebounds per game[37] — Chamberlain's 4,029 regular-season points made him the first and only player to break the 4,000-point barrier.[1] To place this in perspective the only player other than Chamberlain to break the 3,000-point barrier is Michael Jordan, who scored 3,041 points in the 1986-87 NBA season. Chamberlain once again broke the 2,000 rebound barrier by grabbing 2,052 rebounds. Additionally, he was on the hardwood for an average of 48.5 minutes, playing 3,882 of his team's 3,890 minutes.[37] Because Chamberlain played in overtime games, he averaged more minutes per game than the 48 minutes in regulation; in fact, Chamberlain would have hit the 3,890 minute mark if he had not been ejected in one game after picking up his second technical foul with 8 minutes left to play.[41]

On March 2, 1962, Chamberlain delivered another incredible performance and became the first player to score 100 points in a single NBA game, in the 169-147 victory of his Warriors against the New York Knicks.[4] His extraordinary feats in the 1961-62 season were later subject of the book Wilt, 1962 by Gary M. Pomerantz (2005), who used Chamberlain as a metaphor for the uprising of Black America.[42] In addition to Chamberlain's regular season accomplishments, he scored 42 points in the NBA All-Star Game - still the all-time record - on 17-23 shooting and pulled down 24 rebounds.

In the 1962 NBA Playoffs, the Warriors met the Boston Celtics again in the Eastern Division Finals, a team which Bob Cousy and Bill Russell called the greatest Celtics team of all time.[43] Each team won their home games, so the series was split 3-3 after six games. In Game 7, the Warriors trailed by 102-105, until Chamberlain was controversially called for goaltending a hook shot by Tom Heinsohn with one minute to go: both Chamberlain and coach McGuire asserted that it had been a clean block.[43] In spite of this misfortune, Chamberlain tied the score at 107 with 16 seconds to go, but then Celtics shooting guard Sam Jones sank a clutch shot which won Boston the game and the series.[43] [44] In later years, Chamberlain was criticised by averaging 50 points, but not winning the title. In his defense, Cherry points out that except Chamberlain, only veteran guard Paul Arizin was able to score consistently; fellow guard Tom Gola and small forward Al Attles were defensive specialists, playmaker Guy Rodgers a poor shooter and power forward Tom Meschery overmatched versus his Celtics counterpart Tom Heinsohn.[43] In addition, the 1961-62 Celtics team was officially called one of the greatest NBA teams of all time, loaded with seven Hall-of-Famers, and contained six players who averaged double scoring digits.[43]

In the 1962-63 NBA season, Eddie Gottlieb sold the Warriors franchise for an amount of $850,000 to a group of businessmen led by Marty Simmons from San Francisco, and the team relocated to become the San Francisco Warriors under a new coach, Bob Feerick.[45] However, this also meant that the team broke apart: Paul Arizin chose to retire rather than moving away from his family and his job at IBM in Philadelphia, and Tom Gola was homesick, requesting a trade to the lowly New York Knicks halfway through the season.[46] With both secondary scorers gone, Chamberlain continued his array of statistical feats, scoring 44.8 points and grabbing 24.3 rebounds per game that year.[37] But as the sole quality player on his squad, the Warriors lost 49 of their 80 games and missed the playoffs.[47]

In the 1963-64 NBA season, Chamberlain got yet another new coach, namely Alex Hannum, and was joined by a promising rookie center named Nate Thurmond, who would enter the Hall of Fame. Ex-soldier Hannum, who was later named one of the 10 Greatest Coaches of the NBA, was a crafty psychologist who emphasised defense and passing; most importantly, was not afraid to stand up to the dominant Chamberlain, who was known to freeze out coaches he did not like.[48] Backed up by valuable rookie Thurmond, Chamberlain had another good season with 36.9 ppg and 22.3 rpg,[37] and the San Francisco Warriors went all the way to the NBA Finals. In that series, they succumbed to the Boston Celtics team of Bill Russell again, this time losing 1-4.[49] But as Cherry remarked, not only Chamberlain, but in particular Hannum deserved much credit because he had basically had taken the bad 31-49 squad of last year plus Thurmond and made it into a NBA Finalist.[50] In the summer of 1964, Chamberlain made the acquaintance of a tall, talented 17-year old teenager who played in the famous Rucker Park basketball arena in New York City. Soon, the young Lew Alcindor was allowed into his inner circle, and quickly idolised the ten year older NBA player. Unfortunately, Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as Alcindor would name himself later, would develop an intense personal antipathy.[51]

In the following 1964-65 NBA season, the Warriors ran into financial trouble. At the 1965 All-Star break, Chamberlain was traded back to Philadelphia to the Philadelphia 76ers, the new name of the relocated Syracuse Nationals. In return, the Warriors received Paul Neumann, Connie Dierking, Lee Shaffer (who opted to retire rather than report to the Warriors), and $150,000.[4][1] When Chamberlain left the Warriors, owner Franklin Mieuli said: "Chamberlain is not an easy man to love [and] the fans in San Francisco never learned to love him. Wilt is easy to hate [...] people came to see him lose."[28]

Philadelphia 76ers

After the trade, Chamberlain found himself in a promising Sixers team that included guards Hal Greer, a future Hall-of-Famer, and talented role players Larry Costello, Chet Walker and Lucious Jackson. Cherry remarks that there was a certain tension within the team: Greer was the formerly undisputed leader and was not willing to give up his authority, and Jackson, a talented center, was now forced to play power forward because Chamberlain blocked the center spot; however, as the season progressed, the three began to mesh better.[52] Unfortunately, Chamberlain desrespected the Sixer's coach, Dolph Schayes, because Schayes, according to him, had made several disrespectful remarks when they were rival players in the NBA.[52]

Statistically, Chamberlain was again outstanding, posting 34.7 ppg and 22.9 rpg for the second half of the season.[37] After defeating the Cincinnati Royals of Oscar Robertson in the 1965 NBA Playoffs, the Sixers met Chamberlain's familiar rival, the Boston Celtics. The press called it an even matchup in all positions, even at center, where Bill Russell was expected to give Chamberlain a tough battle.[53] Indeed, the two teams split the first six games, and because of the better season record, the last game was held in the Celtics' Boston Garden. In that Game 7, both centers were marvelous: Chamberlain scored 30 points and 32 rebounds, and Russell logged 16 points, 27 rebounds and 8 assists.[53] In the final minute, Chamberlain hit two clutch free throws and slam dunked on Russell, bringing the score to 109-110 from Sixers' perspective with five seconds left. Russell botched the inbounds pass, hitting a guide wire over the backboard and giving the ball back to the Sixers. Coach Schayes called timeout, and decided to run the last play over Hal Greer rather than Chamberlain, because he feared the Celtics would intentionally foul him because he was a poor foul shooter. But when Greer attempted to inbound the ball, John Havlicek stole it to preserve the Celtics' lead.[54] For the fifth time in seven years, Russell's team had deprived Chamberlain of the title.[1] According to Chamberlain, that was the time that people started calling him "loser".[4] Additionally, in an April 1965 issue of Sports Illustrated Chamberlain conducted an interview entitled "My Life In A Bush League" where he criticized his fellow players, coaches, and NBA administrators.[55] Chamberlain later commented that he could see in hindsight how the interview was instrumental in damaging his public image.[55]

In the 1965-66 NBA season, the Sixers experienced real tragedy when Ike Richman, the Sixers' co-owner as well as Chamberlain's confident and lawyer, died of a coronary. Still reeling from the shock, the Sixers posted a 55-25 regular season record, and for his strong play, Chamberlain was handed his second MVP award.[5] In that season, the center again dominated his opposition by scoring 33.5 points and 24.6 rebounds a game, leading the league in both categories.[37] In one particular game, Chamberlain blocked a dunk attempt by Gus Johnson so hard that he dislocated Johnson's shoulder.[56] However, off the court Chamberlain's commitment to the cause was doubted: as Chamberlain was a late sleeper, in addition lived in New York and preferred to commute to Philadelphia rather than live there, he was only available afternoon for training. Because Schayes did not risk to anger his best player, he scheduled the daily workout at 4pm; this angered the team, who preferred an early schedule to have the afternoon off, but Schayes just said: "There is no other way."[57] Irv Kosloff, who now owned the Sixers alone after Richman's death, pleaded to him to move to Philadelphia during the season, but he was turned down.[58]

In the 1966 NBA Playoffs, the Sixers met their familiar foes, the Celtics, and for the first time even had home court advantage. However, Boston easily won the first two games on the road, winning 115-96 and 114-93; Chamberlain played within his usual range, but his supporting cast shot under 40%. This caused sports journalist Joe McGinnis to comment: "The Celtics played like champions and the Sixers just played."[58] In Game 3, Chamberlain scored 31 points and 27 rebounds for an important road win, and the next coach Schayes planned to hold a joint team practice. However, Chamberlain said he was "too tired" to attend, and even refused Schayes' plea to at least show up and shoot a few foul shots with the team; in Game 4, Boston won 114-108.[58] Prior to Game 5, Chamberlain was nowhere to be found, skipping practise and being non-accessible. Outwardly, Schayes defended his star center as "excused from practise", but his team mates knew the truth and were much less forgiving.[58] In Game 5 itself, Chamberlain was superb, scoring 46 points and 34 rebounds, but the Celtics won the game 120-112 and the series.[59] Cherry is highly critical of Chamberlain: while conceding he was the only Sixers player who performed in the series, he points out his unprofessional, egotistical behaviour and being a bad example for his team mates.[58]

Prior to the 1966-67 NBA season, the friendly but unassertive Dolph Schayes was replaced by a familiar face, the crafty but firm Alex Hannum. In what Cherry calls a tumultuous locker room meeting, Hannum addressed several key issues he observed during the last season, several of them putting Chamberlain in an unfavorable light. Sixers forward Chet Walker testified that on several occasions, players had to pull Chamberlain and Hannum apart to prevent a fistfight.[60] Fellow forward Billy Cunningham observed that "Hannum showed who was the boss" and "never backed down", and by doing this, won Chamberlain's respect.[60] When emotions cooled off, Hannum pointed out that Chamberlain and him were on the same side, trying to win a championship ring; but to pull this off, the center - like all others - needed to "act like a man" and behave accordingly on and off the court.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

As a result, Chamberlain was less dominant, taking only 14% of the teams shots (in his 50.4 ppg season 1961-62, it had been 35.3%), but extremely efficient: he averaged a career-low 24.1 points, but he led the league in rebounds (24.2), ended third in assists (7.8), had a record breaking .683 field goal accuracy, and played strong defense.[37] For these feats, Chamberlain earned his third MVP award. The Sixers charged their way to a then-record 68-13 season, including a record 46-4 start.[1] In addition, the formerly egotistical Chamberlain began to praise his team mates, lauding hardworking Luke Jackson as the "ultimate power forward", calling Hal Greer a deadly jumpshooter, and point guard Wali Jones an excellent defender and outsider scorer.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). In Game 2, the Sixers won 107-102 in overtime, and player-coach Russell grudgingly praised Chamberlain for intimidating the Celtics into taking low percentage shots from further outside.[61] In Game 3, Chamberlain grabbed 41 rebounds and helped the Sixers win 115-104. The Celtics prevented a sweep by winning Game 4 with 121-117, but in Game 5, the Sixers simply overpowered the Celtics with 140-116, and the Sixers center scored 29 points, 36 rebounds and 13 assists and was highly praised by Celtics Russell and K.C. Jones.[61]

In the 1967 NBA Finals, the Sixers were pitted against Chamberlain's old team, the San Francisco Warriors of his one-time backup Nate Thurmond and star forward Rick Barry. The Sixers won the first two games, with Chamberlain and Greer taking credit for respectively defensive dominance and clutch shooting, and split the next two, so Philadelphia was up 3-1 prior to Game 6.[61] In Game 6, the Warriors were trailing by one point with 15 seconds left. For the last play, Thurmond and Barry were assigned to do a pick and roll against Chamberlain and whoever would guard Barry. However, the Sixers foiled this plan: when Barry ran past Thurmond's pick and drove to the basket, he was picked up by Chet Walker, making it impossible to shoot; Thurmond was covered by Chamberlain, making it impossible to pass. Barry botched his shot attempt, and the Sixers won the championship.[61] Chamberlain said: "It is a wonderful to be a part of the greatest team in basketball... being a champion is like having a big round glow inside of you."[61] He had contributed with 17.7 ppg and 28.7 rpg against fellow future Hall-of-Fame pivot Nate Thurmond, never failing to snare at least 23 rebounds in the six games.[4][62] Chamberlain himself described the team as the best in NBA history.[37] In 2002, writer Wayne Lynch wrote a book about this remarkable Sixers season, Season of the 76ers, centering on Chamberlain.

In the 1967-68 NBA season, matters began to turn sour between Chamberlain and the Sixer's surviving sole owner, Irv Kosloff. This conflict had been going along for a while: in 1965, Chamberlain asserted that the late Richman and him had worked out a deal which would give the center 25% of the franchise once he had ended his career.[63] Although there is no written proof for or against, Ex-Sixers coach Dolph Schayes and Sixers lawyer Alan Levitt assumed Chamberlain was right;[61] in any case, Kosloff declined the request, leaving Chamberlain livid and willing to jump to the rival ABA once his contract ended in 1967. Kosloff and Chamberlain worked out a truce, and latter signed a one-year, $250,000 contract.[61]

On the hardwood, Chamberlain continued his focus on team play and registered 24.3 points and 23.8 rebounds a game for the season.[37] The 76ers had the best record in the league for the third straight season. Chamberlain made history by becoming the first and only center in NBA history to finish the season as the leader in assists, his 702 beating runner-up, Hall-of-Fame point guard Lenny Wilkins's total by 23.[18] For these feats, Chamberlain won his fourth and last MVP title.[5] Another landmark was his 25,000th point, making him the first ever player to score these many points: he gave the ball to his team physician Dr. Stan Lorber.[64] Winning 62 games, the Sixers easily took the first playoff berth of the the 1968 NBA Playoffs. In the 1968 Eastern Division Semifinals, they were pitted against the New York Knicks. In a physically tough matchup, the Sixers lost sixth man Billy Cunningham, who broke his hand, and Chamberlain, Hal Greer and Luke Jackson were struggling with respectively, inflamed feet, bad knees and pulled hamstrings. Going ahead 3-2, the Sixers defeated the Knicks 115-97 in Game 6 after Chamberlain scored 25 points and 27 rebounds: he had a successful series in which he lead both teams in points (153), rebounds (145) and assists (38).[65]

In the 1968 Eastern Conference Finals, the Sixers yet again met the Boston Celtics, again with home court advantage, and this time as reigning champions. Despite the Sixers' injury woes, coach Hannum was confident to "take the Celtics in less than seven games": he pointed out the age of the Celtics, who were built around Bill Russell and guard Sam Jones, both 34.[66] But then, national tragedy struck as Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. With eight of the ten starting players on Sixers and Celtics being African-American, both teams were in deep shock, and there were calls to cancel the series.[66] In a game called as "unreal" and "devoid of emotion", the Sixers lost 118-127 on April 5. After attending Dr. King's funeral, Chamberlain called out to the angry rioters who were setting fires all over the country, stating Dr. King would not have approved.[66] In Game 2, Philadelphia evened the series with 115-106, and in Games 3 and 4, the Sixers won, with Chamberlain suspiciously often played by Celtics backup center Wayne Embry, causing the press to speculate Russell was worn down.[66] Prior to Game 5, the Celtics seemed dead: no NBA team had ever come back from a 1-3 deficit.[66] However, the Celtics rallied back, winning Game 5 with 122-104 and Game 6 with 114-106, powered by a spirited John Havlicek and helped by a terrible Sixers shooting slump.[66]

What followed, was the first of three consecutive controversial and painful Game 7s which Wilt Chamberlain played. In that Game 7, the Sixers could not get their act together: 15,202 stunned Philadelphia fans witnessed a historic 96-100 defeat, making it the first time in NBA history a team lost a series after leading 3-1. Although Cherry points out that the Sixers shot badly (Hal Greer, Wali Jones, Chet Walker, Luke Jackson and Matt Guokas hit a cumulated 25 of 74 shots) and Chamberlain grabbed 34 rebounds and shot 4-of-9, the center himself scored only 14 points.[66] In the second half of Game 7, Chamberlain did not attempt a single shot from the field.[67] Cherry observes a strange pattern in that game: in a typical Sixers game, Chamberlain got the ball 60 times in the low post, but in that Game 7, only 23 times, and only seven times in the third and only two times in the fourth quarter.[66] Chamberlain later blamed coach Hannum for the lack of touches (i.e. scoring opportunities), a point which the coach conceded himself, but Cherry points out that Chamberlain, who always thought of himself as the best player of all time, should have been outspoken enough to demand the ball himself.[66] The loss meant that Chamberlain was now 1-6 in playoff series against the Celtics.

After that season, coach Alex Hannum wanted to be closer to his family at the West Coast: he left the Sixers to coach the Oakland Oaks in the newly-founded ABA.[68] Chamberlain then asked for a trade, and Sixers general manager Jack Ramsay traded him for Darrall Imhoff, Archie Clark and Jerry Chambers.[67] The motivation for this move remains in dispute. According to sports writer Roland Lazenby, a journalist close to the Los Angeles Lakers, Chamberlain was angry at Kosloff for breaking the alledged Richman-Chamberlain deal,[28] but according to Dr. Jack Ramsay, who was the Sixers general manager then, Chamberlain also threatened to jump to the ABA after Hannum left, and forced the trade himself.[67] Cherry finally adds several personal reasons: the center felt he had grown too big for Philadelphia, searched the presence of fellow celebrities (which were plenty in L.A.) and finally also seeked the opportunity to date white women, which was possible for a black man in L.A. but hard to imagine elsewhere back then.[69]

Los Angeles Lakers

On July 9 1968, Chamberlain was the centerpiece of a major trade between the 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers, who sent center Darrall Imhoff (the unfortunate ex-Knicks center who started against Chamberlain when latter scored 100 points), forward Jerry Chambers and guard Archie Clark to Philadelphia, making it the first and only time a reigning NBA Most Valuable Player was traded the next season.[70] Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke gave Chamberlain an unprecented contract, paying him $250,000 after taxes; in comparison, previous Laker top earner Jerry West was paid $100,000 before taxes.[71]

Chamberlain joined a squad which featured Hall-of-Fame forward Elgin Baylor and Hall-of-Fame guard Jerry West, along with backup center Mel Counts, forwards Keith Erickson and Tom Hawkins and talented but diminutive 6' guard Johnny Egan. The lack of a second guard next to West (and thus, the lack of speed and quickness) concerned coach Bill Van Breda Kolff; after losing Clark and Gail Goodrich, who joined the Phoenix Suns after the 1968 expansion draft, he said: "Egan gets murdered on defense because of his [lack of] size... but if I don't play him, we look like a bunch of trucks."[72] In addition, Cherry observed that Chamberlain was neither a natural leader nor a loyal follower, which made him difficult to fit in.[71] While he was on cordial terms with Jerry West, he often argued with team captain Elgin Baylor; latter explained later: "We were good friends, but... [in] black culture... you never let the other guy one-up you."[71] The greatest problem was his tense relationship with Lakers coach Butch Van Breda Kolff: pejoratively calling the new recruit "The Load", he latter complained that Chamberlain was egotistical, never respected him, too often slacked off in practice and focused too much on his own statistics.[71] In return, the center blasted Van Breda Kolff as "the dumbest and worst coach ever".[71][28] Laker Keith Erickson observed that "Butch catered to Elgin and Jerry... and that is not a good way to get on Wilt's side... that relationship was doomed from the start."[71]

Chamberlain experienced a problematic and often frustrating season. Van Breda Kolff benched him several times, which never happened in his career before; in mid-season, the perennial scoring champion had two games in which he scored only six and then only 2 points.[72] Playing through his problems, Chamberlain averaged 20.5 points and 21.1 rebounds a game that season.[37] However, Jack Kent Cooke was pleased, because since acquiring Chamberlain, ticket sales had gone up by 11 percent.[72]

In the the playoffs, the Lakers dispatched of Chamberlain's old club, the San Francisco Warriors with 4-2 after losing the first two games, and then defeated the Atlanta Hawks and met Chamberlain's familiar rivals, the Boston Celtics of Bill Russell.[72] Going into the series as 3-to-1 favourites, the Lakers won their first two games, but dropped the next two. Chamberlain was criticised as a non-factor in the series, getting neutralised by Bill Russell with little effort.[72] But in Game 5, the Lakers center struck back, grabbed 31 rebounds and led Los Angeles to a 117-104 win. In Game 6, the Celtics won 99-90, and Chamberlain only scored eight points; Cherry accuses him of choking, because if "Chamberlain had came up big and put up a normal 30 point scoring night", L.A. would have probably won its first championship.[72]

Game 7 featured a surreal scene: in anticipation of a Lakers win, Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke had put up thousands of balloons in the rafters of the Lakers Forum. This display of arrogance motivated the Celtics and angered Jerry West.[72] In that match, Chamberlain experienced his second Game 7 debacle. The Lakers trailed by 76-91 after three quarters. But powered by a limping Jerry West, who played with a deep thigh bruise after Game 5, the Lakers mounted a comeback; but then, Chamberlain twisted his knee after a rebound and had to be replaced by Mel Counts. With three minutes to go, and West and Counts hitting clutch baskets, the Lakers trailed by only 102-103. But when the Celtics tightened up their defense, the Lakers committed costly turnovers and lost the game 106-108 despite 42 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists of Jerry West, who became the first and only NBA Finals MVP from the losing team.[72]

After the game, the key question was why Chamberlain had stayed out the final six minutes. At the time of his final substitution, he had scored 18 points (hitting 7 of his 8 shots) and grabbed 27 rebounds, significantly better than the 10 points of Mel Counts on 4-of-13 shooting.[72] To justify a late minute snub, either Chamberlain's injury had to be grave, or Van Breda Kolff's trust in Counts absolute. Among others, Bill Russell did not believe Chamberlain's injury was grave, and openly accused him of being a malingerer: "Any injury short of a broken leg or a broken back is not enough."[72] Ironically, Van Breda Kolff came to Chamberlain's defense, insisting the often-maligned Lakers center hardly was able to move in the end.[72] He himself was perceived as "pig-headed" for benching Chamberlain, and soon resigned as a Lakers coach.[72] Cherry comments that according to some journalists, that Game 7 "destroyed two careers: Wilt's because he wouldn't take over and Van Breda Kolff because he wouldn't give in".[72]

In his second Lakers year under new coach Joe Mullaney, Chamberlain seriously injured his knee. He missed almost the entire 82-game regular season, only appearing in the final 12 games, but managed to average 27.3 points, 18.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.[37] Again, the Lakers charged through the playoffs, and in the 1970 NBA Finals, the Lakers were pitted against the New York Knicks, loaded with future Hall-of-Famers Willis Reed, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley, and Walt Frazier. Cherry observed that Reed, a prolific midrange shooter, was a bad matchup for Chamberlain: having lost lateral quickness due to his injury, the Lakers center was often too slow to block Reed's preferred high post jump shots.[73] In Game 1, Reed masterminded a 124-112 win in which he scored 37 points on Chamberlain. In Game 2, Chamberlain scored 19 points, grabbed 24 rebounds and blocked Reed's shot in the final seconds, leading the Lakers to a 105-103 win.[73] Game 3 featured Jerry West hitting an unbelievable 60-foot buzzer beater to tie the game at 102; however, the Knicks took the game 111-108.[73] In Game 4, Chamberlain scored 18 points and grabbed 25 rebounds and helped tie the series at two games each.[73] But in Game 5, things seemed to go awry for the Knicks: trailing by double digits, Reed pulled his thigh muscle and seemed to be done for the series. By conventional wisdom, Chamberlain now should have dominated against little-used Knicks backup centers Nate Bowman and Dave Hosket or forwards Bradley and DeBusschere, who gave up more than half a foot against the Lakers center.[73] Instead, the Lakers gave away their 13 point halftime lead and succumbed to the aggressive Knicks defense: L.A. committed 19 second half turnovers, and the two main scorers Chamberlain and West shot the ball only respectively three and two times in the entire second half.[73] The Lakers lost 100-107 in what was called one of the greatest comebacks in NBA Finals history.[73] In Game 6, Chamberlain scored 45 points and almost single-handedly equalised the series in a 135-113 Lakers win, and with Reed out, the Knicks seemed doomed prior to Game 7 in New York.[73]

However, the hero of that Game 7 was Willis Reed. He famously hobbled up court, scored the first four points, and inspired his team to one of the most famous playoff upsets of all time.[74] At halftime, the Knicks were already up by 27, and despite scoring 21 points, Chamberlain could not prevent his third consecutive painful Game 7 loss. The Lakers center himself was critisised for his inability to dominate his injured counterpart, but Cherry pointed out that Chamberlain's feat - coming back from career-threatening injury himself - was too quickly forgotten.[73]

In the 1970-71 NBA season, the Lakers made a notable move by signing future Hall-of-Fame guard Gail Goodrich, who came back from the Phoenix Suns after playing for L.A. until 1968. Chamberlain averaged 20.7 points, 18.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists,[37] once again led the NBA in rebounding and the Lakers won the Pacific Division title. After losing Elgin Baylor to an Achilles tendon rupture that effectively ended his career, and especially after losing Jerry West after a knee injury, the handicapped Lakers were seen as underdogs against the Milwaukee Bucks of freshly-crowned MVP Lew Alcindor, better known under his later Arabic name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and veteran Hall-of-Fame guard Oscar Robertson in the Western Conference Finals. Winning the regular season with 66 wins, the Bucks were seen as favourites against the depleted Lakers; still, many pundits were looking forward to the matchup between the 34-year old Chamberlain and the 24-year old Jabbar.[75] In Game 1, Jabbar outscored Chamberlain 32-22, and the Bucks won 106-85. In Game 2, the Bucks won again despite the Lakers center getting 26 points, four more than his Milwaukee counterpart. Prior to Game 3, things became even worse for the Lakers when Keith Erickson, West's stand-in, had an appendectomy and was out for the season; with only rookie Jim MacMillian easing the scoring pressure, Chamberlain churned out a 24-point-24-rebound effort in Game 4 to a Lakers win, but finally the Bucks soundly defeated the Lakers 116-98 at home.[76] Although Chamberlain lost, he was lauded for holding his own against MVP Jabbar, who was not only 10 years younger but still had two healthy knees.[75]

After the 1971 playoffs, Chamberlain had an offer to fight heavyweight boxing legend Muhammad Ali. The 15-round fight would have taken place on July 26, 1971 in the Houston Astrodome but Chamberlain finally refused the match.[18] In an 1999 interview, Chamberlain stated that boxing trainer Cus D'Amato wanted to train him for the fight, and they offered Ali and him $5 million each to battle each other. However, after checking back with his father, Chamberlain finally said no.[77][78]

In the 1971-72 NBA season, the Lakers hired former Celtics star guard Bill Sharman as head coach. Sharman introduced morning shoot-arounds, which the perennial latecomer Chamberlain regularly visited (in contrast to earlier years with Dolph Schayes) and transformed him into a defensive-minded, low-scoring post defender in the mold of his old rival Bill Russell.[79] Furthermore, he told Chamberlain to use his rebounding and passing skills to quickly initiate fastbreaks to his team mates, forwards Happy Hairston and MacMillian, guards Goodrich and West, and bench players Flynn Robinson and LeRoy Ellis.[80]

While no longer being the main scorer, Chamberlain was named the new captain of the Lakers: after his Achilles tendon rupture, perennial captain Elgin Baylor had ended his career, leaving a void the center now filled. Initially, Sharman had wanted Chamberlain and West to share this duty, but West declined, stating that he was injury-prone and wanted to solely concentrate on the game.[81] Chamberlain accepted his new roles and posted an all-time low 14.8 points, but also won the rebound crown with 19.2 rpg and led the league with a .649 field goal percentage.[37] Powered by his defensive presence, the Lakers would embark on an unprecedented 33 game win streak en route to a then-record 69 wins in the regular season.

In the post-season, the Lakers defeated the Chicago Bulls in a sweep,[82] then went on to face the Milwaukee Bucks of young superstar center and regular-season MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar again. The Chamberlain-Jabbar matchup was hailed by LIFE magazine as the greatest matchup in all of sports. Chamberlain would help lead the Lakers past Jabbar and the Bucks in 6 games.[82] Particularly, Chamberlain was lauded for his final Game 6 performance, which the Lakers won 106-100 after trailing by 10 points in the fourth quarter: he scored 24 points and 22 rebounds, played a complete 48 minutes and outsprinted the younger Bucks center on several late Lakers fast breaks.[83] Jerry West called it "the greatest ball-busting performance I have ever seen."Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

In the 1972 NBA Finals, the Lakers again met the New York Knicks; the Knicks were shorthanded after losing Willis Reed to injury, and so, undersized 6'8" Jerry Lucas had the task to defend against the 7'1" Chamberlain.[84] However, prolific outside shooter Lucas helped New York to win Game 1, hitting 9 of his 11 shots in the first half alone; in Game 2, which the Lakers won 106-92, Chamberlain put Lucas into foul trouble, and the Knicks lost defensive power forward Dave DeBusschere to injury.[84] In Game 3, Chamberlain scored 26 points and grabbed 20 rebounds for another Lakers win, and in a fiercely battled Game 4, the Lakers center was with playing with five fouls late in the match. Having never fouled out in his NBA career - a feat he was very proud of - he played aggressive defense despite risking to foul out, and blocked two of Lucas' shots in overtime, proving those wrong who said he only played for his own stats; he ended scoring a game-high 27 points.[84] But in that game, he had fallen on his right hand, and was said to have "sprained" it; in fact, it was broken. For Game 5, Chamberlain's hands were packed into thick pads normally destined for defensive linesmen in American Football; he was offered a painkilling shot, but refused because he feared he would lose his shooting touch if his hands became numb.[84] In Game 5, Chamberlain scored 24 points, 29 rebounds and (unofficially) 10 blocks, and helped the L.A. Lakers win their first championship with a decisive 114-100 win.[84] Chamberlain was named Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals,[37] and was admired for dominating the Knicks in Game 5 while playing injured.[84]

The 1972-73 NBA season was to be Chamberlain's last, although he did not know this at the time. In his last NBA year, the Lakers had lost substance: Happy Hairston was injured, Flynn Robinson and LeRoy Ellis had left L.A., and veteran Jerry West struggled with sensitive hamstrings.[85] Chamberlain averaged 13.2 points and 18.6 rebounds, still enough to win the rebounding crown for the 11th time in his career. In addition, he shot with an all-time NBA record .727 accuracy from the field, bettering his own mark of .683 from the 1966-67 season — neither percentage has been topped by any other player.[37] It was the ninth time Chamberlain would lead the league in field goal percentage. The Lakers won 60 games in the regular season and reached the 1973 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks. This time, the tables were turned: the Knicks now featured a healthy team with a rejuvenated Willis Reed, and the Lakers were now handicapped by several injuries.[86]

In that series, the Lakers won Game 1 with 115-112, but the Knicks won Games 2 and 3; things worsened when Jerry West injured his hamstring yet again. In Game 4, the shorthanded Lakers were no match for New York, and in Game 5, the valiant, but injured West and Hairston had miserable games, and despite Chamberlain scoring 23 points and grabbing 21 rebounds, the Lakers lost 93-102 and the series.[87][88] Chamberlain did not yet know that this loss was the last professional game of his career.

San Diego Conquistadors

In 1973, the San Diego Conquistadors of the NBA rival league ABA signed Chamberlain as a player-coach. However, the Lakers sued their former star and successfully prevented him from actually playing, because he still owed them the option year of his contract. In his single season as a coach, the Conquistadors went a mediocre 37-47 in the regular season and lost against the Utah Stars in the Conference Semifinals.[4] After the season, Chamberlain retired from professional basketball.

Post-NBA career

After his stint with the Conquistadors, Chamberlain successfully went into business and entertainment, made money in stocks and real estate, opened a popular Harlem nightclub, Smalls Paradise, and invested in broodmares. Chamberlain also sponsored his personal professional volleyball and track and field teams, and made money by appearing in ads for Drexel Burnham, Le Tigre Clothing and Foot Locker.[31] In addition, Chamberlain played a supporting role alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film Conan the Destroyer (1984). He also published several books, among them Who's Running the Asylum? Inside the Insane World of Sports Today (1997), in which he harshly criticized the NBA of the 1990s for being too disrespectful of players of the past.[89]

Chamberlain was fit enough in his mid-forties to humble a young Los Angeles Lakers rookie called Magic Johnson in practice,[90] and even in the 1980s, he flirted with making a comeback in the NBA. In the 1980-81 NBA season, coach Larry Brown recalled that the 45-year old Chamberlain had received an offer by the Cleveland Cavaliers. When Chamberlain was 50, the New Jersey Nets had the same idea, and Chamberlain declined again.[90] Chamberlain however participated in several marathons instead.[4] He would stay an epitome of physical fitness for years to come, until his health rapidly worsened in 1999.[31]

Legacy

Main article: List of career achievements by Wilt Chamberlain

The 7-foot-1, two-time NBA champion Chamberlain is universally regarded as one of the most extraordinary and dominant basketball players ever.[5] The 1972 NBA Finals MVP is holder of numerous official NBA all-time records, establishing himself as a scoring champion, all-time top rebounder and setting yardsticks in field goal accuracy. He was also responsible for several rule changes, such as widening the lane, regarding inbounding the ball and shooting free throws.

For his feats, Chamberlain was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame (1978), named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996), ranked #2 in SLAM Magazine's Top 75 NBA Players of all time (2003) and #13 in the ESPN list "Top North American athletes of the century"[91] and voted second best center of all time by ESPN behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on March 6, 2007.[92] His on-court rivalry against Bill Russell is acknowledged as the greatest NBA rivalry of all time.[5]

Personal life

Chamberlain was one of eleven children of Olivia and William Chamberlain, respectively a housekeeper and a janitor.[4][93] He lived in a lower middle class family with two brothers and six sisters, losing two siblings who died shortly after birth.[93] Chamberlain remembers having a comfortable, loving upbringing, unaffected by racial or religious issues. Mother Olivia frequently worked in upper-class Jewish households, so the Chamberlain family grew up with a liking for Jewish cuisine and the Jewish culture in general.[93] Chamberlain had few reservations about joining Overbrook High School, a school with many Jewish students, and all his life strongly opposed bigotry of any kind.[31]

Chamberlain was one of basketball's first big earners; as a Laker, he earned $250,000 a year.[28] Therefore, he could afford a level of luxury few other athletes at that time could permit themselves, such as renting an apartment in New York.[94] In addition, he would often stay out until late in the night and only wake up at noon.[79] In Bel-Air, Chamberlain built a million-dollar mansion he called "Ursa Major". (The stars of the Big Dipper appear in that constellation.)[1] It had a 2,200-pound pivot as a front door and contained great displays of luxury. Chamberlain lived alone, relying on a great deal of automated gadgets, with only two cats named Zip and Zap as company. In addition, Chamberlain drove a Ferrari, a Bentley, and engaged James Bond car designer Peter Bohanna to design the Chamberlain Searcher I, a $400,000 custom sports car.[31]

Although living alone, Chamberlain regularly mingled into the public, having no problems being recognized as Wilt Chamberlain and refraining from having great entourages. These facts impressed his team mate Jerry West, who later wrote the foreword to Chamberlain's biography Wilt: Larger Than Life by Robert Cherry (2004).[90] Sixers' ex-general manager Dr. Jack Ramsay confirmed these facts, recalling Chamberlain regularly took walks in downtown Philadelphia and acknowledged honking horns with the air of a man enjoying all the attention.[67] West also stated that Chamberlain was friendly and well-informed, but tended to have strong opinions and came over as a bit aloof because he thought he was the best in everything.[28]

Chamberlain always wore rubber bands around his wrists, as spares in case the bands holding up his socks broke. Once he had gained enough muscle that rubber bands were unnecessary, he continued to wear them just for effect.[31] In addition, Chamberlain organized, sponsored, and supported high-level teams for girls and women in basketball, track, volleyball and softball.[95]


"20,000 women" claim

In 1991, Chamberlain wrote his second autobiography, A View from Above. There, the lifelong bachelor Chamberlain claimed he had sex with 20,000 women. For this to be true, he would have had to had sex with 1.14 women per day from the age of 15 up until the day of his death, a rate of almost eight women a week. Quickly, he became target for jokes and jibes, and fellow African-American superstar Arthur Ashe was highly critical, blasting Chamberlain for embarrassing black men and fueling prejudices about their sexual behavior. Chamberlain defended himself: "I was just doing what was natural - chasing good-looking ladies, whoever they were and wherever they were available" and pointed out he never started a relationship with a married woman.[96]

In a 1999 interview shortly before his death, Chamberlain regretted not explaining the sexual climate at the time of his escapades, and warned other men who admired him for it, closing with the words: "Having a thousand different ladies is pretty cool, I have learned in my life I've found out that having one woman a thousand different times is much more satisfying."[77] Chamberlain also acknowledged he never came close to marrying, and had no intention of raising any children.[31]

Death

Chamberlain had a history of heart trouble. In 1992, he was hospitalized for three days following an irregular heartbeat, and in 1999, his situation deteriorated rapidly. After undergoing dental surgery in that year, he lost 50 pounds, was in great pain and seemed unable to recover from the stress. On October 12, 1999, Chamberlain died in Bel-Air, California.[3] His agent Sy Goldberg stated Chamberlain died of congestive heart failure, and for about a month, doctors had been draining his legs of fluid that had accumulated because of the heart problem. He was survived by sisters Barbara Lewis, Margaret Lane, Selina Gross and Yvonne Chamberlain, and brothers Wilbert and Oliver Chamberlain.[3]

NBA players and officials mourned the loss of a player they universally remembered as a symbol of the sport. His lifelong on-court nemesis and personal friend Bill Russell stated "the fierceness of our competition bonded us together for eternity", and legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach praised Chamberlain as vital for the success of the entire NBA. Ex-Lakers team mate Jerry West fondly remembered him as an utterly dominant, yet friendly and humorous player, and fellow Hall-of-Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Johnny Kerr, Phil Jackson and Wes Unseld as well as later stars like Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan universally called Chamberlain one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.[97]

Libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick created the "Wilt Chamberlain example". He states that if fans agreed to pay to see him play, then Chamberlain was entitled to higher compensation because of his superior ability [on the court], in order to demonstrate that non-entitlement theories of justice were inherently unjust.[98]

The character in the animated television series Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, Wilt, a tall, lanky, basketball fan and imaginary friend, is named after Chamberlain.

Wilt the Stilt is mentioned in the song Sweet Lew by Pearl Jam about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

See also

Further reading

  • Chamberlain, Wilt (1973). Wilt: Just Like Any Other 7-Foot Black Millionaire Who Lives Next Door. New York: Macmillan. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Chamberlain, Wilt (1992). A View From Above. New York: New York Signet Books. ISBN 0-451-17493-3. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Chamberlain, Wilt (1997). Who's Running the Asylum? Inside the Insane World of Sports Today. International Promotions. ISBN 1-57901-005-9.
  • Cherry, Robert (2004). Wilt: Larger Than Life. Chicago: Triumph Books. ISBN 1-57243-672-7. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Heisler, Mark (2003). Giants: The 25 Greatest Centers of All Time. Chicago: Triumph Books. ISBN 1-57243-577-1. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Pluto, Terry (1992). Tall Tales: The Glory Years of the NBA in the Words of the Men Who Played, Coached, and Built Pro Basketball. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-74279-5. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Pomerantz, Gary M. (2005). Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era. New York: Crown. ISBN 1-4000-5160-6. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p nba.com (2007-02-10). "Wilt Chamberlain Summary".
  2. ^ sportingnews.com (2007-03-05). "Warriors riding high on Wilt the Stilt".
  3. ^ a b c d e espn.com (2007-02-10). "Chamberlain towered over NBA".
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Schwartz, Larry (2007-02-10). "Wilt battled loser label".
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h hoophall.com (2007-02-10). "Wilt Chamberlain Biography". Cite error: The named reference "hoophall" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. ^ espn.com (2007-02-10). "Sexual claim transformed perception of Wilt".
  7. ^ Wilt: Larger Than Life, Robert Cherry, Triumph Books (Chicago, 2004), 3
  8. ^ Cherry, 8
  9. ^ a b Pierce, Don (2007-02-10). "Chamberlain rated greatest in court game".
  10. ^ Cherry, 19
  11. ^ Cherry, 9
  12. ^ Cherry, 20-21.
  13. ^ a b Bock, Hal (2007-02-10). "More than a big man, Wilt was a giant".
  14. ^ a b Cherry, 25-26
  15. ^ a b Cherry, 30
  16. ^ a b Cherry, 32-33
  17. ^ a b Cherry, 34-35
  18. ^ a b c d Schwartz, Larry (2007-02-10). "A revolutionary force".
  19. ^ a b c Cherry, 35-39
  20. ^ a b c Cherry, 43
  21. ^ Cherry, 67
  22. ^ Cherry, 63.
  23. ^ Cherry, 47
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cherry, 48-57
  25. ^ "Biography - Wilt Chamberlain". HickokSports.com. 6 September 2004. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. ^ a b c d e Cherry, 68-71
  27. ^ kusports.com (2007-12-27). "Men's Basketball".
  28. ^ a b c d e f Lazenby, Roland (2007-02-14). "Big Norman".
  29. ^ a b harlemglobetrotters.com (2007-02-10). "The Original Harlem Globetrotters".
  30. ^ Cherry, 79
  31. ^ a b c d e f g Deford, Frank (2007-02-10). "Just doing fine, my man".
  32. ^ Cherry, 89
  33. ^ a b c Cherry, 93-94
  34. ^ nba.com (2007-02-10). "Larry Bird Bio".
  35. ^ a b c d e Cherry, 96-97
  36. ^ Cherry, 99.
  37. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p basketball-reference.com (2007-02-14). "Wilt Chamberlain Statistics".
  38. ^ Cherry, 99.
  39. ^ basketball-reference.com (2007-02-10). "1961 NBA Season Summary".
  40. ^ Cherry, 100.
  41. ^ Cherry, 106.
  42. ^ Pomerantz, Gary M. "Wilt, 1962".
  43. ^ a b c d e Cherry, 115-116
  44. ^ basketball-reference.com (2007-02-10). "1962 NBA Season Summary".
  45. ^ Cherry, 118
  46. ^ Cherry, 125
  47. ^ basketball-reference.com (2007-02-10). "1963 NBA Season Summary".
  48. ^ Cherry, 128.
  49. ^ basketball-reference.com (2007-02-10). "1964 NBA Season Summary".
  50. ^ Cherry, 129.
  51. ^ Cherry, 130-131.
  52. ^ a b Cherry, 138-139
  53. ^ a b Cherry, 141-143
  54. ^ nba.com/history (2008-01-18). "NBA's Greatest Moments - "Havlicek Stole the Ball!"".
  55. ^ a b bookrags.com (2007-02-15). "Wilt Chamberlain".
  56. ^ Cherry, 161.
  57. ^ Cherry, 160-161
  58. ^ a b c d e Cherry, 163-165
  59. ^ basketball-reference.com (2007-02-10). "1966 NBA Season Summary".
  60. ^ a b Cherry, 170-173.
  61. ^ a b c d e f g Cherry, 173-179.
  62. ^ basketball-reference.com (2007-02-10). "1967 NBA Season Summary".
  63. ^ Cherry, 185-187
  64. ^ Cherry, 188.
  65. ^ Cherry, 189
  66. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cherry, 190-199
  67. ^ a b c d Wilt's spirit was larger than life
  68. ^ Cherry, 203
  69. ^ Cherry, 205
  70. ^ Cherry, 206
  71. ^ a b c d e f Cherry, 213-215
  72. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cherry, 216-222
  73. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cherry, 231-239
  74. ^ nba.com (2007-02-10). "Willis Reed Bio".
  75. ^ a b Cherry, 246-247
  76. ^ basketball-reference.com (2007-02-10). "1971 NBA Season Summary".
  77. ^ a b espn.com (2007-02-10). "Wilt spoke of regrets, women and Meadowlark".
  78. ^ eastsideboxing.com (2007-03-02). "Ali vs. Wilt Chamberlain: The Fight That Almost Was".
  79. ^ a b Lawrence, Mitch (2007-02-10). "Chamberlain's feats the stuff of legend".
  80. ^ Cherry, 255.
  81. ^ Cherry, 257
  82. ^ a b databasebasketball.com (2007-02-17). "Los Angeles Lakers 1971-72 Game Log and Scores".
  83. ^ Cherry, 264-265
  84. ^ a b c d e f Cherry, 266-270.
  85. ^ Cherry, 290
  86. ^ Cherry, 290.
  87. ^ Cherry, 291.
  88. ^ basketball-reference.com (2007-02-10). "1973 NBA Season Summary".
  89. ^ Chamberlain, Wilt (2007-03-02). "Who's Running the Asylum? Inside the Insane World of Sports Today".
  90. ^ a b c Sheridan, Chris (2007-02-10). "Until his dying day, Wilt was invincible".
  91. ^ "ESPN: Top N. American athletes of the century". 2007-03-05.
  92. ^ "DAILY DIME: SPECIAL EDITION The game's greatest giants ever". 2007-03-06.
  93. ^ a b c Cherry, 3
  94. ^ espn.com (2007-02-10). "Wilt was Philadelphia's greatest athlete".
  95. ^ Ostler, Scott (2007-03-16). "WILT: The Ultimate All-Star".
  96. ^ espn.com (2007-02-10). "Sexual claim transformed perception of Wilt".
  97. ^ espn.com (2007-02-10). "Reaction to a basketball legend's death".
  98. ^ Johnson, R. N. (2007-02-20). "Nozick > The Wilt Chamberlain Argument".
Wikiquote has quotations related to Wilt Chamberlain.


Preceded by NCAA Basketball Tournament
Most Outstanding Player (men's)
1957 		Succeeded by
Preceded by NBA Rookie of the Year
1960 		Succeeded by
Preceded by NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player
1960 		Succeeded by
Preceded by NBA Most Valuable Player
1959-60 		Succeeded by
Preceded by NBA Most Valuable Player
1965-66, 1966-67, 1967-68 		Succeeded by
Preceded by NBA Finals Most Valuable Player
1972 		Succeeded by
Preceded by San Diego Conquistadors Head Coach
1973–1974 		Succeeded by
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