The NBA Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain is considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time. As a basketball player, he showcased such dominance which was clearly discernible in his prime, that the phrase “man amongst boys” would become most applicable to him in his depicted superior performance among his peers.
An offensive force whose scoring records are next to unbreakable and one most noticeably bringing a scoring record of 100 points in a single game, was outstanding. Teams collectively fell short of accumulating those numbers. During the tenure of his career, he played for various teams, including the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Los Angeles Lakers, where he wound up winning two championships and was named the Finals MVP in one.
Wilt Chamberlain was born on August 21, 1936, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into a family of 9 children, where he was raised in a community plagued with racism. His parents were blue-collar workers, his mother being a domestic worker and homemaker, and his father William Chamberlain, a welder, custodian, and handyman.
Early Life and Athleticism:
As a child Wilt Chamberlain battled with pneumonia that caused him a near-death experience, resulting in him being absent from school for a whole year. By the age of 10 Wilt Chamberlain stood at 6 ft tall, however, his interest in basketball had yet to have been sparked due to him seeing it as a game suited for “sissies.” It wasn’t until the seventh grade that he accepted his calling and embarked on his journey as a basketball player while attending Shoemaker Junior High School.
Upon graduating high school, Wilt, who by then measured 7ft 1 in, enrolled in the University of Kansas, where he excelled on the basketball court earning himself numerous accolades, such as the Final Four Most Outstanding Player in 1957.
College Stardom and NBA Debut:
In 1959, Wilt Chamberlain opted to forgo the remainder of his collegiate career and was signed to the Harlem Globe-Trotters who are known for their flamboyant playing style infused with comedy. The opportunity presented a larger platform for him to demonstrate his skill and solidify his reputation in the eyes of the public as one of the game’s best prodigies.
Within that same year, Wilt Chamberlain declared himself for the NBA Draft and was selected by the Philadelphia Warriors as the 1st overall pick. He quickly rose to prominence in his first year and the customary phase that most rookies in the league experience in trying to find their way in the league, was side-stepped by Wilt Chamberlain as he was already deemed a dominant player even within the historical context.
Wilt’s stats were staggering, averaging 37.6 points and 27 rebounds, which was record-setting regular-season averages. That same year it only took him all of 56 games to tally 2,102 points, breaking the all-time regular-season scoring record of Bob Petit, who took 72 games to score 2,101 points. Kotch Magazine.
Wilt’s scoring prowess would continue to be on display throughout the majority of his career with his peak performance scoring average being 50.4 points per game, pretty much putting him in a class by himself, as no other player had come close to averaging that amount. To put things in perspective, a player who notches 50 points in a single game automatically makes them a part of a distinctive club, much less doing it for a whole season.
Wilt Chamberlain also dominated in other facets of the game as he was renowned for his rebounding ability, endurance, and durability, as that same historical season, he averaged 25.7 rebounds and logged 48 minutes per game.
Though Wilt’s prime sports interest was not in sync with the popular sport at the time, he was able to transcend that dominant mindset and bring the sport’s popularity to its peak. For that reason, he was able to benefit from his stardom, which extended to his personal life after basketball.
He was a freak of nature who was otherworldly athletic, which allowed him to excel in other sports such as track & field, high jump, and also volleyball. He had a short career stint in the International Volleyball Association (IVA), after retiring from the NBA. He even served one term as league president and is enshrined in the IVA Hall of Fame.
Wilt Chamberlain was also able to land a role in the box-office hit film “Conan the Destroyer” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which was released in 1984.
Wilt Chamberlain died of congestive heart failure on October 12, 1999, and though he claimed in his biography to have had 20,000 lovers, he is not known to have fathered any children.
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Contributed by: Tarik Daley
