[111] Cherry comments that some journalists reported how Game 7 destroyed two careers: "Wilt's because he wouldn't take over and Van Breda Kolff because he wouldn't give in. [117] In Game 1, Alcindor outscored Chamberlain 3222, and the Bucks won 10685. Join us for a March Madness Webinar on Tuesday, March 7 at 8pm ET. In my onion, Wilt was robbed of MVP when he averaged an NBA . After that season, coach Hannum wanted to be closer to his family on the West Coast; he left the Sixers to coach the Oakland Oaks in the newly founded ABA. According to Wilt's book A View From Above, he said Lakers owner Jerry Buss tried to lure him out of retirement multiple times. In the semifinals, North Carolina also needed triple overtime to advance over. After several Tar Heel turnovers, the game was tied at 46 at the end of regulation.[38]. After the Knicks finished off the game with a late flourish led by Phil Jackson and Earl Monroe, Chamberlain made a dunk with one second left, which turned out to be the last play of his NBA career. College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com, Scores from any date in BAA/NBA or ABA history, Frequently Asked Questions about the NBA, WNBA and Basketball, Basketball-Reference.com Blog and Articles, Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREE. [12] With the Tar Heels' fixation on Chamberlain, the Jayhawks shot only 27% from the field, as opposed to 64% of the Tar Heels, and trailed 2229 at halftime. Chamberlain was known to sportswriters by several nicknames during his playing career, calling attention to his great height since his high school days. The Warriors were led by two future Hall-of-Famers in star forward Rick Barry and Chamberlain's one-time backup and center Nate Thurmond. He led the NBA in scoring seven times, field goal percentage nine times, minutes played eight times, rebounding eleven times, and assists once. In his first game, he scored 52 points and grabbed 31 rebounds, breaking both all-time Kansas records in an 8769 win against the Northwestern Wildcats, a team having Chamberlain's future NBA teammate Joe Ruklick. He disliked the ones that portrayed his height negatively, such as "Wilt the Stilt" and "Goliath". In his first varsity game, Wilt scored 52 points and picked up 31 . [90][91] For these feats, Chamberlain earned his third MVP award. Wilt Chamberlain was the first NBA player to score more than 30,000 cumulative points over his career, and the first and only player to score 100 points in a single game. [147] A result of this resentment was the 1997 book Who's Running the Asylum? Just Wilt Chamberlain and Pete Maravich share the honor to have their jersey retired by three different teams. [114], In Game 6, Chamberlain scored 45 points, grabbed 27 rebounds, and almost single-handedly equalized the series in a 135113 Lakers win, and with Reed out, the Knicks seemed doomed prior to Game 7 in New York City;[114] however, the hero of that Game 7 was Reed, who famously hobbled up court, scored the first four points, and inspired his team to one of the most famous playoff upsets of all time. [75] Backed up by valuable rookie Thurmond, Chamberlain recorded 36.9 points and 22.3 rebounds per game,[62] and the Warriors went all the way to the NBA Finals. Before retiring, Chamberlain earned three MVP trophies, including Finals MVP and two NBA titles, in addition to MVP and Rookie of the Year. Renowned for his strength, he appeared as the antagonist in the 1984 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Conan the Destroyer. [163] During Chamberlain's time, defensive statistics like blocks and steals had not been recorded yet. [132] Chamberlain was named the NBA Finals MVP,[62] and he was admired for dominating the Knicks in Game 5 while playing injured. Chamberlain holds 72 NBA records, so many that it led former teammate Billy Cunningham to remark The NBA Guide reads like Wilt's personal diary." [10] Celtics forward Heinsohn said: "Half the fouls against him were hard fouls he took the most brutal pounding of any player ever. His 76ers went 68-13 (in only an 81-game season then), and then his Lakers team broke it with 69-13 (as the NBA had added one game to make it 82 games a season), including a st. Most importantly, he was not afraid to stand up to the dominant Chamberlain, who was known to not communicate with coaches he did not like. . [212] Chamberlain accompanied Nixon to the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr.,[213] and he considered himself a Republican. It was a small consolation that he was again named an All-American, along with future NBA Hall-of-Famers Elgin Baylor of Seattle University and Oscar Robertson of Cincinnati, plus Chamberlain's old rival Guy Rodgers, now playing for Temple University. What Year Did Wilt Chamberlain Retire? [j] Chamberlain capped off his rookie season with a selection to the Eastern Conference All-Star team, winning the All-Star Game and the All-Star Game MVP award with a 23-point, 25-rebound performance. [32][e] Inbounding the ball over the backboard was banned because of Chamberlain. [c] Red Auerbach, the coach of the Boston Celtics, was also athletic director of the summer basketball league at Kutscher's. ""Whats unfortunate is that most people regard the great leapers as being only the short guys who could dunk," said the 7 1 & 18u2033 Wilt Chamberlain. He achieved an average of 30.1 points per game over his career and holds several records, including for most points scored in one season (4,029) and most points scored in a single game (100). [201], In Chamberlain's second book, A View from Above, he claimed to have had sex with twenty thousand women. [n] In the playoffs, the Warriors again met the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Division Finals, and this season was called by both Cousy and Russell the greatest Celtics team of all time. In that series, they again succumbed to Russell's Boston Celtics, this time losing 41. Chamberlain was born on August 21, 1936, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into a family of nine children, the son of Olivia Ruth Johnson, a domestic worker and homemaker, and William Chamberlain, a welder, custodian, and handyman. While blocked shots were not an official NBA statistic at that time and would not be officially counted until the season after Chamblerlain's retirement in 1973, reported data for blocked shots in 112 games played by Chamberlain in the 1970s shows he averaged 8.8 blocks per game. [38] It is considered one of the sport's greatest games. [27] As he did at Overbrook, Chamberlain again showcased his diverse athletic talent at KU. [q] The team also featured an All-Rookie forward Billy Cunningham in the new sixth man role. This is a question our experts keep getting from time to time. Cherry comments that Chamberlain, who always thought of himself as the best player of all time, should have been outspoken enough to demand the ball. [137] After the season, Chamberlain retired from professional basketball; in addition, he was displeased by the meager attendance, as crowds averaged 1,843, just over half of the team's small Golden Hall, a 3,200-seat sports arena. Join our linker program. [88] When emotions cooled off, Hannum said to Chamberlain that he was on the same page in trying to win a title but Chamberlain had to "act like a man" both on and off the court to pull this off. By 197172, at age 35 and running less, his game had transformed to averaging only nine shots per game compared to the 40 in his record-setting 196162 season. In the first game, the Jayhawks played the all-white SMU Mustangs, and KU player John Parker later said: "The crowd was brutal. In 1991, Chamberlain claimed another, more unusual distinction, when he wrote in his book A View from Above that he had slept with more than 20,000 women during his lifetime. [76] Cherry says not only Chamberlain but Hannum in particular deserved much credit because he had basically had taken the bad 3149 squad of last year, plus Thurmond, and made it into an NBA Finals contender. "[137] The players were split on Chamberlain, who was seen as competent but often indifferent and more occupied with promotion of his autobiography Wilt: Just Like Any Other 7-Foot Black Millionaire Who Lives Next Door than with coaching. In addition, he shot an NBA record 0.727 for the season, bettering his own mark of 0.683 from the 196667 season. [211] When Abdul-Jabbar broke his all-time scoring record in 1984, Chamberlain criticized his game and called on him to retire. 13 jersey in an emotional halftime ceremony. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Wilt 13 Chamberlain. [43][110] Erickson commented 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. In his last season, the Lakers lost substance, as Happy Hairston was injured, Robinson and LeRoy Ellis had left, and the veteran West struggled with injury. The only other player to break the 3,000-point barrier is. Right, Born: His impressive debut season netted him several prestigious honors, including the NBA Rookie of the Year and NBA Most Valuable Player awards. [10][12][p] When Chamberlain left the Warriors, owner Franklin Mieuli said: "Chamberlain is not an easy man to love the fans in San Francisco never learned to love him. How many rings does Wilt Chamberlain have? It had a 2,200-pound pivot as a front door and contained great displays of luxury. 2 in Slam ' s top 500 NBA players of all time in 2011, In honor of Chamberlain, his jerseys have been retired six times, by Overbrook High . He retired in 1969 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame six years later. He once said that "no one cheered for Goliath," but the response to his passing proved that to be false. [192] Chamberlain even once stated that he intentionally missed free throws so a teammate could get the rebound and score two points instead of one. The ultimate legendary story that really stood out in Wilt's post-career was in 1986. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [62] In one particular game, Chamberlain blocked a dunk attempt by Baltimore Bullets player Gus Johnson so hard that he dislocated Johnson's shoulder. Wilt retired from the NBA after the 1972-73 season with the . (Wilt the Stilt, The Big Dipper, Dippy, Dip, The Load, Big Musty, The Record Book, Hook and Ladder, Wiltie, Whip, Whipper), Position: According to Sixers general manager Jack Ramsay, "Harvey [Pollack] said he used to tell one of his statisticians to keep track of Wilt's blocks in big games. [126], Jazz composer Thad Jones named the music composition "Big Dipper" after Chamberlain. Chamberlain was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978. He had played in 1,045 games and achieved an average of 30.1 points per gamethe NBA points-per-game record until Michael Jordan broke it in 1998. That was how the 20,000 number came into existence. " the Celtics' eight-year reign as NBA champion had ended. [42] Chamberlain likened his assist title to legendary home-run hitter Babe Ruth leading the league in sacrifice bunts, and felt he dispelled the myth that he could not and would not pass the ball. Cherry says that Chamberlain was not a natural leader or a loyal follower, which made him difficult to fit in. Chamberlain averaged 20.7 points, 18.2 rebounds, and 4.3 assists,[62] once again led the NBA in rebounding, and the Lakers won the Pacific Division title. As a result of his style of play change, Chamberlain averaged a career-low 24.1 points and took only 14% of the team's shots,[r] but was extremely efficient with a record-breaking .683 field goal accuracy. In a fiercely battled Game 4, Chamberlain was playing with five fouls late in the game. The Lakers won 60 games in the regular season and reached the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks, a franchise that featured a healthy team with a rejuvenated Reed, while the Lakers were now handicapped by several injuries. Loaded with several other players who could score, Hannum wanted Chamberlain to concentrate more on defense. Wilt Chamberlain improved his previously dismal free throw percentage (barely 50%) by throwing underhand (granny) style, hitting 28/32 in the famous game where he scored 100 point. Shoots: Chamberlain spent the night before the game in New York, partying all night with a woman. Julius Erving had his no. "[37], On December 3, 1956, Chamberlain made his varsity basketball debut as a center for the Kansas Jayhawks. He was also once league president, and is enshrined in the IVA Hall of Fame for his contributions. 13 was the Los Angeles Lakers in November 1983. [72] This also meant that the Warriors team broke apart, as Arizin chose to retire rather than move away from his family and his job at IBM in Philadelphia, Warrior coach McGuire chose to resign rather than move to the West Coast, and Gola was homesick, requesting a trade to the lowly New York Knicks halfway through the season. Chamberlain, always a poor free throw shooter, battled the "loser" label, before finally breaking through and winning the 1967 NBA Finals as a member of the 76ers. [114] Instead, the Lakers gave away their 13-point halftime lead and succumbed to the aggressive Knicks defense, as they committed 19 second-half turnovers, and the two main scorers (Chamberlain and West) shot the ball in the entire second half only three and two times, respectively. He died in Bel-Air, California, in 1999. Among the members of the team were Florence Griffith before she set the world records in the 100 meters and 200 meters, three-time world champion Greg Foster,[144] and future Olympic Gold medalists Andre Phillips, Alice Brown, and Jeanette Bolden. [142], Starting in the 1970s, he formed Wilt's Athletic Club, a track and field club in southern California,[143] coached by then UCLA assistant coach Bob Kersee in the early days of his career. During his first championship season, his assists also increased, recording two back-to-back seasons with eight assists per game, and winning one assist title. [115] The Knicks led by 27 at halftime, and despite scoring 21 points, Chamberlain could not prevent a third consecutive loss in Game 7. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. Now, we have got the complete detailed explanation and answer for everyone, who is interested! Wilt Chamberlain won 2 championships. [202][203] According to his contemporary Rod Roddewig, Chamberlain documented his love life using a Day-Timer. Wilt Chamberlain averaged the unbreakable record of 50.4 . The first team to retire Chamberlain's No. Unlike Wilt Chamberlain, Rick Barry never switched back to overhand free throws. [135][136], In 1973, the San Diego Conquistadors of the NBA rival league ABA signed Chamberlain as a player-coach for a $600,000 salary. [111], After the game, many wondered why Chamberlain sat out the final six minutes. UPDATE: For a great long read about the trade, check out Haley O'Shaughnessy's piece for The Ringer: Wilt Chamberlain's Trade To Los Angeles, 50 Years Later. For the final play, Harp called for Ron Loneski to pass the ball into Chamberlain in the low post, but the pass was tipped by Quigg and recovered by Kearns and the Tar Heels won the game. He also was one of the most versatile big men ever, leading the league in . The man was 6-foot-8 and weighed 220 pounds. His former rival Bill Russell told the press that "he and I will be friends through eternity.". [a] Chamberlain had a natural advantage against his peers; he soon was renowned for his scoring talent, his physical strength, and his shot-blocking abilities. In that Game 7, Chamberlain scored 30 points and 32 rebounds, while Russell logged 16 points, 27 rebounds, and eight assists. He was writing a screenplay about his life. Chamberlain often invited Russell over to Thanksgiving and visited Russell's place, where conversation mostly concerned Russell's electric trains. Wilt Chamberlain, of the Philadelphia Warriors, holding a sign reading "100" in the dressing room in Hershey, Pa., on March 2, 1962, after he scored 100 points as the Warriors defeated the New York . [174] [175][176] He was voted the second best center of all time by ESPN behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 2007,[177] and was ranked No. He helped the Lakers win the 1972 NBA championship, triumphing over the New York Knicks in five straight games, and was named the NBA Finals MVP. He played on the school's varsity team for three years, scoring more than 2,200 points in total. [106] Prior to Game 5, the Sixers seemed poised to win the series, as no NBA team had overcome a 31 deficit before;[106] however, the Celtics rallied back, winning the next two games 122104 and 114106, respectively, powered by a spirited John Havlicek and helped by the Sixers' bad shooting. Jackson forced a jump ball on the rebound, and the Sixers won the championship. With 10 seconds remaining, Tar Heels' center Joe Quigg pump faked then drove to the basket. Wilt Chamberlain's Life After Retirement. In the playoffs, the Sixers again battled the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Division Finals and held home-court advantage. Chamberlain averaged 30.1 points a game in his career, including a record 50.4 in the 1961-62 season with Philadelphia. [95], In the 196768 NBA season, matters continued to turn sour between Chamberlain and Kosloff, the Sixers' sole surviving owner. "[47], After losing Baylor to an Achilles tendon rupture that effectively ended his career, and especially after losing West after a knee injury, the handicapped Lakers were seen as underdogs in the playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks of Alcindor, freshly crowned MVP, and the veteran Hall-of-Fame guard Robertson, whom they faced in the Western Conference Finals. Answer (1 of 6): An interesting fact: in Wilt's two championship seasons, both his teams set regular season win records. Continuing to excel, he made the all-America and all-conference teams the following season. Would you believe Wilt Chamberlain, 53 at the time? In his 50.4 points per game season, it was 35.3%. Every time Chamberlain went to bed with a different woman, he put a check in his Day-Timer. Chamberlain's most famous season, however, came in 1962. [105], In the Eastern Division Finals, the Sixers met the Boston Celtics, again with home-court advantage and this time as reigning champions. He needed only 56 games to score 2,102 points, which broke the all-time regular-season scoring record of Bob Pettit, who needed 72 games to score 2,101 points. Who was better Shaq or Wilt Chamberlain? Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Basketball Reference Database. Chamberlain had a history of cardiovascular disease, and was briefly hospitalized in 1992 for an irregular heartbeat. [114] In Game 5, with the Knicks trailing by double digits, Reed pulled his thigh muscle and seemed to be done for the series. [i] In comparison, the previous top earner was Bob Cousy of the Celtics with $25,000, the same figure Eddie Gottlieb used to buy the Warriors franchise in 1952. Wilt was such a basketball force that many believed that he could play at the highest level, even years after his retirement. [98][99] Chamberlain also recorded then the most points in a triple-double. Chamberlain won his second championship as a member of the 1972 Lakers, a team which set a record with a 33-game winning streak. When he became a Laker, Chamberlain built a million-dollar mansion in Bel-Air named after Ursa Major, as a play on his nickname "The Big Dipper". . Wilt Chamberlain was a mythical figure. [56] In Game 5, with his hand healthy, Chamberlain recorded 50 points and 35 rebounds in a 128107 win over the Celtics, extending the series to a Game 6. When Hall-of-Fame Detroit Pistons center Bob Lanier, who was 6 feet 11 inches and 250 pounds as a rookie,[116] was asked about the most memorable moment of his career, Lanier answered: "When Wilt Chamberlain lifted me up and moved me like a coffee cup so he could get a favorable position. [106] In a game called "unreal" and "devoid of emotion", the Sixers lost 127118 on April 5. [92] In Game 2, the Sixers won 107102 in overtime, and player-coach Russell grudgingly praised Chamberlain for intimidating the Celtics into taking low percentage shots from further outside. [132], The 197273 NBA season was to be Chamberlain's last, although he did not know this at the time. [41] Another landmark was his 25,000th point, making him the first-ever player to score that many points; he gave the ball to his team physician Stan Lorber. In Game 2, Chamberlain scored 19 points, grabbed 24 rebounds, and blocked Reed's shot in the final seconds, leading the Lakers to a 105103 win. [62] Chamberlain won his first field goal percentage title and was so dominant that he scored almost 32% of his team's points and collected 30.4% of their rebounds. [1] He was a frail child, nearly dying of pneumonia in his early years and missing a whole year of school as a result. [74], In the 196364 NBA season, Chamberlain got yet another new coach in Alex Hannum and was joined by promising rookie center Nate Thurmond, who eventually entered the Hall of Fame. Wilt Chamberlain was inducted to the Hall of Fame as a Player in 1979 (Full List) Red Kerr set a pick on Sam Jones to free Chet Walker. What did Wilt Chamberlain average? Standing at 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 years and is widely regarded as one of the greatest . He wished people would understand that their roles were different. His intention was that the Celtics would throw the ball in so fast that the prolific shot-blocker Chamberlain was not yet back under his own basket, and Boston could score an easy fastbreak basket. The Lakers mounted a comeback, but then Chamberlain twisted his knee after a rebound and had to be replaced by Counts. He ran the 100-yard dash in 10.9 seconds, shot-putted 56 feet, triple jumped more than 50 feet, and won the high jump in the Big Eight Conference track and field championships three straight years. He did not care for the Sixers' coach Dolph Schayes because in his view Schayes had made several disrespectful remarks when they were rival players. The Sixers won the first two games, with Chamberlain and Greer taking credit for defense and clutch shooting, respectively, but San Francisco won two of the next three games, so Philadelphia was up 32 prior to Game 6. [12] When million-dollar contracts became common in the NBA, Chamberlain increasingly felt he had been underpaid during his career. [158], Chamberlain is holder of numerous official NBA all-time records. He hated being called "Wilt the Stilt," or "the Stilt," which came from a local reporter covering high school athletics. The next game against Oklahoma City was equally unpleasant, with KU winning 8161.[38]. Auerbach spotted Chamberlain there and had him play one-on-one against University of Kansas (KU) standout and national champion B. H. Born, elected the NCAA Most Outstanding Player in 1953. In his first NBA game, against the New York Knicks, the rookie Chamberlain scored 43 points and grabbed 28 rebounds. [79], In the 196465 NBA season, the NBA widened the lane from 12 feet to 16 feet especially because of centers like Chamberlain. Wilt Chamberlain, the 7-foot-1-inch star of the . He published his autobiography, Wilt: Just Like Any Other 7-Foot Black Millionaire Who Lives Next Door, in 1973. Did Wilt Chamberlain Win A Championship? Still sporting the trademark shaved head, wide smile and infectious laugh that made him a pop culture icon for decades, on Feb. 15, 2008, Curly became just the fifth Globetrotter in the team's illustrious history to have his jersey number retired, joining Wilt Chamberlain, Marques Haynes, Meadowlark Lemon and Goose Tatum. He could talk on any subject. For good reason. The press called it an even matchup in all positions, even at center, where Russell was expected to give Chamberlain a tough battle. "[12], Rick Barry wrote Ill say what most players feel, which is that Wilt is a loserHe is terrible in big games. [60] On November 29, Chamberlain recorded 44 points, 38 rebounds, and a then-career-high 7 assists in a 122121 road win over the Los Angeles Lakers. He also made several film and television appearances, as well as hosted his own talk show. In 1976, Chamberlain turned to his interest in movies, forming a film production and distribution company to make his first film, entitled Go For It. [195] In addition, he would often stay out late into the night and wake up at noon. The Philadelphia 76ers followed in March 1991 and the Golden State Warriors retired it . [5][146][182] In basketball history, pundits have stated that the only other player who forced such a massive change of rules is 6'10" Minneapolis Lakers center George Mikan, who played a decade before Chamberlain and also caused many rule changes designed to thwart dominant centers, such as widening the lane and defensive goaltending. [122][123] Cooke had offered Chamberlain a record-setting contract on the condition that he agreed to give up what Cooke termed "this boxing foolishness". He is best remembered as the only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game. After his retirement, Chamberlain explored other opportunities. [196] Designed according to his preferences, the house was constructed with no right angles, and had an X-rated room with mirrored walls and a fur-covered waterbed. Chamberlain often criticized Abdul-Jabbar for a perceived lack of scoring, rebounding, and defense. Learn more and register. He was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, and elected to the NBA's 35th, 50th, and 75th anniversary teams. [117], After the playoffs, Chamberlain challenged heavyweight boxing legend Muhammad Ali to a fight. [53] On January 25, 1960, Chamberlain recorded a rare feat in the NBA, posting at least 50 points and 40 rebounds in an NBA game. He was especially lauded for his good rapport with his fans, often providing tickets and signing autographs. [184] The 1969 NBA Finals is arguably the biggest stain on Chamberlain's career, as supporters of Chamberlain held Russell won more only because he had better teammates; however, in this finals, Chamberlain's team was favored and lost. 6 in ESPN's list of the top 74 NBA players of all time in 2020, the third best center of all-time behind Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell. Chamberlain changed the game in fundamental ways no other player did. [4], Chamberlain was 6ft 11in (2.11m) when he entered Philadelphia's Overbrook High School. He was 50 years old at the time, and the New Jersey Nets were actually going to offer him a contract for the last few games of their season and postseason. 2 in Slam's "Top 50 NBA Players of All-Time in NBA History" in 2009,[178] and No. The fact that Chamberlain scored 100 points without hitting a single three-pointer is so . Reportedly, Chamberlain once broke Kerr's toe with a slam dunk. [106] Chamberlain later blamed coach Hannum for the lack of touches, a point that was conceded by Hannum. [21][22] Chamberlain was the youngest member of the team. Russell's teams won all four series-deciding seventh games against Chamberlain's; by a combined margin of nine points. Van Breda Kolff benched him several times, which never happened in his career before; in mid-season, Chamberlain, a perennial scoring champion, had two games in which he scored only six and then only two points. Retirement. Both Hall of Famers would retire at the end of the 1972-73 season. [10], The rookie Chamberlain then shocked Warriors' fans by saying he was thinking of retiring. us, High School: He won seven scoring, eleven rebounding, nine durability, and nine field goal percentage titles; and he once led the league in assists.
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