In 1955, Chamberlain entered the University of Kansas. [74] Prior to Game 5, Chamberlain was nowhere to be found, skipping practice and being non-accessible. The Lakers mounted a comeback; then Chamberlain twisted his knee after a rebound and had to be replaced by Mel Counts. He was a Goliath", said Sy Goldberg, Chamberlain's longtime attorney. The following season, 1965-66, Philadelphia posted the best record in the league, at 55-25, but for the second year in a row the 76ers fell to Boston in the Eastern Division Finals. An incident recounted in the Philadelphia Daily News involving Tom Meschery of the Seattle SuperSonics illustrated what it was like to play in the trenches against Chamberlain. [94] In Game 4, Chamberlain scored 18 points and grabbed 25 rebounds and helped tie the series at 2. [77] The motivation for this move remains in dispute. [5] 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. Knowing how dominant he was, the opponents resorted to freeze-ball tactics and routinely used three or more players to guard him. That is totally ridiculous."[33]. After years of frustration, Chamberlain finally got by his arch rival as Philadelphia raced by Boston in five games, ending the Celtics’ eight-year stranglehold on the NBA title. At one point he hoped to challenge Muhammad Ali to a world heavyweight fight. He later faced Unseld, Abdul-Jabbar, Dave Cowens, and Elvin Hayes. [124] Even far beyond his playing days, Chamberlain was a very fit person. The Sixers would post a 55–25 regular season record, and for his strong play, Chamberlain won his second MVP award. 's western division title series with Milwaukee, he (Chamberlain) decisively outplayed basketball's newest giant superstar, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, eleven years his junior. "[114] 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. The league agreed, marking the only time in NBA history that a player was made a territorial selection based on his pre-college roots. “I stopped shooting — coaches asked me to do that, and I did. [154] The comparison between the two is often simplified to a great player (Chamberlain) versus a player who makes his team great (Russell), an individualist against a team player. After his monstrous scoring year in 1961-62, Chamberlain’s average dropped slowly each year until the 1967-68 season, when it rose slightly to 24.3 points per game from 24.1 the season before. 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. [note 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. [19] 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 74–50. After attending the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr., Chamberlain called out to the angry rioters who were setting fires all over the country, stating Dr. King would not have approved. [52] After defeating the Cincinnati Royals led by Oscar Robertson in the 1965 NBA Playoffs, the Sixers met Chamberlain's familiar rival, the Boston Celtics. The Sixers charged their way to a then-record 68–13 season, including a record 46–4 start. [91] Going into the series as 3-to-1 favorites, the Lakers won the first two games, but dropped the next two. This was also helped by the fact that Chamberlain was a near-insomniac who often simply skipped sleeping. [150] During his career, Chamberlain competed against future Hall of Famers including Russell, Thurmond, Lucas, and Walt Bellamy. ... Classic images of 'The Big Dipper' NBA As if in a scene from The Three Stooges, Chamberlain put his hand on the 6-6 Meschery’s head and let him swing away harmlessly. He played for the University of Kansas and also for the Harlem Globetrotters before playing in the NBA. [2] In addition, the formerly egotistical Chamberlain began to praise his teammates, 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. The Lakers then stormed to the championship with a five-game triumph against New York in the 1972 NBA Finals. [14] Because Chamberlain was a very tall child, already measuring 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) at age 10[15] and 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) when he entered Philadelphia's Overbrook High School,[3] he had a natural advantage against his peers; he soon was renowned for his scoring talent, his physical strength and his shot blocking abilities. [39] In what was the first of many Chamberlain-Russell match-ups, Chamberlain outscored Russell with 30 points versus 28 points, but Boston won the game. The record still stands today and it is very unlikely to be ever broken. [58] Each team won their home games, so the series was split at three after six games. In that game, Tar Heels coach Frank McGuire used several unorthodox tactics to thwart Chamberlain. Los Angeles Lakers Wilt Chamberlain: Why the Big Dipper Would Dominate Today's NBA Jesse White Contributor III March 23, 2011 Comments 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 102–93 and the series. The press called it an even matchup in all positions, even at center, where Bill Russell was expected to give Chamberlain a tough battle. The Lakers center himself was criticized for his inability to dominate his injured counterpart, but Cherry pointed out that his feat – coming back from a career-threatening injury himself – was too quickly forgotten. [34] However, at that time, the NBA did not accept players until after their college graduating class had been completed. "[37], Chamberlain was the first big earner of basketball; he immediately became the highest paid player upon entering the NBA. In 1966-67, Sixers coach Alex Hannum asked Chamberlain to pass the ball more often than shoot, and to play more aggressive defense. [47] But in Game 6, Heinsohn got the last laugh, scoring the decisive basket with a last-second tip-in. 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. [2][6] He was subsequently enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, elected into the NBA's 35th Anniversary Team of 1980, and in 1996 he was chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. But his contributions came in other forms. [3] "First he was a scorer. In an interview entitled "My Life in a Bush League", he criticized his fellow players, coaches, and NBA administrators. Accessorizing: Supersize My Ride", "A Full-Court Press to Regain Late Basketball Great's Items", Basketball-Reference.com: Wilt Chamberlain (as a coach), 4th Quarter Radio Broadcast of Wilt's 100 Point Game. [72] Off the court, however, Chamberlain's commitment to the cause was doubted, as Chamberlain was a late sleeper, lived in New York and preferred to commute to Philadelphia rather than live there, and he was only available during the afternoon for training. According to Rod Roddewig, a contemporary of Wilt's, Chamberlain documented his love life using a Day-Timer. The strategy worked. [37] Chamberlain also sponsored his personal professional volleyball and track and field teams, and also provided high-level teams for girls and women in basketball, track, volleyball and softball,[115] and made money by appearing in ads for TWA, American Express, Volkswagen, Drexel Burnham, Le Tigre Clothing and Foot Locker. [91], Game 7 featured a surreal scene: in anticipation of a Lakers win, Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke put up thousands of balloons in the rafters of the Forum in Los Angeles. Ex-Lakers teammate Jerry West 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 called Chamberlain one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. He hated the ones that called attention to his height, such as "Goliath" and "Wilt the Stilt". As of the end of 2019 playoffs, he is the first and the only player in NBA History to record 50 points and 35 rebounds in a playoff game. In a game for the Philadelphia Warriors against the Boston Celtics in the 1960-61 season, Chamberlain set the record for most rebounds in a single NBA game. [91] But in Game 5, the Lakers center scored 13 points and grabbed 31 rebounds, leading Los Angeles to a 117–104 win. Although Cherry points out that the Sixers shot badly (Hal Greer, Wali Jones, Chet Walker, Luke Jackson and Matt Guokas hit a combined 25 of 74 shots) and Chamberlain grabbed 34 rebounds and shot 4-of-9, the center himself scored only 14 points. Russell apologized privately to him and later publicly. Chamberlain never fouled out of a regular season or playoff game in his 14-year NBA career. [39] In his third game, Chamberlain recorded 41 points and a then-career high 40 rebounds in a 124-113 win over the visiting Syracuse Nationals. He almost knocked Bellamy off the court, too.”. [41] On November 10, 1959, Chamberlain recorded 39 points and a new career-high 43 rebounds in a 126-125 win over the visiting New York Knicks. 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[2][5] (equal to about $443,000 in 2019[note 1]). [68] He did not care for the Sixers' coach, Dolph Schayes, because Schayes, according to him, had made several disrespectful remarks when they were rival players in the NBA. [52] Because Chamberlain played in overtime games, he averaged more minutes per game than the regulation 48; in fact, Chamberlain would have reached the 3,890-minute mark if he had not been ejected in one game after picking up a second technical foul with eight minutes left to play. Loaded with several other players who could score, such as future Hall-of-Famers Hal Greer and newcomer Billy Cunningham, Hannum wanted Chamberlain to concentrate more on defense. [5] Chamberlain was so dominant on the team that he scored almost 32% of his team's points and collected 30.4% of their rebounds. Chamberlain was so “on” that he even made 28 of 32 free throws, despite having, up to that point in the season, just a paltry .506 percentage from the stripe. Russell botched the inbounds pass, hitting a guy-wire over the backboard and giving the ball back to the Sixers. The Midwest regional was held in Dallas, Texas, which at the time was segregated. [91] Playing through his problems, Chamberlain averaged 20.5 points and 21.1 rebounds a game that season. In addition, he shot an NBA record 0.727 for the season, bettering his own mark of 0.683 from the 1966–67 season. [34][90] 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. [121] [183], More hostile was Chamberlain's relationship with fellow center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, eleven years his junior. After the postseason loss to Boston, the rookie stunned his fans by announcing that he was thinking of retiring because of the excessively rough treatment he had endured from opponents. However, it also became evident that he was an atrocious free-throw shooter, making hardly half of his foul shots. [135] Chamberlain is most remembered for his 100-point game,[136][137] which is widely considered one of basketball's greatest records. In his senior year he averaged 44.5 points. Chamberlain claimed that he intentionally missed free throws so a teammate could get the rebound and score two points instead of one,[145] but later acknowledged that he was a "psycho case" in this matter. [5] Barred from playing, Chamberlain mostly left the coaching duties to his assistant Stan Albeck, who recalled: "Chamberlain ... has a great feel for pro basketball ... [but] the day-to-day things that are an important part of basketball ... just bored him. [5][45] Chamberlain capped off his rookie season by winning the 1960 NBA All-Star Game MVP award with a 23-point, 25-rebound performance for the East. [46] On the other hand, he committed surprisingly few fouls during his NBA career despite his rugged play in the post. Then with our great Laker team in 1972, he concentrated on the defensive end", said Sharman. "[17] It was also in this period of his life when his three lifelong nicknames "Wilt the Stilt", "Goliath", and his favorite, "The Big Dipper", were allegedly born. I hear people today talk about hard fouls. [96] In Game 1, Abdul-Jabbar outscored Chamberlain 32–22, and the Bucks won 106–85. [3] Among others, UCLA offered Chamberlain the opportunity 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 persuade the center. [6] There were three NBA Finals matchups in the rivalry between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, but they played different positions and did not guard each other. He scored 32 points and led Overbrook to a 19–0 season. [2][3] He played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). We were spat on, pelted with debris, and subjected to the vilest racial epithets possible. [8] He played occasional matches for the IVA Seattle Smashers before the league folded in 1979.