Wilt Chamberlain grew up in Philadelphia, missed almost a year of school with pneumonia as a child, and stood six feet tall by age 10. He started as a track athlete, sprinting, throwing the shot put and high jumping, and dismissed basketball as a soft game until junior high. As a teenage bellhop at Kutsher’s Hotel in the Catskills, Red Auerbach set him against B.H. Born, the reigning NCAA Most Outstanding Player, and Chamberlain won 25 to 10; Born gave up on the pros and became a tractor engineer. To stay eligible he played adult semi-pro games under the name George Marcus. Courted by over 200 universities, he chose the University of Kansas, ruling out the East Coast and the segregated South.
At Kansas the NCAA rewrote rules on free throws, inbounding over the backboard and offensive goaltending because of him. North Carolina triple-teamed and stalled him to a triple-overtime loss in the 1957 final. He left early, was paid $10,000 for a magazine story explaining why, and toured with the Harlem Globetrotters. With the Philadelphia Warriors he signed for $30,000, more than the owner had paid for the franchise, and won Rookie of the Year and MVP. In one season he averaged 50.4 points and 48.5 minutes per game, and he never fouled out in 14 years. He coached the ABA’s San Diego Conquistadors for a season, entered the Volleyball Hall of Fame, and died in 1999.
- His vertical leap is estimated at 50 inches, and he once dunked free throws from a running start behind the line.
- In a Globetrotters routine he tossed 210-pound Meadowlark Lemon into the air.
- He hated the nickname Wilt the Stilt and preferred the Big Dipper, from ducking through doorways.
- He stayed close to rival Bill Russell but feuded with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar until his death.
- In his mid-40s at a UCLA pickup game he vowed no more layups and blocked every shot Magic Johnson tried.
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