Chamberlain, Wilt

August 21, 1936
October 12, 1999

Born in Philadelphia, basketball player Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain was one of nine children of William Chamberlain, a custodian/handyman, and Olivia Chamberlain, a part-time domestic. Large even as a child, he grew to seven feet one inch by the age of eighteen and developed great running speed and endurance. At Overbrook High School, he starred in track and field. Dubbed "Wilt the Stilt" and "The Big Dipper" for his great height, he became the premier high school basketball player of his era. The Philadelphia Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) drafted him before he finished high school, but Chamberlain elected to go to college. After fierce competition among colleges, he chose to attend the University of Kansas. While at Kansas, he starred in track, and his amazing basketball skills and dominance led to many changes in the college rule book, including the widening of the foul lanes, in order to hamper him. Despite these impediments, in his first year with the varsity Chamberlain led Kansas to the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) finals. However, the constant harassment, fouling, and triple-teaming upset him, and after another year he left Kansas, saying basketball was no longer fun. Not yet eligible for the NBA, he spent a year touring with the Harlem Globetrotters (playing at guard!).

Chamberlain entered the NBA with the Philadelphia Warriors in 1959–1960 and was an immediate sensation. In his rookie year he broke eight NBA scoring and rebounding records, and was named both Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player. In 1960 he grabbed a record fifty-five rebounds in one game. The following season Chamberlain had the greatest individual scoring performance the game has ever seen. He scored 4,029 points, an average of 50.4 points per game, and on March 2, 1962, scored 100 points in a game.

Chamberlain went on to play a total of fourteen seasons with the Philadelphia/Golden State Warriors (1959–1965), the Philadelphia 76ers (1965–1968), and the Los Angeles Lakers (1968–1973). He won four MVP awards and was named to the All-Star team thirteen times (every year he was in contention). He revolutionized professional basketball, ushering in the era of the dominant centers, usually seven feet or taller. A sensational scorer during his early years, he relied on a graceful jump shot and popularized the "dunk" shot. His lifetime scoring totals—31,419 points and an average of 30.1 points per game—stood for many years. He also excelled at shot blocking and defense. While Chamberlain led his teams to NBA championships in 1967 and 1972, his teams lost several times in playoff finals, and fans unfairly derided him as a "loser." A controversial figure, he complained about the lack of recognition of his talents, stating "nobody roots for Goliath." In 1973 he left the Lakers and was hired as a player-coach by the San Diego Conquistadores of the American Basketball Association (ABA). The Lakers obtained an injunction in court forbidding him from playing, and he passed the year unhappily as a coach, leading the team to a 38–47 record, and then retired. He was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1978.

After his retirement, Chamberlain, a volleyball enthusiast, helped start the International Volleyball Association and also sponsored track-and-field meets. At various times he pursued a performing career. He acted in the film Conan the Destroyer (1984) and appeared as himself in several commercials. During the 1960s he owned the Harlem nightspot Big Wilt's Small Paradise, and he later owned Wilt Chamberlain's Restaurants. He achieved considerable notoriety for his claims of extraordinary sexual promiscuity in his 1991 book, A View from Above. Whatever his exploits off the court, he remains one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

Chamberlain died unexpectedly of heart failure in 1999.

See also Basketball

Bibliography

Chamberlain, Wilt. The View from Above. New York: Villard Books, 1991.

Chamberlain, Wilt, and David Shaw. Wilt: Just Like Any Other 7-Foot Black Millionaire Who Lives Next Door. New York: Macmillan, 1973.

Lynch, Wayne. Season of the 76ers: The Story of Wilt Chamberlain and the 1967 NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers. New York: St. Martin's, 2002.

greg robinson (1996)
Updated by publisher 2005