A Look into the Life of Wilt the Stilt (part 1)
There have been a number of legends in NBA history. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippins, Shaquille O’Neil are only the tip of the iceberg. One of basketballs most legendary players was Wilton Norman Chamberlain. He played for a number of different teams, including
the Philadelphia Warriors (now the San Francisco Warriors), the Philadelphia 76’ers, the Los Angeles Lakers.
Wilt (short for Wilton), played the center position. As one of the tallest players on the team, it was his job to score points, or defend the basket. Wilt Chamberlain is seen as one of greatest players in the history of the National Basketball Association.
This isn’t a surprise, as Chamberlain has a number of records under his belt. Some of his achievements include being the only basketball player in the history of the NBA, to score 100 points in one single game, he was also chosen for 13 All-Star games, 10
All-NBA teams, and was entered the hall of fame in 1978.
Wilt was known by a number of nick names, most of which were given due to his height. Other than Wilt, he was known as “Wilt the Stilt”, “Goliath” and the “Big Dipper”. After he was done with basketball, Wilt gave volleyball a shot. He became the president
of the “International Volleyball Association” but this organization did not survive. He also tried his hand in business, writing and even appeared in the movie “Conan the Destroyer” along side Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was successful in all of his endeavors.
Wilt never married, and remained a bachelor throughout his life (claiming that he had slept with 20’000 women).
Wilton Chamberlain was born to a family, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to his biographer, Wilt was a very weak child, who nearly died of pneumonia. Ironically, when Wilt was a child, he was not remotely interested in the game of basketball. In
fact, he was very good at track & field. His high jumps measured around 6 feet 6 inches and his broad jump was a whopping 22 feet. As a child, Wilt was very tall. He measured 6ft at the age of 10, and when he started high school he was just one inch shorter
than being 7 feet tall. He succumbed to peer pressure and started to play basketball in his high school. He was recognized immediately for his scoring abilities and shot blocking skills.
Chamberlain went to Overbrook High School and played for the Panthers. By averaging with 31 points during the 1953 season and leading his team to a victory against Northwestern High, Wilt immediately made himself recognized in the world of basketball. He
won again in his second season. These wins were a start to an extremely prosperous basketball career.
During the summers, Chamberlain worked as a bellhop in Kutsher Hotel. While there, he was spotted by Red Auerbach, who was at that time the coach of the Celtics. Auerbach made Chamberlain play a one on one game against B.H.Born, who was the Kansas University
“standout” and a national champion. Wilt destroyed the champion with a score of 25 points (15 more than Born). This win was famous for being the reason for B.H.Born dropping a promising career in the NBA, and becoming a tractor engineer. Born claimed that
“If there were high school kids that good, I figured I wasn’t going to make it to the pros”. Even though Chamberlain won the match, he did not go to play for Auerbach.
When Chamberlain graduated, he had become somewhat of a basketball prodigy. There were 200 different colleges and universities willing to give the Big Dipper a scholarship if he played for them. UCLA and University of Pennsylvania were willing to do drastic
things to get Wilt. They even offered his high school coach a position, if he could convince the young star to play for them, however Wilt had become bored with the place he was in at that time. He needed a change in scenery, thus ignored universities in New
England, Philadelphia, and New York. He also ignored the south completely due to the segregation (racial profiling) that occurred there. In the end, he decided to join the University of Kansas.
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