I hear people today talk about hard fouls. Half the fouls against him were hard fouls.”. [3][130] His agent Sy Goldberg stated Chamberlain died of congestive heart failure. [23] Chamberlain likened his assist title to legendary home run hitter "Babe Ruth leading the league in sacrifice bunts", and he dispelled the myth that he could not and would not pass the ball. In that Game 7, both centers were marvelous: Chamberlain scored 30 points and 32 rebounds, and Russell logged 16 points, 27 rebounds and eight assists. Perhaps his most mind-boggling stat was the 50.4 points per game he averaged during the 1961-62 season–and if not that, then perhaps the 48.5 minutes per game he averaged that same year. This time, the tables were turned: the Knicks now featured a healthy team with a rejuvenated Willis Reed, and the Lakers were now handicapped by several injuries. [185] He accompanied Nixon to the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.[186] and considered himself a Republican. Chamberlain changed the game in fundamental ways no other player did. [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. [27] Chamberlain's freshman debut was highly anticipated, and he delivered; the freshman squad was pitted against the varsity, who were favored to win their conference that year. 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. In 1966-67, Sixers coach Alex Hannum asked Chamberlain to pass the ball more often than shoot, and to play more aggressive defense. [96] In Game 1, Abdul-Jabbar outscored Chamberlain 32–22, and the Bucks won 106–85. When Chamberlain died in 1999, Chamberlain's nephew stated that Russell was the second person he was ordered to break the news to. So, building an extensive Chamberlain collection can be tough, but David Kohler, president an… The Sixers' center scored 29 points, 36 rebounds and 13 assists and was highly praised by Celtics Russell and K.C. [6] By the time Chamberlain was 21 (even before he turned professional), he had already been featured in Time, Life, Look, and Newsweek magazines. [114] In his single season as a coach, the Conquistadors went a mediocre 37–47 in the regular season and lost against the Utah Stars in the Division Semifinals. In Game 6, the Celtics won 99–90, and Chamberlain only scored 8 points; Cherry accuses him of choking, because if "Chamberlain had come up big and put up a normal 30 point scoring night", L.A. would have probably won its first championship. 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]). Winning the regular season with 66 wins, the Bucks were seen as favourites against the depleted Lakers; still, many pundits were looking forward to the matchup between the 34-year-old Chamberlain and the 24-year-old Alcindor. Ex-soldier Hannum, who later entered the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach, was a crafty psychologist who emphasized defense and passing. [50] Five days later, Chamberlain recorded 44 points, 38 rebounds, and a career-high 7 assists in a 122-121 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. I wonder sometimes if that was a mistake.”. [91] Playing through his problems, Chamberlain averaged 20.5 points and 21.1 rebounds a game that season. [80] In Game 3, Chamberlain grabbed 41 rebounds and helped the Sixers win 115–104. [69] Indeed, the two teams split the first six games, and because of the better season record, the last game was held in the Celtics' Boston Garden. In his defense, Warriors coach Frank McGuire said "Wilt has been simply super-human", and pointed out that the Warriors lacked a consistent second scorer, a playmaker, and a second big man to take pressure off Chamberlain. [124] Even far beyond his playing days, Chamberlain was a very fit person. [31] Teammate Bob Billings commented: "It was not fun basketball ... we were just out chasing people throwing the basketball back and forth. The All-Star center from Pennsylvania cherished dunks, NBA championships, NBA history, and besting Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Milwaukee Bucks as much as he cherished a love life. [129] After undergoing dental surgery in the week before his death, he was in great pain and seemed unable to recover from the stress. (Game film is unclear whether an 8th block occurred, or the ball just fell short due to Chamberlain's withering defensive intimidation). Going ahead 3–2, the Sixers defeated the Knicks 115–97 in Game 6 after Chamberlain scored 25 points and 27 rebounds: he had a successful series in which he led both teams in points (153), rebounds (145) and assists (38). “The Big Dipper” was even more overwhelming than expected, winning MVP honors in his rookie season and averaging 50.4 ppg and 25.7 rpg in his third season with the Philadelphia Warriors. [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. [111] In that series, the Lakers won Game 1 115–112, but the Knicks won Games 2 and 3; things worsened when Jerry West injured his hamstring yet again. In the division semifinals, the Sixers ousted Cincinnati. Here's something you should know: he owns the NBA record books. Eclectic didn’t begin to describe his activities. The 1971-72 Lakers set an NBA record by winning 33 games in a row en route to a then NBA-record 69-13 regular-season mark, one victory better than Chamberlain’s 1966-67 … Wilt is easy to hate [...] people came to see him lose. [114] However, Chamberlain was not pleased by the Qs' meager attendance: crowds averaged 1,843, just over half of the Qs' small San Diego 3,200-seat sports arena. Strength was something Chamberlain developed as a college and professional player. His fouls per 36 minutes (a stat used to compare players that average vastly different minutes) was a remarkable 1.6 per game. Meschery got it again, faked again, and got it blocked again. [91] In Game 7, the Lakers trailed 91–76 after three quarters. “I stopped shooting — coaches asked me to do that, and I did. "[102] In 1967, recently retired NFL star Jim Brown acted as Chamberlain's manager, but Ali's manager Jabir Herbert Muhammad backed out of the Chamberlain-Ali match which was slated to take place at Madison Square Garden. Well, what about the Big Dipper? The strategy worked. [77] The motivation for this move remains in dispute. [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. In Game 2, Chamberlain scored 19 points, grabbed 24 rebounds, and blocked Reed's shot in the final seconds, leading the Lakers to a 105–103 win. After King scored a basket, Kansas was ahead by one point, but then Tar Heel Joe Quigg was fouled on a drive with 10 seconds remaining and made his two foul shots. According to Rod Roddewig, a contemporary of Wilt's, Chamberlain documented his love life using a Day-Timer. "Wilt Chamberlain 1966-67 Game Log - Basketball-Reference.com", "Use Extension On Operating Table As Wilt Chamberlain Undergoes Tendon Surgery", "Achilles Heel Advertising: Repositioning the Competition", "5 Things You Didn't Know About Wilt Chamberlain", "Wilt spoke of regrets, women and Meadowlark", "Ali vs. Wilt Chamberlain: The Fight That Almost Was", "Jim Brown Talks Ali vs. Wilt Chamberlain // SiriusXM", "Chamberlain's feats the stuff of legend", "Flynn Robinson, 72, Scorer on Dominant N.B.A. "[31] Nevertheless, Chamberlain averaged 30.1 points for the season and led the Jayhawks to an 18–5 record, losing three games while he was out with a urinary infection:[31] because KU came second in the league and at the time only conference winners were invited to the NCAA tourney, the Jayhawks' season ended. [29] By this time, he had developed several offensive weapons that became his trademarks: his finger roll, his fade-away jump shot, which he could also hit as a bank shot, his passing and his shot-blocking. San Diego had wanted him to be a player-coach, but legal entanglements prevented that, and Chamberlain soon became bored with a coach-only role. Coach Schayes called timeout, and decided to run the last play over Hal Greer rather than Chamberlain, because he feared the Celtics would intentionally foul him because he was a poor foul shooter. Chamberlain made his debut for the Jayhawks’ varsity squad in a game against Northwestern on Dec. 3, 1956. [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. At the ages of 16 and 17, Chamberlain played several professional games under the pseudonym "George Marcus". The Big Dipper and Jamal Murray: How Denver's second star fits into the Western Conference constellation. He later tied that on February 21, as he recorded 58 points to go along with 24 rebounds in a 131-121 over the visiting Knicks. 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. Chamberlain’s inaugural season seemed to take a heavy toll on him. By conventional wisdom, Chamberlain now should have dominated against little-used Knicks backup centers Nate Bowman and Bill Hosket or forwards Bradley and DeBusschere, who gave up more than half a foot against the Lakers center. In that game, Tar Heels coach Frank McGuire used several unorthodox tactics to thwart Chamberlain. [52] Chamberlain also won his first field goal percentage title, and set the all-time record for rebounds in a single game with 55. By 1971–72, 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 1961–62 season. [67] In the following 1964–65 NBA season, the Warriors got off to a terrible start and ran into financial trouble. [91] He himself was perceived as "pig-headed" for benching Chamberlain, and soon resigned as Lakers coach. [105] While no longer being the main scorer, Chamberlain was named the new captain of the Lakers: after rupturing his Achilles tendon, perennial captain Elgin Baylor retired, leaving a void the center now filled. The veteran big man, who reached the NBA Finals with the Miami Heat before losing to the Lakers, ... the star constellation home to the Big Dipper — one of Chamberlain’s many nicknames. [2] Celtics forward Heinsohn said: "Half the fouls against him were hard fouls ... he took the most brutal pounding of any player ever". The Sixers won the first two games, with Chamberlain and Greer taking credit for respectively defensive dominance and clutch shooting, but San Francisco won two of the next three games, so Philadelphia was up 3–2 prior to Game 6. In his first year, he played for the Jayhawks freshman team under coach Phog Allen, whom he admired. Then with our great Laker team in 1972, he concentrated on the defensive end", said Sharman. "Wilt's Big Night", Weekend America, American Public Media, June 4, 2005, How the 100-point game almost went un-recorded. According to sportswriter Roland Lazenby, a journalist close to the Lakers, Chamberlain was angry at Kosloff for breaking the alleged Richman-Chamberlain deal,[34] but according to Dr. Jack Ramsay, who was the Sixers general manager then, Chamberlain also threatened to jump to the ABA after Hannum left, and forced the trade himself. [16] According to ESPN journalist Hal Bock, Chamberlain was "scary, flat-out frightening ... before he came along, very few players at the center position possessed his level of athleticism, stature, and stamina. [114] After the season, Chamberlain retired from professional basketball. Dr. Jack Ramsay recalled that Chamberlain regularly took walks in downtown Philadelphia and acknowledged honking horns with the air of a man enjoying all the attention. 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. He was a lifelong bachelor and became notorious for his claim of having had sexual relations with as many as 20,000 women. In a physically tough matchup, the Sixers lost sixth man Billy Cunningham with a broken hand, and Chamberlain, Greer and Jackson were struggling with inflamed feet, bad knees, and pulled hamstrings respectively. That was how the 20,000 number came into existence. During his prep years, he scored 2,206 points and had individual games in which he scored 90, 74 and 71 points.