Wilt Chamberlain

Wilton Norman Chamberlain, better known as Wilt Chamberlain, Wilt the Stilt, or The Big Dipper, was born on August 21, 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Chamberlain is best known for his long, storied career in the National Basketball Association, in which he played from 1959 until 1973. From 1960 to 1973, Chamberlain played in every NBA All Star Game but one, that being in 1970.http://www.nba.com/history/players/chamberlain_stats.html

Chamberlain attended Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, where he originally was a track and field athlete. Basketball was a major draw in the city however, and he eventually turned his interest to it. Chamberlain led Overbrook to three consecutive Public League titles and two city championships in his three years playing. The team posted a record of 56-3 and Chamberlain broke the record set by Tom Gola for points scored by a high school player in Philadelphia, averaging 37.4 points a game.http://static.espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00014133.htmlhttp://static.espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00131528.html

Chamberlain would go on to play collegiate basketball at Kansas University under legendary coach Phog Allen. In his debut, he put up a Jayhawks record 52 points and as a first team All American selection, he led the school to the Final Four. They would inevitably fall just short of winning the title, losing 54-53 in triple overtime to the University of North Carolina. He would be named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

After one more season in Kansas, where he was again an All American, Chamberlain joined the Harlem Globetrotters for a season, so he could make some money playing the sport.http://static.espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00014133.html

After his one season stint with the Globetrotters, Chamberlain joined the NBA's Philadelphia Warriors, who drafted him in 1959. He made his presence known from day one in the NBA, as in his debut, he posted 43 points and 28 rebounds. For the season, Chamberlain would lead the league in scoring and rebounding, posting averages of 37.6 points and 27 rebounds a contest. He became the first player in league history to be named the league's Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in the same season.http://static.espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00014133.html

Chamberlain would go on to lead the league in scoring and rebounding in both his second and third seasons as well. The Warriors would struggle in the postseason during that time though, going 0 for 5 against the Boston Celtics, who were a dynasty throughout the 1960s, led by stars like John Havlicek, Bill Russell and Bob Cousy. In fact, Chamberlain's teams would win just one of eight playoff series against teams led by Russell in his career.http://static.espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00131528.html

In his career, Chamberlain led the league in scoring seven times, rebounding eleven times, field goal percentage nine times, including a season where he shot 72.7 percent from the floor, and even led the league in assists in 1967/68, when he had 702 of them, besting Lenny Wilkens by 23 to take that honor.http://static.espn.go.com/nba/news/1999/1012/110493.html After the Warriors moved to San Francisco, he was shipped back east to Philadelphia in 1965 in exchange for Paul Neumann, Connie Dierking, Lee Shaffer and cash. The 76ers would win the title in 1966-67.http://static.espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00014133.html

Following the 1967-68 season, Chamberlain was dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers for Jerry Chambers, Archie Clark and Darrall Imhoff. He would win a second title with them in 1972 and return to the NBA Finals in 1973 before being dispatched by the New York Knicks. Chamberlain didn't play in the NBA again, though he did coach the ABA's San Diego Conquistadores in the 1973-74 season, going 37-47. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1979.<ref>http://static.espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00014133.html

Chamberlain died on October 12, 1999 in Los Angeles, California of heart failure. He was 63.

Chamberlain's best known feat is most likely the game that took place on March 2, 1962 between the Philadelphia Warriors and New York Knicks at [[Hershey, Pennsylvania. In that contest, Chamberlain hit 36 of 63 field goal attempts and an unheard of, at least for Chamberlain, 28 of 32 free throws to total 100 points. The Warriors defeated the Knicks by a count of 169-147.http://static.espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00131528.html

The astonishing thing about Chamberlain hitting 28 of 32 free throws in the game was the fact that he struggled at the line in his career. His career free throw percentage was just 51.1 percent, as he clanked 5805 of his 11862 attempts.http://www.nba.com/history/players/chamberlain_stats.html After scoring 41 points in the first half, Chamberlain poured it on, scoring 28 in the third quarter and 31 in the fourth despite the Knicks double- and triple-teaming him. He scored his 100th point on a dunk with 46 seconds remaining in the contest, prompting the crowd to rush the court to congratulate him for the achievement.

In that game, Chamberlain broke his own record of 78 points scored in a contest, which he did earlier in the 1961-62 season, in a game that went to triple overtime.http://static.espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00131528.html