Wilt Chamberlain was the first megastar of basketball long before Michael Jordan and LeBron James. On the field he brought physical attributes far ahead of his time and dominated his opponents at will. Off court, he lived like a rock star. Today he would have been 82 years old.
This article was originally published on 10.2.2015.
Few sports are as easy to record by statistics as basketball. Of course, the numbers, especially the traditional ones, don’t tell you everything – but looking at a boxing score and looking at points, rebounds and assists, you usually get a good idea of who had the biggest influence on the win in each game.
Ideally, the statistics confirm what you see with your own eyes and help you to classify what you see. When Klay Thompson explodes in the third quarter for 37 points, you can see on the one hand how someone takes complete control, and on the other hand you are constantly informed during the quarter that something potentially historic is emerging here and how many points are still missing for the NBA record in a quarter.
Thompson wrote history and will appear in every record book from now on. Today, one can classify his performance because there have been sufficient comparative values over the decades.
This was not the case in the days of Wilt Chamberlain, when the sport was still in its infancy and only rudimentarily resembled the rules and regulations used today. And yet many of Wilt’s records still hold true.
The most famous record set by Chamberlain is, of course, a three-figure record. 100 points in a game, a value so bizarre and incomprehensible. (The story of the game can be found here.) Only Kobe Bryant got close to the record in the long history of the NBA, but he only managed 81 percent of it. However, it is by far not the only statistic in relation to Wilt that makes the inclined chin rail race towards the floor in the Tex Avery manner.
How about 27.2 rebounds per game in one season? 55 rebounds in one game? Or 50.4 points per game? 45 50 point games in a season (no one else has more than 10)? 14 CONSEQUENCE 40-Point-Games?
One could list such statistics all day long without really doing justice to Chamberlain’s incomprehensible dominance. Not to mention that he led the league as a center in a season with the Assists and that at that time no blocks were raised that would have made his portfolio of records even more comprehensive.
To say that Wilt was ahead of his time would be about as true as the statement that the Warriors are a pretty good force in 2018. It is far from enough. Chamberlain seemed like an alien to his contemporaries because he was taller, stronger and more athletic than anything the sport had seen before.
Only Bill Russell could dream of keeping him in a defensive position – it was simply unfair. Like David versus Goliath, but without the basketball equivalent of David’s slingshot. “He was just scary. Before he came, basketball players were usually as big as normal mortals. Wilt changed that,” ESPN journalist Hal Bock once looked back.
In fact, the NBA made several rule changes to limit Chamberlain’s dominance. Among other things, the zone was enlarged to keep him further away from the basket, and offensive goaltending was prohibited. Last but not least, both the NBA and previously the NCAA banned dunks in the meantime, making it more difficult for Wilt to score.
None of it was particularly effective. The list of Chamberlain’s individual awards is lavish and includes four MVP Awards, 13 All-Star Games, seven All-NBA First Teams, seven scoring titles and eleven rebound titles. Only Michael Jordan ever managed a higher career average than “Wilt the Stilt” (30.1 points).
There are not too many moving images from Wilt’s active times, which is why one has to rely to a large extent on the statements of contemporary witnesses. They usually speak of a dominance that has never been achieved again – as if the young Shaquille O’Neal would only compete against beer-bellied Hedo Türkoglus.
In a league whose players usually had to have second jobs during the summer break to make ends meet, Wilt was also one of the first to become popular off-court. In contrast to his eternal rival Russell, for example, he loved the spotlight and was the most popular interview object of the entire Association for years.
Already at college in Kansas he achieved a high degree of fame, so that in 1958 the Harlem Globetrotters made him an outrageously good offer (about 50,000 dollars). Wilt didn’t want to go to university anymore and agreed.
The side trip was a success; a stunt by the Globetrotters was particularly popular, with Meadowlark Lemon lying on the floor and Chamberlain not helping him up, but throwing him a few meters into the air like a doll. “Wilt was the strongest athlete who ever lived,” said the approximately 105-kilo lemon later. Another tessera in Chamberlain’s legend.
When he finally made it to the NBA in 1959, he wasted no time: Already in his first year he won the Rookie of the Year Award and became MVP of the All-Star Game and the Regular Season. And he didn’t take prisoners in his private life either.
Throughout his life he worked as a businessman, author and later as an actor (“Conan the Destroyer” with Arnold Schwarzenegger). And of course there were the ladies: Chamberlain, who never had a long-term relationship, once claimed he slept with 20,000 women. In his autobiography “Wilt” he partly described these adventures down to the smallest detail.
Chamberlain was in his 63 years of life on and beside the field the definition of “larger than life”, a multitalented, physically incredibly blessed playboy and bon vivant. It is therefore no surprise that in 2014 he became the first NBA player ever to be honored by the American Post Office with his own stamp.
“People should remember the big ones. And no one has ever been bigger or better than Chamberlain,” said Donald Hunt, who started the campaign for Wuert’s honor back in 2008. In the end, there are even two motifs which – as appropriate – are significantly larger than normal stamps.
No question: Chamberlain was an incredibly imposing appearance, an incredible player, the most dominant athlete the NBA has ever seen (sorry, Shaq). It is all the more fascinating that Chamberlain was viewed extremely critically by his contemporaries.
Page 1: larger than life
Page 2: The great controversy