Wilt Chamberlain

Who's Running the Asylum? Inside the Insane World of Sports Today
$19.95
Provides an interesting insight into Wilt's mind, the game of basketball, and how it has changed over the years. Wilt is actually quite restrained throughout - I had hoped the book would be a bit more hard-hitting (though he does land a few punches!). Wilt's comments about the game and its players are a bit dated now, but my only real gripe about the book is that it's so disorganized! (He could have really used a writer to edit and reorganize the material. It takes some effort to slog though seemingly endless meanderings and ramblings.) At any rate, Wilt will sure be missed; the game today suffers without him!

Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era
$14.95
In 1962, Wilt Chamberlain, the 7-foot-1 superstar, was in his third year in the NBA. It was a time when the game "straddled two NBA eras with isolated images of the game's past and future," according to author Gary Pomerantz.

But Chamberlain "did to the NBA game what Elvis did to traditional popular music; he placed it in a new context," writes Pomerantz. Chamberlain moved the game above the rim and quickened the scoring pace.

Chamberlain averaged an amazing 50 points a game during the 1961-62 season for the Philadelphia Warriors. The highlight came on March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pa., when he scored 100 points against the New York Knicks.

Pomerantz uses Wilt's 100-point game as the "Dawn of a New Era." He does an excellent job of putting the reader in the game (although there was no television coverage and no New York papers covered the game). Pomerantz interviewed 250 people for the book, including 56 who were among the scant crowd of 4,124 in attendance.

A reader will learn a lot about the early days of the NBA and the culture of the 1960s through this book. In 1962, the NBA struggled with attendance, often having doubleheaders (two games for the price of one). Sometimes, the Harlem Globetrotters would be the first game and the NBA teams would match up in the nightcap. On Wilt's 100-point night, the NFL Philadelphia Eagles played the Baltimore Colts in an exhibition prior to the Warriors-Knicks matchup. High-scoring NBA games were frowned upon, and Chamberlain,who was not a gate attraction, was frequently criticized for his scoring and number of shots taken. Unbelievably, there were only 37 blacks in the NBA.

Pomerantz offers interesting profiles of the players and coaches involved in Wilt's 100-point game. Wilt's drive to 100 points is vividly and excitedly recreated. He had 69 points entering the fourth quarter, and the Knicks felt like he was embarrassing them. They were determined to keep him from scoring 100. It was 1 vs. 5 down the stretch. There were no easy shots. Chamberlain earned every point.

Any basketball fan should find this book fascinating.

The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball
$15.95
Pretty straightforward but it did bring me back to my youth loving Russell and hating Wilt. A fair amount of good information.

McFarlane Toys NBA Sports Picks Legends Series 1 Action Figure Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain (Philidelphia 76ers)
$8.99
On March 2, 1962 the New York Knicks hosted the Philadelphia Warriors in an N.B.A. game played in Hershey, Pennsylvania. That night, Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain scored 100 points, shooting 36 of 63 from the floor and 28 of 32 from the line. Near the end of the game Chamberlain missed two shots in a row, with teammate Ted Luckenbill getting both rebounds, and then threw down a dun for his 99th and 100th points. Earlier that season the 7-foot-1 center had score 78 points in a triple overtime game, but his coach, Frank McGuire, expected Chamberlain to score 100 points some day. The following night the teams played again, this time in Madison Square Garden in New York City, and Knicks Center Darrall Imhoff got a standing ovation because he "held" Chamberlain to only 54-points (4 over his average for the season).

I had heard this NBA Legends Series I figure of Chamberlain was supposed to commemorate the 100 point game but that would be incorrect since this is a white 76ers jersey and not a Warriors jersey from that season, which was white with red trim and "PHILA" above the #13). You have to admit, you cannot get much more old school than this 76ers jersey (the Boston Celtics do not get credit for never having changed it since the days of Cousy and Russell). The figure is interesting because I cannot figure out if Chamberlain is going for a rebound or if he has just down a finger roll (I am leaning towards the former, but a Chamberlain figure with the ball on his fingertips would have been sweet). Too bad McFarlane does not have a backboard to give a proper sense of the figure's scale, but then this really should be a 7-inch figure rather than a 6-inch one (the basketball figures come in two pieces, so it is not like adding a half-inch to each would be problem).

I do not suppose we are going to ever get a McFarlane figure of Bill Russell, Chamberlain's legendary opponent, but there is a Willis Reed figure going up for a shot with the ball that is part of the NBA Legends Series I that you could set up with this one to make it look like the Stilt is going for a block. You just want to make sure you get the blue jersey variation of the Knicks uniform on Reed. Also available in Series I are Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, Pete Maravich of the New Orleans Jazz, Bill Walton of the Portland Trailblazers (red with a white variant), and Julius Erving of the 76ers (with a New York Nets variant). There is a Los Angeles Lakers variation for the Chamberlain figure, which gets bonus points because not only did they change the uniform, they also added a headband up top, which is point on for the proper look given the time and team.

Few athletes have been as dominant as Wilt Chamberlain. When he played college ball at the University of Kansas he was the N.C.A.A. changed the rules of the game to include widening the lane and instituting offensive goaltending while revising rules governing in bounding the ball and shooting free throws. Frustrated by triple teaming, Chamberlain played for the Harlem Globetrotters for a couple of yeas and then joined the Philadelphia Warriors to become both the Rookie of the Year and M.V.P. for the 1959-60 season. In 14 seasons with the Philadelphia Warriors, Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers, Chamberlain was named league MVP four times (1960,1966-68) and was an All-NBA First Team selection seven times. Chamberlain led the NBA in scoring seven consecutive years (1959-65), rebounding 11 times and in 1968 even led the league in assists. Despite his scoring and rebounding skills, Chamberlain only won the N.B.A title twice, in 1967 with the Philadelphia 76ers and again in 1972 with the Lakers. Chamberlain was never popular ("Nobody roots for Golaith" he often said), nobody ever questioned that his talent on the basketball court matched his size.