"In his early years Chamberlain was not interested in basketball, because he thought it was "a game for sissies". Instead, he was an avid track and field athlete: as a youth, he high jumped 6 feet, 6 inches, ran the 440 yards in 49.0 seconds and the 880 yards in 1:58.3, put the shot 53 feet, 4 inches, and broad jumped 22 feet."
I also found he ran the 100 yard dash in 10.9.
Yeah, but he slept with a lot of women, which automatically makes him hated by all the guys here who can't get laid.
Two big positive things about Chamberlain that nobody talks about.
1. Very disciplined athlete. Yes, he had incredible god given gifts and maybe he should have been working on basketball skill more. But he was spending hours in the weight room in the days when nobody else did.
2. Nobody ever roots for Goliath. Chamberlain should deserve a lot more credit for doing a pretty good job accepting the Goliath "bad guy" role and thus helping to promote his sport. Today's athletes don't really do that. They get offended if fans don't like them.
Wilt was the man. I remember being shocked how big he was when I met him.
I watched him play paddle tennis at Venice Beach in his later years. He couldn't move anymore, but he'd switch the paddle from hand to hand and cover virtually the whole court.
I wish the younger generation had an appreciation for how much better of an athlete he was that Shaq (who is an amazing athlete).
One of the greatest human specimens in the history of man.
Right up there with Jim Brown, Jim Thorpe, and the Pirate Black Caesar.
I had a chance to meet him too back in the early 90s. He was in his 50s I would guess. Still built like a rock and the way he carried his size was so unbelievably natural. I got a chance to shake hands with him. He approached me and when his hand came toward me I just remember thinking "holy crap". I'm about 6' 4" and suddenly I felt like a 10 year old.
Moe's Tavern wrote:
Wilt was the man. I remember being shocked how big he was when I met him.
I didn't get to shake Wilt's had but did see, close up. He made everyone around him look tiny. Besides his athletic gifts he had this aura about him.
Another post claimed Wilt was 6th man on his cross country team. An amazing, and rare, T&F athlete.
ryan foreman wrote:
2. Nobody ever roots for Goliath. Chamberlain should deserve a lot more credit for doing a pretty good job accepting the Goliath "bad guy" role and thus helping to promote his sport. Today's athletes don't really do that. They get offended if fans don't like them.
Except, apparently, about 8567 women who decided to have sex with a giant.
Story goes he was at a party as was Jim Brown. One thing led to the next, the next you know they are talking off their shoes and heading outside. Not sure how far it was but Wilt beat Jim Brown in a race. Well Brown wasn't going for it so they raced again, Wilt wins again.
True or not...?
After leading the league in scoring for many years, he was criticized by the Press for not passing. The next year he led the league in assists. My favorite Wilt story. Has any other big man led the league in assists?
Not to mention that Wilt is the only player to score a double-triple-double in a game: 20+ points, 20+ rebounds and 20+ assists.
As a resident my wife was scrubbing a case of a vascular bypass on a middle aged woman. Before the case, she was confronted by a 7 foot tall african-American man who told her to "Treat my sister right". Her first ever meeting of the big man. The surgery, thankfully, went well. Wilt was happy and gracious to everyone.
I've always been convinced that Wilt could have been one of the greatest decathletes ever if he had stuck with track and field. Guy is easily one of the best athletes of all time and as someone else mentioned he had a great work ethic.
Junk Master wrote:
I watched him play paddle tennis at Venice Beach in his later years. He couldn't move anymore, but he'd switch the paddle from hand to hand and cover virtually the whole court.
I wish the younger generation had an appreciation for how much better of an athlete he was that Shaq (who is an amazing athlete).
One of the greatest human specimens in the history of man.
Right up there with Jim Brown, Jim Thorpe, and the Pirate Black Caesar.
Paddle Tennis isn't a sport. It's called "Paddle".
Another story that I heard last night on one of the local sports radio stations. When Wilt was in his mid-50's he played in a pick-up basketball game with a bunch of nobodies on his team vs Magic Johnson and Norm Nixon. During the course of the game Magic calls a foul on Wilt. Wilt then declared, "okay, if you're going to play that way, then I'm going to shut you down". From that point on, Wilt blocked EVERY shot that Magic or Nixon put up and easily won the pick-up game. True? Who knows, but it adds to his legend...
Junk Master wrote:
I watched him play paddle tennis at Venice Beach in his later years. He couldn't move anymore, but he'd switch the paddle from hand to hand and cover virtually the whole court.
I wish the younger generation had an appreciation for how much better of an athlete he was that Shaq (who is an amazing athlete).
One of the greatest human specimens in the history of man.
Right up there with Jim Brown, Jim Thorpe, and the Pirate Black Caesar.
Wilt is his prime would have schooled Shaq. Shaq was no amazing athlete. It's a shame the kiddies today have no clue just how great Wilt really was. Shaq had no post game, incapable of putting the ball on the floor, and a poor passer- the only thing he could do well was dunk and at the end of his career got fat and out of shape. Wilt never let his body turn to lard- unlike Shaq who now resembles the Pillsbury doughboy.
Some Wilt highlights. He had a great fadeaway jumper and finger roll. The 2nd video documents his leaping ability and shows him performing the high jump. Wilt had skills that Shaq never had.
One last thing, Wilt Chamberlain was the only player in the history of the NBA who was able to block Kareem Abdul Jabbar's sky hook. No other player ever did that. Here's the proof:
Wilt was as great as you read. I saw him play in person late in his career, he still led the NBA in rebounding in his last season despite many good centers (Abdul-Jabbar, Bob Lanier, Nate Thurmond, Willis Reed, Wes Unseld, Walt Bellamy, Dave Cowens).
Wilt was better than a 6th man in XC, he finished third in the Phila. Public League Champs in XC in the early 1950's. Wali Jones also graduated from Overbrook HS and played with Wilt on the Phila. 76ers in the 1960's. Wali WON the Phila Public League XC Champs.
Wilt had great strength and speed as well as good hands. Also, defenses in his day were allowed a lot more contact than they are now. He would be pretty much the same player if he was in his prime today, dominating guys that lacked his strength and fundamentals.
Wilt was rated as the greatest Kansas athlete of all time by Sports Illustrated, beating out another all time great ( and who I think should have been ranked first, but hey, I'm pretty biased :) )
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/gallery/featured/GAL1141598/10/10/index.htm