Wilt Chamberlain
(1936-1999)
Hall of Fame Induction: 1979
Card Shown:
1970-71 Topps
Position: C
Height: 7’1″
bb
bb
Wilt “The Big Dipper” Chamberlain was a tremendous athlete whose strength, speed, skill, and stamina made him the greatest offensive player to ever play the game of basketball. During the 1961-62 season Wilt averaged 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds per game. He is famous for being the only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game.
Wilt was the top rebounder in the league for eleven of the fourteen seasons that he played in the NBA. Chamberlain also led the league in minutes played many times. This was a testament to the stamina that propelled Wilt to his individual and team success.
Although he is widely considered one of the best basketball players in history, his accomplishments are sometimes overshadowed by his relative (to Bill Russell and the Celtics) lack of NBA championships. Many believe that if Wilt had the talent on his teams that Russell had in Boston things would have been different.
Awards and Honors
- In his college debut for the Kansas Jayhawks Chamberlain scored 52 points in an 87-69 victory. That year he led Kansas to the 1957 NCAA title game against North Carolina where his Jayhawks lost by one point in triple overtime. Wilt was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
- During his time in the NBA, Wilt won the Rookie of the Year award, four Most Valuable Player awards, and was an All-Star thirteen times. One of his MVP awards came during his rookie season.
- Wilt won two NBA championships, one with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1967 (ending the eight-year championship reign of the Boston Celtics) and one with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1972. During that 1972 season, Chamberlain led the Lakers on a 33-game NBA winning streak that has never been matched.
- Chamberlain still holds the career record for most rebounds in the NBA with 23,924. He once grabbed 55 rebounds in a single game.
- Wilt scored 4029 points during the 1961-62 season. To put that in perspective, the player (other than Chamberlain) who has scored the next highest point total in a season is the great Michael Jordan with 3041 points in 1986-87.
Points of Interest
- Chamberlain was a tremendous athlete who starred in track and field in high school and college. At Kansas he won the Big Eight high jump competition, clearing the bar at 6’6″.
- In high school Wilt used to dunk his free throws. He would jump from behind the free throw line and dunk the ball. In 1956 the NCAA (and later the NBA) banned free throw dunks in response to rumors about this Chamberlain tactic. Players are now required to remain behind the plane of the free-throw line when they shoot.
- Chamberlain never once fouled out of a game during his fourteen-year NBA career.
- Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell engaged in one of the most prominent rivalries in the history of sports during their NBA careers.
- Later in his career, when he was asked to distribute the ball more, Wilt led the NBA in assists in 1967-68 with 702.
- On March 2, 1962 in Hershey, Pennsylvania Wilt scored 100 points against the New York Knicks, setting a record that may never be broken. He also scored 50 or more points 118 times during his career.
- In 1996 Wilt Chamberlain was selected to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Statistics
Wilt Chamberlain Statistics
provided by Basketball-Reference.com