"But you could certainly make a strong case in his favor," he told a Texas newspaper reporter. West said he didn't know if Chamberlain was indeed the NBA's greatest ever. He reeled off head-turning times in the half mile and quarter mile, while almost reaching his own height in the high jump and doing well over 24 feet in the broad jump. In college at the University of Kansas, while serving as the mainstay of the basketball team, he was also an outstanding track athlete. But, West said, "Wilt had a great fadeaway shot, and he could shoot it over anybody." Despite his height, which some claimed might have actually been 7 feet 4 or even 7 feet 6, "he didn't just dunk the ball," West said.Ī man described as capable of holding a bowling ball in his hand, palm down, Chamberlain probably could have dunked a basketball every time, West added. "Wilt was unstoppable, no matter how many players you put on him," West was quoted as saying two years ago in a newspaper story. They were together on the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers squad that won the NBA championship. "Wilt was so dominant that it was almost a joke to watch other players play against him," said Jerry West, an NBA great who played with the towering center late in Chamberlain's career. "The shadow of accomplishment he cast over our game is unlikely ever to be matched," Stern said. "We've lost a giant of a man in every sense of the word," NBA commissioner David Stern said in a statement released last night. In all, he held more than 50 league records. Such was his control over his towering physique that he never fouled out of any of the 1,045 games in which he took the hardwood. Strong and durable, he played 47 consecutive complete games in the 1961-62 season. In his career, on his way to becoming the league's most valuable player four times, he hauled in a total of 23,924 rebounds. He set a league record of 55 rebounds in a single game.
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In his first year in the league, which was then still a stepchild of professional sports, he was credited with helping raise attendance by 23 percent. He led the league in scoring for seven seasons, retiring with 31,419 points. Indeed, it was he who scored 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a game against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962, setting an NBA record that still stands. Clippers-Golden State Warriors preseason game. One of them created a stir when he boasted in it of having slept with 20,000 women.Īlthough he played in a sport that produced superstars on the order of Bill Russell (who was his contemporary and nemesis), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who later broke his career scoring record) and the almost mythical Michael Jordan, Chamberlain did not lack for supporters who believed that he was the NBA's all-time greatest star.Įx-NBA great Elgin Baylor bows his head for a moment of silence for former teammate Wilt Chamberlain at Tuesday night's L.A. He operated a restaurant, took part in civic and charitable activities and wrote at least three books. A native of Philadelphia, he entered the league with the old Philadelphia Warriors, stayed with the team after it moved to San Francisco and was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers before ending his 14-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the early 1970s.įor years after he hung up his size-16 sneakers, he was known as an opinionated, quotable and sometimes controversial figure in the world beyond. Standing 7-feet-1, strong, dexterous and determined, Chamberlain scored points and hauled in rebounds by the tens of thousands.įor a good dozen years starting in the late 1950s, he was one of the dominant figures of the National Basketball Association, helping the game grow in publicity and attention. He was found by rescuers sent to his home in Bel-Air shortly after noon, and a fire department spokesman reported signs of a possible heart attack. Wilt Chamberlain, 63, a Herculean figure on the basketball court whose massive dimensions, intimidating personality and unprecedented point production helped him become a sports icon and cultural legend, died yesterday at his home in the Los Angeles area. In 14 NBA seasons, Wilt Chamberlain, right, had many epic battles with Boston's Bill Russell, left.
: Basketball Legend Chamberlain Dies at 63
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