Wilt Chamberlain
1936 — 1999 · Center of the Philadelphia Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers from 1959 to 1973; scorer of one hundred points in a single NBA game on the second of March 1962
Wilton Norman Chamberlain was born on the twenty-first of August 1936 in Philadelphia, the sixth of nine children of William Chamberlain, a handyman and welder, and Olivia Ruth Johnson Chamberlain, who did domestic work. Raised in the Haddington section of West Philadelphia, the boy grew to extraordinary height, and by the time he starred at Overbrook High School he was already a citywide phenomenon, leading his teams to championship after championship.
After a celebrated career at the University of Kansas and a season barnstorming with the Harlem Globetrotters, Chamberlain entered the professional ranks in 1959 with the Philadelphia Warriors, a franchise that would relocate to San Francisco. On the second of March 1962, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, he scored one hundred points in a single game against the New York Knicks — a mark that has never been equaled and that stands among the most storied feats in the history of sport.
He went on to play for the Philadelphia 76ers, with whom he won a championship in 1967, and then the Los Angeles Lakers, winning again in 1972 before retiring in 1973. Across his career he set records for scoring and rebounding that endure, and he remains the only player to average more than fifty points across a full season.
Wilt Chamberlain died on the twelfth of October 1999 in Los Angeles, at the age of sixty-three. A figure of singular power and grace, he reshaped his game and left a record that time has not diminished. May his greatness be remembered with the honor it earned.
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