Online NewsHour: King of the Court- December 17, 1999



	KING OF THE COURT

	December 17, 1999
	Spencer Michels remembers basketball star Wilt Chamberlain, who died yesterday in Los Angeles.

SPENCER MICHELS: He was called "the big dipper" in part for his signature move, maneuvering over and around his defender, then gently laying the ball into the basket. He was also basketball's first celebrated dunker, slamming the ball with force over his opponents. At 7'1" and 275 pounds-- though some people said he weighed more-- Wilt Chamberlain was an unstoppable giant. By some accounts, he was the most dominant basketball player ever.

WALT FRAZIER: I think he's the only superman, for sure, to ever play in the NBA, a guy that could go out and do what he wanted to do.

SPENCER MICHELS: Chamberlain was so invincible that pro basketball changed the rules, widening the lane near the basket, for example, to make it more difficult for a big man like him to score. Sportswriters nicknamed him "Wilt the Stilt," a name he detested. Wilton Norman Chamberlain grew up in Philadelphia, played basketball at Overbrook High, and attended the University of Kansas for three years, where he starred on the basketball team. He left to spend one year, 1958, with the Harlem Globetrotters, then over the next 14 years, he played for three NBA teams. First, the Philadelphia Warriors, who later moved to San Francisco, then the Philadelphia 76'ers, a team he led to an NBA championship in 1967, and finally for the LA Lakers, the team he was on for his second championship in 1972. He had the highest scoring average in a season, 50 points per game; grabbed the most career rebounds, almost 24,000; and he was one of two players, along with Kareem Abdul Jabbar, to score 30,000 career points. Astonishingly, in more than a thousand games, the Big Dipper never fouled out. Basketball fans loved the rivalry between Chamberlain and the Boston Celtics' Bill Russell. Today Russell
called Chamberlain the greatest offensive player he'd ever seen, and said "the fierceness of the competition bonded us as friends for eternity." Chamberlain had mixed feelings about his own career, in which his teams won just two NBA championships. He said he was disappointed that some people viewed him as a loser. And on his size, he said "Nobody roots for Goliath." A highlight of his career was the 100-point game he had in 1962. In his last interview, recorded in April, Chamberlain spoke of that magical game against the New York Knicks.

WILT CHAMBERLAIN: The magic only started to happen when I got into the 70s, and when I got in the stands, which was around 4,000-some-odd people, which were a lot of people back in those days in that arena. They just started chanting "We want 100."

SPENCER MICHELS: Chamberlain remembered falling asleep while riding home after the game with some New York Knicks players.

WILT CHAMBERLIN: I kind of wake up and I can hear them saying, "can you believe that SOB got 100 points on us?" And the whole conversation for an hour was them calling me names about "can you believe that SOB got 100 points against us?' So finally they dropped me off at my house first, and I got out of my car and said, "Hey fellas, thanks for the lift, and I am so sorry about that 100 points."

SPENCER MICHELS: He retired in 1973 and entered the Hall of Fame five years later. By then, parts of the NBA record book were essentially his personal scrapbook. Chamberlain received a lot of attention for his 1991 biography, in which he bragged of his sexual exploits, a boast he said later he regretted. But on the court, his legacy is indisputable.

MAGIC JOHNSON: There will never be anybody like him. They always say that about Michael, they always say that about other players, but there will never, ever be another Wilt Chamberlain.

ELIGIN BAYLOR: It's just mind-boggling to think what he accomplished as an individual, aside from winning the championships, when you look at some of the records and things he did. I don't think it will ever be duplicated.

SPENCER MICHELS: Yesterday, Wilt Chamberlain died at his Los Angeles home, possibly of a heart attack. He had been diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat; he was 63 years old.


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