Wilt Chamberlain Stories

Wilt Chamberlain (August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) played for the Philadelphia/ San Francisco Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Before he was in the NBA he played college ball at the University of Kansas and he was also a Globetrotter. He holds numerous records in the NBA and will forever be one of the best centers to ever play the game.

Now let's get into some of these unbelievable stories.

He could snatch a quarter off the top of the backboard.

"I defy anyone to say they took change off the top of the backboard," Chamberlain said. "I could. Someone would put a quarter up and I'd snatch it down." This is insane. Anyone who has ever played the game of basketball knows how high that is. Not only that, but the NBA had to implement a rule for Wilt's jumping ability.

Vertical Leap

Wilt Chamberlain said, "My sergeant [vertical leap] was higher than Michael Jordan's. When I went to Kansas, they had a 12-foot basket in the gym, because Dr. Phog Allen was advocating the 12-foot basket. I used to dunk on that basket. It was an effort, but I could do it." That is incredible.

Lifting 600 lbs

As Wilt came to the elevators at the New York Knicks' offices he came across two deliverymen that were struggling with a dolly piled high with boxes. Supposedly, the load was so heavy that the elevator stopped four inches below the floor level. Well, they couldn't get the dolly onto the main floor and Wilt walked over there and was like, "let me help you guys out." He walks into the elevator and picks up the dolly and places it onto the ground. Wilt rode the elevator down to the street and a witness asked the deliverymen how much the load weighed and one of them replied, "Close to 600 pounds."

Faster Than Running Backs

Apparently, Wilt and the great Jim Brown got into an argument one night at a party. They both went outside with their shoes off and the raced. Wilt won and Jim didn't appreciate it. So, they raced again and Wilt won... again.

Walter Bellamy

Walter entered the NBA in 1961 and became a star. He was averaging like 30 points a game. The first time he played Wilt they both met at half court and Bellamy said, "Hello, Mr. Chamberlain. I'm Walter Bellamy." Wilt then replied with, "Hello, Walter. You won't get a shot off in the first half." Turns out Wilt wasn't lying. He rejected 9 shots of Bellamy's in the first half. When the second half began Wilt walked over to Bellamy and said, "Okay, Walter. Now you can play."

Demigod

Dan Issel said this about Wilt, "As I grew up, Wilt the Stilt was the player. Just the things he was able to do. I guess one year they told him he couldn't make as much money as he wanted because he couldn't pass the ball, so he went out and led the league in assists." He led the league in assists during the 1967-68 season. He is still the only center to ever lead the league in assists. Talk about a guy that could do it all.

K.C. Jones

K.C. was a former Boston Celtics guard that weighed about 200 pounds. He once got in an "altercation" with Wilt and he said this, "He stopped me dead in my tracks with his arm, hugged me and lifted me off the floor with my feet dangling. It scared the hell out of me. When I went to the free-throw line, my legs were still shaking. Wilt was the strongest guy and best athlete ever to play the game."

Paul Silas

Paul was 6'7" and weighed about 235 pounds. He was reported as to saying, "One time, when I was with Boston and he was with the Lakers, Happy Hairston and I were about to get in a scrape. All of a sudden, I felt an enormous vise around me. I was 6'7", 235, and Wilt had picked me up and turned me around. He said, 'We're not going to have that stuff.' I said, 'Yes sir.'"

Harlem Globetrotters Go to Russia

This is told by Dr. Stan Lorber, a team doctor. He said, "On the trip to Russia with the Harlem Globetrotters, we were in Lenin Stadium, and they assigned a dressing room to the team. The players were getting dressed for one of their games. They were in rather close quarters. Remember, these were young kids-Wilt was 23. The others were his age. They were like kittens. You bump me, I'll bump you back. And before you know it, two of the guys set on Wilt. They started playfully pushing and shoving him. And finally one of his teammates hit Wilt a little too hard. He took these two guys, twisted each of their shirts, and lifted both of them off the ground. Each of these guys weighed over 200 pounds. It looked like he had two little crackers in his hands. I thought he was going to hit their heads together. It was an amazing demonstration of strength."

Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain

Wilt actually didn't like being called "Wilt the Stilt." Later on in his life, he apparently said, "No one liked Goliath." Not only that but he also had a huge heart and would let "cousins" into his games all of the time and actually gave Al Attles, his old teammate, his 100 point game ball and on it was inscribed, "To Al, who did everything right at the wrong time." This made me sad. Rest in peace, Wilt.

Pick-up Games

Wilt would routinely play pick-up games with Elgin Baylor during the off-season in 1957. He also played a game against Magic Johnson and Norm Nixon during his mid-40s. On Wilt's team was your typical "park players." Apparently Magic called a non-foul and Wilt said, "Okay, if you're going to play that way, then I'm going to shut you down." Wilt blocked ALL shots put up by Magic and Norm from that point on.

20,000 Women

Wilt declared in his book that he slept with thousands upon thousands of women but the number 20,000 actually comes from Rod Roddewig, a contemporary of Wilt's. They stayed in Wilt's penthouse in Honolulu in the 1980s for 10 days and every time Wilt would sleep with new girl Rod would put a check mark in his planner. When those 10 days were up he had 23 check marks in his planner. This would be about 2.3 women a day. So, Rod did some math. He divided 2.3 in half then he multiplied that by the number of days that Wilt had been alive at that time minus 15 years. That's how the 20,000 number came to be.

Changing Tires

Apparently, while working at a hotel as a bellhop, when people would pull in with a flat tire and they didn't have a jack he would just casually just walk behind the car and pick that end of the car up.

Are we sure Wilt isn't the Hulk? Anyways, these are some of the stories that I have found. If there are any more that I should add, just let me know. Rest in peace, Wilt, one of the best to ever do it.

Works Cited

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/2e6shs/compilation_of_wilt_chamberlain_stories/

https://www.ranker.com/list/crazy-wilt-chamberlain-stories/jacob-shelton