Wilt Chamberlain Biography

Wilt Chamberlain was a professional basketball star and one of the most dominant centers to ever play the game.

He famously scored 100 points in a game by himself in 1962.

Chamberlain was a track athlete who showed his basketball talent in high school. At 7′ 1″, he towered over other players and was known for his strength and stamina.

A star player for the University of Kansas, Chamberlain left school in his junior year, spent a year with the Harlem Globetrotters, then signed with the Philadelphia Warriors in 1959. In his first season, the league voted him both Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player.

Chamberlain played with the Warriors for six seasons (the team moved to San Francisco in 1963), and was then traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. With them he won his first NBA championship, in 1967.

Chamberlain finished his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, winning another title in 1972 and retiring after the following season, having scored 31,419 career points.

During his career Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain set many records in points, rebounds and assists (and blocked shots, before they were officially counted).

He was voted Most Valuable Player four times and earned 11 rebounding titles (in 14 seasons). Even though he was a center, Chamberlain led the league in assists one year.

Chamberlain also played almost every minute of every game over 14 years — he averaged 45.8 minutes per game and never fouled out.

Off the court, Chamberlain wasn’t universally loved among the fans. “Nobody roots for Goliath,” he liked to say, and his public criticisms of teammates early in his career shadowed him.

After retiring from basketball, Chamberlain became an active booster for the sport of volleyball and went into business backing restaurants and other investments.

A lifelong bachelor, Chamberlain made headlines in the early 1990s for his claim that he’d had more than 20,000 women sex partners.