Section B·Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, December 2, 1999
kansas millennium athlete No.1
Chamberlain changed the game forever
Wilt Chamberlain speaks to the crowd at Allen Fieldhouse on January means to be part of this tradition, Rock Chalk Jayhawk, were his final 17, 1998, the day his jersey was retired. "Now I know what it really words to the crowd." KANSAN file photo
Continued from page 1B
From College to the Century Mark While Chamberlain's numbers as a Jayhawk certainly were impressive, he no doubt was remembered more for his stellar professional career.
What was best for Wilt was winning. When he finally was able to compete with the varsity squad, Chamberlain dumped in 52 points and ripped down 31 rebounds in his first varsity game, a win against Northwestern. In his two varsity seasons at Kansas, the Jayhawks won 42 games and lost only eight.
During his NBA career, from 1959 to 1973, Chamberlain scored 31,419 points, an NBA record until 1984 when it was broken by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and grabbed a record 23,924 rebounds while playing for three different teams — the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers.
It is his NBA statistics that prompt people to label him the NBA's best player ever. Included among those people is Chamberlain's former teammate Bob Billings.
Chamberlain was at Kansas for three years and earned two varsity letters. He led Kansas to a national championship game and left as the school's leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 29.9 points per game and 18.9 rebounds — both Kansas records and near the top of the NCAA record books. In 1958, Chamberlain opted to leave Kansas and joined the basketball traveling show known as the Harlem Globetrotters. His stint with the Globetrotters, however, was short-lived, as he was a competitor at heart.
"I think he is the greatest basketball player of all time," Billings said. "And his record and statistics would tend to prove that. Bill Russell has no NBA records, Michael Jordan has three and Wilt has 56, so I think that says something about the player he was."
Chamberlain's 56 NBA records could be the most impressive component of his resume, but one of those records may be the most remembered — the night he scored 100 points in a single game.
This feat, which he accomplished in 1962 with the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks, is often at the top of the debates about untouchable records.
Chamberlain's other records, too numerous to name and too impressive to be forgotten, cement his place in the history of the game of basketball. And how fitting. Here was a man who a attended school where the game's founder, Dr. James A. Naismith, coached. And this man had almost an equal effect on the game as inventing it did.
With his playing career behind him, Chamberlain expanded his horizons. He learned to speak 15 languages, took saxophone lessons and called friends and family to discuss philosophy. At the time of his death, his sister Barbara said that Chamberlain was always a family man as well. Also, shortly after Chamberlain's death, his longtime friend and attorney, Sy Goldberg, spoke about Chamberlain's diversity.
he was the brightest, most intelligent man I've ever known."
When Chamberlain's NBA career had ended, he was the owner of two world championships, four Most Valuable Player awards, and he walked away having led the league in scoring for seven straight seasons and rebounding for 11 seasons. In 1978, he was inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
With enough records to fill a small book and enough hobbies to keep a thousand men busy, Chamberlain's life still had a void.
Return to Lawrence
Chamberlain spent much of his professional career and life thereafter harboring hard feelings and sad memories of Lawrence. The era during which he attended Kansas was a racially sensitive time, and Chamberlain often found himself on the raw end of several racist experiences. That, coupled
"He was really a man for all seasons," Goldberg said. "In my opinion,
with the haunting memory of the 1957 national championship game when North Carolina beat Kansas 54-53 in triple overtime kept Chamberlain away.
"He was terribly disappointed in the loss," Waugh said. "After they lost the championship game, his disappointment was very deep-seated."
"It was very gratifying because he had some very strong feelings about the people of Lawrence and was impressed that so many people cared about him back here," Waugh said.
So deep-seated in fact, that it took him 23 years to come to terms with what he later called the biggest disappointment of his life.
Chamberlain's return to Lawrence filled the void in his life that stemmed from those hard feelings and sad memories. As he stood at center-court in an arena where he once dazzled fans and dominated opponents, Chamberlain again lived up to his larger-than-life standards and healed his own personal wounds.
Waugh agreed with Williams and said that the warm reception surprised Chamberlain.
With tears in his eyes and a look of satisfaction on his face, Chamberlain addressed the Allen Fieldhouse crowd. The fact that it would be the last time he would speak to Kansas fans was, of course, unknown to anyone but fate, but how fitting that fate allowed his final words to touch so deep and ring so loud — "Now I know what it really means to be a part of this tradition, Rock Chalk Jayhawk."
But with enough time, even the deepest wounds can be healed. And in 1998, more than two decades after Chamberlain left Lawrence, he returned to be honored by fans of an already rich tradition — Kansas basketball.
On January 17, 1998, Chamberlain took part in a ceremony to officially retire his Kansas jersey. He returned to a place where he had arrived 43 years earlier amidst a racist climate. Here was a place he had left early because of his frustration, and here was a place he thought resented him forever for losing that game.
"That day, I saw almost a cleansing of the fact that he had not been back." Kansas coach Roy Williams said of Wilt's return.
Edited by Allan Davis
EVERYTHING BUT ICE BEDS·DESKS·BOOK CASES CHEST OF DRAWERS unclaimed freight & damaged merchandise 936 Mass.
Something New & A Taste of Home Now Open!
- Serving Johnson County for over 5 years
* One of the nation's top 6 Indian restaurants
* *** Kansas City Star
* *** The Sun
India Palace
Authentic Indian Cuisine
Authentic Indian Cuisine
129 E. 10th Street · 331-4300
HyperMCAT
JOIN OUR TEAM!
The Department of Student Housing Dining Services employs part of the largest student work force on campus.
- Opportunity to meet new friends
WHY SHOULD YOU WORK WITH US?
- Gain valuable work experience
- Locations convenient to campus housing
- Flexible schedules
- Starting pay $6.00 an hour
- Scholarship opportunities
- Special deal on meals available
Call or stop by any of our Dining Centers for an application.
Ekdahl Dining 864-2260 Oliver Dining 864-4087 GSP Dining 864-3120
FUN & CASH