The legendary centre WILT Chamberlain of the NBA has passed away at the age of 63, according to his friends and former teammates.
Longtime friend and lawyer Seymour Goldberg told reporters, “We suspect at this stage it may have been a heart attack but nobody knows for sure.” Chamberlain’s body was discovered at his home in the posh Bel Air neighbourhood of Los Angeles.
“We have truly lost one of the icons of professional basketball,” Jerry West, general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers and a former teammate, remarked. Even more significantly, a person I’ve known for 40 years.
It’s a sad day for me personally. When it comes to someone of his prominence, “you simply don’t believe things like this are going to happen,” West said at a press conference.
NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement, “We have lost a giant of a man in every sense of the term.” The mark he made on our field will be hard to erase.
In recent years, West claimed, Chamberlain’s health has been deteriorating.
A hip procedure was planned for him. According to West, “he had some heart difficulties.”
How Old Was Wilt Chamberlain When He Died?
Wilt Chamberlain, one of the greatest basketball players of all time and the only player in NBA history to score 100 points in a game, passed away on March 17 at the age of 63.
A representative for the Los Angeles Lakers, John Black, confirmed that law enforcement was called to Chamberlain’s Bel-Air home around noon PDT and found the basketball legend dead inside.
Chamberlain may have suffered a heart attack, according to Jim Wells, a spokesperson for the fire department. Chamberlain, who continued to be physically active after his long-distance running career, was hospitalised in 1992 due to a heart arrhythmia.
Chamberlain, who stood at 7 feet and 1 inch, was an NBA superstar for the Philadelphia (later San Francisco) Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Los Angeles Lakers from 1959 to 1973.
Up until Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke his record in 1984, he held the record for most points scored in a career with 31,419. Chamberlain holds the record for lifetime rebounds with 23,924, and he did so despite never getting ejected from any of his 1,205 career games (including playoffs).
Quick Wilt Chamberlain facts
- Birthday: Aug. 21, 1936
- Died: Oct. 12, 1999
- Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Parents: Olivia Ruth Johnson and William Chamberlain
- Siblings: Oliver Chamberlain, Wilbert Chamberlain, Selina Gross, Yvonne Chamberlain, Margaret Lane, Barbara Lewis
- Listed height: 7-foot-1
- Listed weight: 275 pounds
- High school: Overbrook High School (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
- College: Kansas (1956-58)
- NBA draft: Round 1, Pick No. 3 in the 1959 NBA Draft (territorial selection)
- NBA team: Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers
- NBA position: Center
- NBA number: No. 13
- NBA playing career: 1958-73
- Marital status: Never married
Where did Wilt Chamberlain grow up?
Wilt Chamberlain was one of nine children born on August 21, 1936, in Philadelphia. He was the youngest of the four, and his younger sister Barbara was his closest relative.
Robert Allen Cherry said that Chamberlain Wilt almost died of pneumonia as a boy and missed a year of school in his biography of Chamberlain Wilt, Bigger Than Life, published in 2004.
As a result, from fourth grade through high school, he and Barbara were in the same grade.
Basketball wasn’t something he started doing until seventh grade. When he was 15 years old, he gained four inches in three months and was 6-foot-11 when he enrolled in Overbrook High School in Philadelphia.
Chamberlain was an athletic centre who could run the floor with anyone and played three seasons at Overbrook. He was a fierce shot blocker and a defensive threat. He scored 31 points per contest on average in his first season in 1953.
Chamberlain guided Overbrook to a 19-0 record and again another championship in 1954. The high point of his season was his 74-point performance versus Roxborough High School.
He played three games in a row with 74, 78, and 90 points in his final year at Overbrook. That year, his club only experienced one defeat while winning the Public League for the third time. Overbrook finished 56-3 overall during his three high school seasons. Over his whole high school career, Chamberlain averaged 37 points and 47 points as a senior.
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Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA career
The Philadelphia Warriors selected Chamberlain with a territorial pick in 1959 to join a Philadelphia-only starting five. Chamberlain scored 43 points and 28 rebounds against the Knicks in his NBA debut. He shot 40-40 in his third NBA game.
It was his fourth game.
Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics met the Warriors. Russell vs. Chamberlain was everyone’s dream matchup. The Celtics prevailed at the Boston Garden with Chamberlain’s 30 points and 28 rebounds. 22 points and 36 rebounds for Russell. That game foreshadowed future events.
As a rookie, Chamberlain averaged 37.6 points and 27.0 rebounds. He was MVP and Rookie of the Year that season. He was voted MVP of the first of his 13 All-Star Games.
In a loss to the Celtics in his second season, he grabbed an NBA-record 55 rebounds. He scored 34 more. Chamberlain won statistical battles against Russell, but he often lost the war. Russell won 11 titles, while he won two.
Chamberlain played 14 NBA seasons. When the Warriors moved to San Francisco, he joined them, but the Warriors traded him midway through the 1964-65 season to the 76ers. After a rough start, the Warriors traded Chamberlain to the 76ers.
Chamberlain had an unrivalled career highlight reel.
For six years, he led the NBA in scoring. 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds in his third season. Even though NBA games are 48 minutes long, he averaged 48.5 minutes.
Chamberlain’s most memorable game was the Warriors’ 169-147 win over the Knicks on March 2, 1962. In the win, the big man scored a record-setting 100 points and 25 rebounds.
He finished his career with the Los Angeles Lakers. In his first year with LA, he reached the NBA Finals, losing to the Celtics in seven games. In 1971-72, Chamberlain led the Lakers to a championship by defeating the New York Knicks in five games. Chamberlain earned Finals MVP.
11 times, Chamberlain topped the NBA in rebounding. In 1967-68, he led the NBA in assists. In 1979, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Conclusion
Friends and former teammates announced on Tuesday that Chamberlain, 63, had passed away. He was widely considered one of the finest centres in NBA history.
Longtime friend and lawyer Seymour Goldberg told reporters, “We suspect at this stage it may have been a heart attack but nobody knows for sure.” Chamberlain’s body was discovered at his home in the posh Bel Air neighbourhood of Los Angeles.
