Taken out of context, the anecdotes floating around about Wilt Chamberlain don’t make a whole lot of sense. Stories of a God-like player, bigger, stronger, and faster than everyone else. What he did on the court was legendary, but what he did off it was often more amazing.
Here are 16 true stories about Wilt Chamberlain:
The “sOAZ Teleport”
Paul "sOAZ" Boyer is known as the Top Laner who cheats death - appreciated for his Teleport escapes (Most famous one being against SK Telecom T1 in 2015 World Championship semifinals).
100 Points
On March 2, 1962, Wilt scored 100 points against the Knicks, shooting 36 for 63 from the field and 28 of 32 from the foul line. It's an NBA record that will never be broken. (Image source: Wikipedia)
The “Turtle Flash”
For all those moments you flash in to secure a kill and end up dying in the process - the Turtle Flash by any other name. Jason "WildTurtle" Tran has a tendency to go "wild" when he gets bored, flashing into the enemy base for 1 kill during the LCS with no way out.
Clyde Lovellette
"I do remember a story about Wilt getting in a fight with Clyde Lovellette, a huge hulking guy who was infamous as a hatchet man in the 1950s and 60s (he was like the Laimbeer of 30 years earlier). Lovellette was hacking Wilt, elbowing him in the back etc. etc and finally Wilt said 'F*ck this' and cold-cocked Lovellette (6-9 and about 300) with one punch." (Image source: WIBW)
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The “Xmithie”
A legacy the Counter Logic Gaming Jungler would rather not own. Jake "Xmithie" Puchero's Sejuani ultimates against Team Liquid in a crucial LCS match were so bad, he cost his team the entire game.
Strength
Several years after Wilt stopped playing, he toyed with the idea of a comeback. On the day he visited the Knicks' offices in Madison Square Garden, he talked to Red Holzman, then strode out to the elevator. When it opened, two deliverymen were struggling with a dolly piled high with boxes of office supplies, mostly letterheads and envelopes. The load was so heavy, the elevator had stopped maybe four inches below the floor level and now the deliverymen were huffing and puffing, but they couldn't raise the dolly high enough to get it on the floor level. After maybe two minutes of the deliverymen's huffing and puffing, Wilt, his biceps bulging in a tank top, peered down at them and intoned, "Gentlemen, maybe I can help." They stepped back, he stepped into the elevator, grabbed each end of the rope slung under the dolly and without much exertion, quickly lifted the dolly onto the floor level. Looking up in awe, the deliverymen said, "Thank you." Wilt said, "You're welcome." Wilt stepped into the elevator and rode down to the street level as another witness followed the two deliverymen toward the Knick offices and asked, "How much does all this weigh?" They quickly surveyed the stack of big boxes of office supplies. "Close to 600 pounds," one said. (Image source: Inside Hoops)
Magic Johnson
On a summer day in the early 1980s, when Brown was coaching at UCLA, Chamberlain showed up at Pauley Pavilion to take part in one of the high-octane pickup games that the arena constantly attracted. "Magic Johnson used to run the games and he called a couple of chintzy fouls and a goaltending on Wilt. So Wilt said, 'There will be no more layups in this gym,' and he blocked every shot after that. That's the truth, I saw it. He didn't let one [of Johnson's] shots get to the rim." - Former UCLA coach Larry Brown (Image source: Pinterest)
The “Brokenshard”
Ram "Brokenshard" Djemal is infamous for being executed as he attempted to take his red buff against Evil Geniuses. Now every time a Jungler dies to his own camps, players fondly recall Brokenshard's embarrassment.
The “xPeke Backdoor”
Perhaps the most watched moment in competitive League of Legends - the iconic moment from the then Fnatic Mid Laner is now the benchmark for players attempting to single-handedly end the game.
The “Cpt Jack QSS”
A devastating AD Carry in his prime, Kang "Cpt Jack" Hyung-woo will be best remembered for the precious timing on his cleanse abilities.
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Women
According to Rod Roddewig, a contemporary of Wilt's, the 20,000 number was created when he and Chamberlain were staying in Chamberlain's penthouse in Honolulu during the mid-1980s. He and Chamberlain stayed at the penthouse for 10 days, over the course of which he recorded everything on his Daytimer. For every time Chamberlain went to bed with a different girl he put a check in his daytimer. After those 10 days there were 23 checks in the book, which would be rate of 2.3 women per day. He divided that number in half, to be conservative and to correct for degrees of variation. He then multiplied that number by the number of days he had been alive at the time minus 15 years. That was how the 20,000 number came into existence. (Image source: The Big Lead)
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Source: Twitter
Gus Johnson
"It was Gus against Wilt. Gus went in to dunk, and Wilt caught the ball, threw Gus to the floor, and they had to take Gus off the floor with a dislocated shoulder." - Billy Cunningham via The Philadelphia Enquirer (Image source: ESPN)
Standing 7’1 and weighing 300 pounds by the end of his career, Wilt routinely did things unthinkable for anyone else in the league. He had a season where he averaged 50 points a game. Another season where averaged 27 rebounds per night.
There has never been a player like Wilt. Sadly, he succumbed to a heart condition in 1999 at the age of 63. No longer with us physically, his memories endure; his legacy etched into the sports lexicon as the greatest athlete we’ve ever seen.
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