Wilt Chamberlain may not just be a Philadelphia native but also the Ultimate Athlete.
Wilt Chamberlain would have been a trending subject all the time if he had played in the Twitter era. Pedro Gomez would have stayed at his locker every day if ESPN had been around when he was a reporter for the four-letter network, as he did when he was following Barry Bonds. (Wilt would have spoken with him; that is the only difference.)
However, Chamberlain’s fame has partially faded because he was around long before 24-hour news cycles, 140-character wisdom, first-time callers/long-time listeners, and—fortunately for him—Skip Bayless. For crying out loud, there isn’t even a video of his March 1962 100-point performance—all that exists is some shaky audio of the late Bill Campbell calling the plays.
Of course, other videos still exist, but word-of-mouth has spread most of what we know about Wilt’s prowess.
The kids like to say, “OMG.”
Now pay attention, you whippersnappers (and get off my lawn): this man may be the all-time best basketball player in addition to being the Ultimate Philly Athlete.
You say, blasphemy. Everyone is aware that Shaquille O’Neal—rather than Wilt—is the greatest big man of all time, and that Michael Jordan retired that trophy a long time ago.
I’m not claiming that one of those statements is untrue, so put your hands away from the keyboard and back away gradually. Simply put, neither is a clear-cut case. that the information must be heard, and that we must.
Do you know what Jordan’s average was throughout his career? 30.12.
Are you aware of Wilt’s? 30.07.
You know how many records Wilt currently owns or shares—16 after his passing and 42 years after his career ended? Sixty-one, as NBA.com puts it.
How many does Jordan hold? fifty-eight.
Naturally, this is where we start talking about ring-counting. Wilt only had two championships, Shaq four, and Jordan six. If that’s a gauge of individual brilliance, then, isn’t Wilt’s longtime rival Bill Russell the most equitable of them all? He had eleven championships with the Celtics, after all.
Over the course of 14 seasons, Wilt averaged over 31,000 points and over 23,000 rebounds. He started his professional career in 1959 with the Philadelphia Warriors and later played for the Sixers for three and a half seasons.
