Talk:Wilt Chamberlain
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[edit] Greatest athlete in history
Wilt Chamberlain is arguably the greatest athlete in history. A remarkable gifted all-around athlete, Chamberlain gained his fame as the most dominant basketball player ever, but was actually better at track and field. Wilt, known better as "The Big Dipper" than the annoying Wilt the Stilt, won his first championship in sports when he was just 15. Already 6'9" and very athletic, Chamberlain's local Philadelphia AAU team won the AAU National Championship with Wilt as the starting center, often against college-age opponents. Became the first high school player to gain near-national media coverage as far away as Chicago. Over seven-feet and black, Wilt would not get the fame others would get in later years, but his high school games often drew as many as 10,000 spectators. Wilt accepted a combination track-basketball scholarship to the University of Kansas in 1954. He had set several Pennsylvania state track and field records in events as diverse as the shot put and the 110 hurdles, an incredible set of feats. Literally a one-man team with little quality help at Kansas, Wilt carried Kansas to an undefeated season as a sophomore, his first season of varsity eligibility. Games of 40 points, 30 rebounds, 15 blocks, and 6 assists were routine for the young center. A clear embarrassment to college ball, the white-dominated game of that era allowed Wilt to suffer more than a little physical abuse on the court. A fistfight was something Wilt could expect to be in nearly every game. The one-man team finally lost in triple overtime to North Carolina in the NCAA Final. Wilt was engaged in three fights in that game. Clearly the dominant player of 1955, Wilt watched North Carolina forward Lenny Rosenbluth be named player of the NCAA Tournament, an insult he never forgot. Things changed little for Wilt as a junior, and a dispirited angry Wilt left school to join the Harlem Globetrotters in 1956. Often playing against NBA centers in exhibitions with the Trotters, Wilt clearly showed he was the best player in the world, and he was signed by the Philadelphia Warriors in 1959. His next six seasons are the stuff of legend, being asked by Warriors owner Eddie Gottlieb to score as much as possible to sell tickets. The NBA's best team, the Boston Celtics boasted seven future Hall of Famers and coach Red Auerbach. Even Wilt could not defeat that. Still, the 7'2" 270lbs. Wilt showed himself to be the greatest scorer, rebounder, and shot blocker in the history of the sport. Wilt moved with the team to San Fransisco in 1964, but Philly fans clammered for his return until a trade to the new Philadelphia 76ers was made in 1966. The 76ers (the former Syracuse Nationals ), had a solid core of stars such as Dolph Schayes, Hal Greer, and Chet Walker. In 1967, they also drafted future All-Pro Billy Cunningham, giving Wilt the talent he needed to rival the Boston stars for a title run. In 1968, the 76ers went 68-13 to beat the Celtics and the Warriors for the NBA Title many jeeringly said Wilt could not win. He also became the only center to lead the league in assists. Shooting less, he still scored over 30 points per game while making over 66% of his shots, an incredible feat. Now satisfied as a player, Wilt, who had designs on Hollywood, joined the Los Angeles Laker team that already had legends Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. The team would give Wilt his second title in 1972. In 1975, Wilt retired from basketball to form the Association of Volleyball Professionals as it's president, star and coach of it's San Diego franchise. Still able to jump amazingly well, Wilt could literally put his waist above the league's regualtion eight-foot net. A powerful weightlifter as well, Wilt was once filmed benchpressing 500 lbs. with his long arms, an amazing feat. Wilt had also flirted with pro boxing and football in the 1960's, astounding those present with his incredible abilities. More famous for his social dating exploits than these other sports, the sensitive giant never married so that his children would not have to grow up in the klieglights of the media. Wilt received offers to unretire as late as 1990. He awed NBA players thru the 1980's with his still-present ability in scrimmages. When he died in 1999, the seven-footer had become ill after training to run a marathon. It's highly unlikely we will see another athlete of Wilt's caliber for decades to come.
[edit] Promiscuity
Shouldn't there be something in the article about the oft-repeated claim that he bedded over 1000 women? Matt gies 05:30, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)
- I've heard versions of this too, and even if it's an urban legend, it deserves mention. Anyone know anything? Meelar 17:57, 14 May 2004 (UTC)
In his book he said he had about 20,000 women
[edit] Place in history
Uh, anyone else see the claims of such and such of "all time" as ridiculous? Seeing as, oh, Iunno, all time can't be accounted for as of yet? I changed one or two sentences to that effect[notably the one saying Bill Russell was the best defensive of player of all time], as this sounded like a fan page rather than any sort of encyclopedic entry. Also, arguments that support any contention of greatest anything should be viewed with only the greatest suspicion; the sentences under "greatest basketball player of all time" should illustrate a general idea of both sides or general ideas concerning the subject, not suddenly declare that, actually, there is no real argument, he is the most dominate player of all time. It also seems especially ridiculous considering that recent 81 pt game by Kobe, meaning that it's very possible and likely that he isn't in fact the most anything of all time.
--russ.
[edit] POV
Changed a lot of the "greatest ever" section to make it less ridiculously POV. Most especially, deleted:
- Celtics forward Tom Heinsohn confessed that his team used dirty tricks to stop him, by abusing him with a flurry of hard fouls, wearing him down and exploiting his only weakness (weak foul shooting) by an early version of the Hack-a-Shaq. Considering that that Celtics team featured seve' Hall of Famers at times, and still had to resort to these tactics to stop one player, says a lot.
Following the link referenced, what Heinsohn said was simply that the Celtics fouled Chamberlain a lot because foul shots were his weakness, and as a result that Chamberlain wound up taking a lot of hard fouls. Characterizing that statement as "confessed that his team used dirty tricks" is absurdly POV. 65.88.178.10 23:20, 7 February 2006 (UTC)
I also feel that the article is rather NPOV in places, but I don't feel up to making the edits myself as I'm pretty new to the whole wikipedia thing. But there's a lot of biased, fannish wording throughout the article that could use revision, I think. Errick 08:42, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Nickname He Hated
Is there some sort of source for this? It doesn't sound that verifiable, especially without a source. 209.33.36.146 02:04, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
- I don't have it handy, but if memory serves, he actually wrote in his autobiography that he hated that nickname. Mwelch 02:18, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Rife with POV
Wow. I think it would be hard to find any article in Wikipedia, outside of Balkan politics, that is more overrun with point-of-view arguments. I mean, just look at the subheadings: "Greatest Basketball Player of All Time?" (Why the "?"? Either he was or he wasn't, as a fact, but no, all we have is opinion, backed up by minutiae and bar talk. Every idiot's opinion too, it seems.); "Personal life" (what other athlete in the Whole Wide World of Sports gets this People Magazine-style treatment?); "Retired jerseys", evidently treated as some kind of stat: say what? Like they're some holy relics, 'cause they soaked up his sweat. And what dictionary has this word "ardrorous"? Very truly yours, an admitted Wilt fan, waiting for the next boob to insert some tiny little factoid or fictoid ...--BillFlis 01:40, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Miscellaneous Quotes
I'm just posting some miscellaneous Wilt Chamberlain related quotes (with sources) that I collected a few years ago . . . they may be of some interest to NBA basketball history buffs, and perhaps some of the contributors to this article may find support for their arguments here.
1. "What's unfortunate is that most people regard the great leapers as being only the short guys who could dunk," said the 7-1 1/16 [Wilt Chamberlain]. "My sergeant [vertical leap] was higher than [Michael Jordan]'s. When I went to Kansas, they had a 12-foot basket in the gym, because Dr. Phog Allen was advocating the 12-foot basket. I used to dunk on that basket. It was an effort, but I could do it." [Source: The Leaping Legends of Basketball, The Los Angeles Times; Feb 12, 1989; Scott Ostler]
2. Wilt Chamberlain claims that his sergeant, during his prime, was "46 to 48 inches, easy." [Source: The Leaping Legends of Basketball, The Los Angeles Times; Feb 12, 1989; Scott Ostler]
3. Legends abound of the truly great leapers who could touch the top of the board. Almost always the feat involves money-claims that the player could grab a dollar bill off the top of the board, or could pluck off a quarter and leave two dimes and a nickel change. Spencer Haywood, for one, claims to have been to the top.
"I defy anyone to say they took change off the top of the backboard," Chamberlain said. "I could. Someone would put a quarter up and I'd snatch it down. I've heard stories about Jackie Jackson doing it, but I've never seen anyone (but himself) come close."
Sonny Hill, a Philadelphia leaping legend of the '60s, backs Wilt, saying, "The only man that's been to the top, that's Wilt. I asked Kareem if he ever did, and he could jump a little bit. He told me, `Sonny, no.' "
Nissalke tells of an informal leaping contest between second-year man Kareem, who then was Lew Alcindor, and Milwaukee forward Don Smith, who now is Zaid Abdul-Aziz. "They were trying to touch the top of the board," Nissalke said. "They took about 10 jumps each. Kareem came the closest. He was about a foot from the top."
Mitch Kupchak witnessed a similar jump-off among 6-4 David Thompson, 6-9 Marvin Barnes and 7-4 Tom Burleson. "David came the closest," Kupchak said. "He was six or eight inches away."
4. "When I was a freshman, I fooled around with shooting free throws this way: For some reason, I thought you had to stay within the top half of that free-throw circle, so I would step back to just inside the top of the circle, take off from behind the line and dunk. They outlawed that, but I wouldn't have done it in a game, anyway. I was a good free throw shooter in college."
Actually he was a 62% free throw shooter, which is poor except in comparison to his 51% as a pro. [Source: The Leaping Legends of Basketball, The Los Angeles Times; Feb 12, 1989; Scott Ostler]
5. Of all his memories of Wilt Chamberlain, the one that stood out for Larry Brown happened long after Chamberlain's professional career had ended. 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," Brown recalled Tuesday after hearing that Chamberlain, his friend, had died at 63, "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."
Chamberlain would have been in his mid-40s at the time, and he remained in top physical shape until recently. [Source: Giant Towered Over the Rest, The Los Angeles Times; Oct 13, 1999; Larry Stewart]
6. Darrall Imhoff, who as a 6-foot-10 rookie center for the New York Knicks had the misfortune of guarding Chamberlain during his 100-point game in 1962, said, "I spent 12 years in his armpits, and I always carried that 100-point game on my shoulders.
"After I got my third foul, I said to one of the officials, Willy Smith, 'Why don't you just give him 100 points and we'll all go home?' Well, we did."
Two nights later, at Madison Square Garden, Chamberlain tried to go for the century mark again. But Imhoff held him to 54 points. The fans gave Imhoff a standing ovation.
"He was an amazing, strong man," Imhoff said. "I always said the greatest record he ever held wasn't 100 points, but his 55 rebounds against Bill Russell. Those two players changed the whole game of basketball. The game just took an entire step up to the next level." [Source: Giant Towered Over the Rest, The Los Angeles Times; Oct 13, 1999; Larry Stewart]
7. In Denver, Nugget Coach Dan Issel said, "As I grew up, Wilt the Stilt was the player. Just the things he was able to do. I guess one year they told him he couldn't make as much money as he wanted because he couldn't pass the ball, so he went out and led the league in assists.
"Watching Wilt, you always kind of got the idea he was just playing with people. That he was on cruise control and still 10 times better than anybody else that was playing at that time." [Source: Giant Towered Over the Rest, The Los Angeles Times; Oct 13, 1999; Larry Stewart]
8. Former NBA center and Chicago Bull coach Johnny "Red" Kerr, who played part of one season in Philadelphia with Wilt and against him for six-plus years, said, "He was the NBA. He was the guy on the top. Wilt was the guy you talked about--he and Bill Russell. He was the most dominating center--the best center to ever play in the NBA." [Source: Giant Towered Over the Rest, The Los Angeles Times; Oct 13, 1999; Larry Stewart]
9. In 1982, when he was 45 and Philadelphia 76er owner Harold Katz was hot after him, the Houston Chronicle's George White asked Elvin Hayes if Chamberlain could still play. "Some things about Wilt, you never forgot," Hayes said. "He was such an awesome physical specimen. To go up under Wilt Chamberlain, to be down there and look up at him when he's towering up over you waiting to dunk, was a terrifying picture. To see him poised up there, knowing he was about to sweep down with that big jam . . . that must be the most frightening sight in sports. The ball goes shooting through the net and you better have your body covered up because he could really hurt someone. I was scared. Everyone was scared when he got that look in his eye, that don't-try-to-stop-this look that he got when he really wanted it. . . .
"I think Russell realized there was no way he could have stopped Wilt if he had been fully intent on making it a two-man game. No one who ever put on a uniform could have done it. When I played him, I kept this foremost in my mind: Above all, don't make him mad. Don't embarrass him. You wanted to keep him quiet as long as possible." [Source: Larger Than Life, The Los Angeles Times; Oct 13, 1999; Mark Heisler]
10. 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. [Source: The Good Natured Giant Wasn't Belligerent, Sports of the Times; Oct 13, 1999; Dave Anderson]
11. "I just remember he was dominating, a scoring machine, unstoppable," Walt Frazier, the Knicks' Hall of Famer, said. "The guy looked indestructible. He was such a physical specimen, I never thought something like this would happen to him at 63.
"His legacy is comical. When you read about his records, it makes you laugh. He has records that are just remarkable. I don't care if he was 10 feet tall, the things that he did. I think the season he averaged 50, he averaged almost 30 rebounds, something incredible like that." [Source: Giants of Game Mourning Loss of Biggest Giant of All, The New York Times; Oct 13, 1999; Mike Wise]
12. Years ago, teams could pass the ball over the backboard or take a running start when attempting a foul shot. The former was outlawed because Chamberlain would use the backboard as a screen, cherry-picking passes and converting them into layups; the latter was banned after Chamberlain took a running start, leapt from the foul line and dunked the ball. Yes, Chamberlain dunked foul shots. And that was long before Julius Erving or Brent Barry did it (while stepping on the line in the process) in exhibitions. [Source: Until His Dying Day, Wilt was Invincible, Associated Press; Oct 13, 1999; Chris Sheridan]
13. Connie Hawkins on Wilt: "The first time I met Wilt, we played in a high school game in Brooklyn and he came to watch me play. That was the first time I saw him, and everybody was talking about this guy, Wilt Chamberlain, from Philly. I finally saw him and I couldn't believe how tall the guy was. His nickname was "Wilt the Stilt," and his legs were like the size of my body. When I first met him, I was in high school and I was like 6-2 or 6-3, and he was the biggest man I'd ever seen in my life. I couldn't believe how big he was. That was my first experience.
"My first time playing against him was in the Rucker Tournament. We used to play during the summer time all the time. I've told this story before, about the team from Brooklyn playing the team from New York. I was with the team from Brooklyn and Wilt used to play with the team from New York.
"We had a guy by the name of Jackie Jackson who used to play on our basketball team and he was one of those guys who could jump real high. Well, Wilt used to always have this favorite shot where he would jump and shoot high off the backboard and it would go in. So, we figured out a play in the school yard. We said we were going to overplay him and let him shoot that fade-away jump shot, Jackie would come from the other side of the court and back then you could trap it on the backboard. So we decided we were going to do that.
"It came down, they passed it into Wilt, I overplayed Wilt, he turned around to shoot it, Jackie came from the other side and he went up and blocked it. It was like two or three feet above the top of the basket and he blocked it and everybody just went crazy. Everybody was yelling and screaming and we were running around. Back then we didn't give high fives, so I guess we were doing low fives. Everybody was slapping hands. And this was in the school yards, where the projects were, and people were just hollering and screaming and the place was packed. I turned around and looked and Wilt was just staring at us like this (Hawk glares). He called time out and everybody was still hollering and screaming, but I was focused on Wilt. He just kept staring.
"After the time out was over with, Wilt came up with the next 30 shots and they were nothing but dunk shots. He dunked it every way you could go. In the school yards, they have the baskets with no nets on them. And one time, he dunked the ball so hard, the ball went through the basket, hit the ground and it went over the 15-foot fence. Somebody went to go get the ball and when they brought the ball back, the basket was still shaking. That's how strong this guy was. He was just a dominating guy.
"It's really ironic. I think about it and I don't think people realize just how great he really was. You hear guys talking about Michael Jordan and all these folks, but they really refuse to accept the fact that when you look at the record books, he has some records that will never be broken. [Source: Thoughts on Wilt, NBA.com; 1999]
14. ... former Celtics guard K.C. Jones remembered his casual run-in with Wilt.
"He stopped me dead in my tracks with his arm, hugged me and lifted me off the floor with my feet dangling," Jones said. "It scared the hell out of me. When I went to the free-throw line, my legs were still shaking. Wilt was the strongest guy and best athlete ever to play the game. [Source: Goliath's Wonderful Life, Hoop Magazine; May 1999; Chris Ekstrand]
-- Myasuda
[edit] Expansion of his pre-Laker years
I believe Wilt's Phillidelphia career Warriors/76'ers needs to be expanded. He only played 5 seasons in LA yet it has twice as much article coverage as the above two teams which comprised his first 9 seasons.--Duhon
[edit] Multiple sports?
The category "Sportspeople of multiple sports" has been added to this article. Which other sport did Chamberlain practice professionally? - ChaChaFut 01:52, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
Wilt played professional volleyball for several seasons after retiring from basketball. --Roger Williams 11:32, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
The quote "Chamberlain was the only basketball player to ever block one of Abdul-Jabbar's "sky-hook" shots" is incorrect. I have seen 1970s video footage of Kareem having his sky hook blocked by an unknown defender.
[edit] Failed GA
I would like to see this an GA but it needs much work
- The lead section is too short per WP:LEAD
- Image problem, the only image is an book cover and that violates WP:FU because it doesn't show the book in question
- Few refs, many are not formatted, Lots of citation needed tags
- Needs a strong copyedit, lots of stubby paragraphs, listy, some repeated info
- Trivia sections are an big no-no, merge what ever encyclopedic parts to the article or remove
There is more work but this would do for now Jaranda wat's sup 01:30, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Draft year
This Sporting News article, written in 1955, says he was drafted right out of high-school in 1955. He turned pro in 1959, after his college class graduated, which was the rule at the time.--BillFlis 19:40, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
- I guess it depends on what you consider to be "drafted". The Warriors claimed territorial draft rights on him straight out of high school in 1955. But the actual draft pick was considered to be part of the 1959 NBA Draft, since that was the year he was actually eligible to play. The Warriors still had and used a normal "he's-coming-out-of-college-and-eligible-to-play-right-now" first round pick in the 1955 NBA Draft, taking Tom Gola (also under territoral rights) out of LaSalle. They did not get another first-round pick other than Chamberlain in 1959. So the Chamberlain pick was definitely recorded as being a part of the 1959 draft.
- I guess the question would be under the draft rules at the time, even though the Warriors had reserved the right to take Chamblerain way back in 1955, were they then actually obliged to take Chamberlain once 1959 rolled around? Or could they have changed their minds if it had turned out in the meantime that he suffered or career-ending injury, or even if he had just turned out ot suck in college? Would the Warriors have been allowed to change their minds and select someone else instead in the 1959 Draft? I don't know the answer, myself.
- If they were committed all the way to Chamberlain and only Chamberlain, no matter what, I guess then you could make a case that he was really "drafted" in 1955, as the Warriors effectively made their 1959 first-round selection in 1955. If they could have changed their minds, though, then you'd definitely have to say he was drafted in 1959. They just reserved the rights to do so back in 1955. Mwelch 22:01, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
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- Well, I can't answer all your questions, but at least I had a verifiable and reputable reference. The 1959 NBA Draft wikiarticle has absolutely no references at all. Who are we to believe? Also, isn't it much more impressive that he was "drafted" (in some sense of the word) right out of high school? Maybe, even more impressively, he was drafted twice by the same team.--BillFlis 00:25, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
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- I'd go with the NBA as the source to believe. You won't find Chamberlain in the draft history on nba.com (they don't go back as far as '55, and they don't list any pick for Philly when they list out the first-round selections of '59 [1]; technically, the rule was that territorial picks weren't the same as regular picks — using a territorial meant you were actually giving up your actual first-round selection), but if you look at Chamberlain's bio on nba.com [2], you can see that the NBA regards his official draft year to be '59. Outside of excluding the two territorials (Chamberlain and Bob Ferry), the first round draft order for 1959 that's listed on nba.com agrees with the 1959 NBA Draft article here, which in turn agrees with the 1959 NBA Draft information listed at databasebasketball.com and at basketball-reference.com. Chamberlain is traditionally referred to as the third pick of the '59 draft because that's where Philly would have picked if they hadn't given up their pick for a territorial. The territorials, by their nature, had to be named before the rest of the draft. So depending how you want to look at it, you could argue that he was drafted in 1955, or that he was drafted first in 1959 (by virtue of the territorial exercise being done in '55), or that he was drafted tied for first (along with Ferry--the two territorials that Philly and St. Louis used instead of having first-round picks) in '59, or that he was drafted third in '59. Again, just depends on what precise definition of "drafted" you want to apply.
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- Agreed wholeheartedly though that it's extremely impressive that the Warriors put dibs on him striaght out of high school, however the technicalities of that actually worked. No argument at all on that. Mwelch 02:59, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
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[edit] Harlem Globetrotters
I was just wondering if something should be added about that fact that he played for the Harlem Globetrotters from 1958-1959. (http://www.hoophall.com/halloffamers/Chamberlain.htm) Also, I thought that Chamberlain was NOT drafted, he was persuaded to join the team. (Wilt, 1962) KellanFabjance 14:53, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
- Yes, his draft rights were secured by the Warriors. And his playing for the Trotters is already mentioned in the article. Mwelch 23:31, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] 100 point game condition
Shouldn't we mention Chamberlain's claim that he was suffering from a hangover during the 100 point game? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.36.200.2 (talk) 03:19, 24 January 2007 (UTC).
- If you've got a source for that, then sure. (Not that the article is exactly diligent about sources the way it stands, of course. But we ought to try and start somewhere.) Mwelch 03:41, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Major rewrite
See topic. Possibly the article is bloated now, but I wanted compile as much verifiable, sourced info as possible before considering a possible split. Now comes the tricky part, FIND SUITABLE PICS!!! —Onomatopoeia 15:05, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
I think wilt's records and feats should get their own page simmilar to Jordan's page dealing speciffically with his statistics and acheivements. Right now they seem kind of cluttered on the page. —Duhon 14 February 2007 (UTC)
- I concur; a good starting point for such a page would be the "Records and feats" section of the Wilt Chamberlain article prior to 02/14/2007 (i.e., prior to the major rewrite). Myasuda 05:22, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
- I found one pic for the reputation section also included some info about his reputation. I'll keep looking. Quadzilla99 14:09, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
- Found another one for the Lakers section. Quadzilla99 15:04, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
- I found one pic for the reputation section also included some info about his reputation. I'll keep looking. Quadzilla99 14:09, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Merge 100 point game
The 100 point game content should be merged to this article. Individual NBA games do not have names, and the game is only notable in reference to Chamberlain. Cmprince 06:24, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
- I'm against. This game is one of the most famous in NBA history. There is plenty of noteworthy material in this article that would not fit into Chamberlains. Warhol13 17:29, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
- Oppose. Let's analyse: "Individual NBA games do not have names" -- enter "100 point game" in google and you get as first results hoopshall.com (NBA Hall of Fame, special exhibit for the 100pg), nba.com (NBA history, special exhibit for the 100pg), nba.com/warriors (NBA history of the Warriors, special exhibit for the 100pg), making "the game is only notable in reference to Chamberlain" highly debatable. Also I hope you have seen that Wilt's article is already NINETY-TWO KB, ridiculously far over the Wikipedia:Article_size 32kb "first warning", and even far, far over the 50kb limit where a split is highly recommended (Wikipedia:Article_size#A_rule_of_thumb). Finally, the page appeared on "Did You Know?" already. Thus, for these reasons, I strongly oppose a merge. —Onomatopoeia 10:07, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
- Comment (and mild oppose, I guess). I don't have a problem with it staying a separate article, but if it does, then I'd like to see a more descriptive title. Like "Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game" or something like that. Frank Selvy scored 100 points in college once. I think a few high schoolers have done it. Something just called "100 point game" could easiily refer to the act of anyone doing it, as opposed to necessarily referring to Chamberlain's specific instance of it. Heck, when you get down to it, there's nothing in the mere phrase "100 point game" that even specifies you're talking about basketball, or about an individual player accomplishment. Mwelch 20:06, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
- Oppose A historic event in the history of basketball and also the product of a DYK?. Quadzilla99 19:08, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
Please note that the merge proposal has been removed from 100 point game. I changed my mind about the article, but I agree with Mwelch's suggestion that it be moved. If you have an opinion on this, please weigh in at Talk:100 point game#Rename?. --Cmprince 04:42, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Triple Jump
It says he triple jumped more than 50 feet... That is frankly impossible and more than world records.
- I don't doubt that many of the athletic feats attributed to Chamberlain over the years are exaggerated (often by Chamberlain himself), and this may well indeed be one of them . . . but just for the record, the world record in the triple jump is over 60 feet. There are high school athletes who can do 50 today, so it's certainly not "impossible". Even at the time Chamberlain supposedly did this, the world record was something like 54 or 55 feet.
- Again, that doesn't necessarily mean that Chamberlain really did it. I'm just saying . . . Mwelch 22:24, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
- If the world record is currently 60 feet ([citation needed] of course), then Chamberlain certainly could have done it, as not only was he a phenomenal athlete, but his height (and long legs) would especially aid in an event like that. JesseRafe 16:18, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Shortening to 76kb
I just shortened the article to 76kb. It was becoming too large indeed. —Onomatopoeia 07:58, 5 March 2007 (UTC)
- Even 76kb is not too short, this article sould be checked on becuase there will likely be other additions bringing up its total.Duhon 22:24, 5 March 2007 (UTC)
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- Now its 64kb. Bill Russell, our FA, is 63kb. Now it should be fine. —Onomatopoeia 10:12, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Copyedit
Might it be a good idea to have the article copyedited by someone respectable? I think substantively, this article has FA content. So with somebody who can tighten up the prose, check for grammar etc., the FAC or GAC should be much smoother. Thoughts? Chensiyuan 16:51, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
- You could put it on the League of Copyeditors proofreading list during the FAC if prose issues comes up, if you put it on the waiting list and wait for them to do it first it will take 1-2 months at least. Quadzilla99 12:52, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
- So what's becoming of this article in terms of GA/FA noms? Chensiyuan 14:05, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
- Given the Ian Thorpe fiasco a lot of these images would have to go before we nominated it for FA, which I think was Onamotapoiea's intention (he appears to be on a wikibreak). Quadzilla99 15:00, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
- So what's becoming of this article in terms of GA/FA noms? Chensiyuan 14:05, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
Categories: Old requests for peer review | Former good article nominees | Sports and games work group articles | B-Class biography (sports and games) articles | High-priority biography (sports and games) articles | B-Class biography articles | B-Class Philadelphia articles | High-importance Philadelphia articles | WikiProject Philadelphia articles
