Word: wilt
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...body of literature devoted to his life and exploits runs to perhaps 2,000,000 words of prose and 200 of poetry, chock-full of such fascinating revelations as that he sleeps naked, trims his beard with fingernail scissors, has an IQ of 127 and hates the nickname "Wilt the Stilt." No one has seemed able to agree on two fairly important and somewhat related points about Wilt Chamberlain: 1) how tall he is, and 2) how good...
...first, alas, remains up in the air. Wilt himself claims to be exactly 7 ft. 1/16 in. tall-but he throws out the figure defiantly, like a size 18 woman who insists on trying on a size ten dress. Back in 1955, when he was a freshman at the University of Kansas, he was reported to be 7 ft. 2 in. The National Basketball Association's 1966 record book gives him an inch less than that. All of this amuses rival players, whose estimates of Chamberlain's true altitude range...
...maintains, "the greatest basketball player in the world." Everyone might have agreed with him long ago if only he had stopped right there. Who else, after all, has ever scored 100 points in a single night or averaged 39.5 points per game throughout a seven-year pro career? Wilt never stops there. "I am also the greatest boxer and the greatest miler and the greatest weight lifter and the greatest shotputter and the greatest bowler and the greatest cook and the greatest lover," he says. It took his fellow pros a while to realize that they could vote...
...with 2,649 points, an average of 33.5 per game) and in rebounds (1,943). His proudest accomplishment, though, was ranking seventh in the league in assists; every other player among the top ten was a guard. "Everybody knows I can score 100 points a game if need be," Wilt explained in Baltimore last week. "But the purpose of this game is to win, not set records." So saying, he strode out onto the court, picked off 26 rebounds, scored 24 points and set up three other Philadelphia baskets with assists, as the 76ers beat the Baltimore Bullets...
Chamberlain, most valuable player of the season in the N.B.A., shouted during the victory celebration in the '76ers dressing room, "I want the big title. This is just a down payment on the big one." Commenting on the game. Wilt said, "I don't think of the win personally. All it does it put about $3000 in my rocket...