Wilt's Wondrous Weeks - WEEK 2 -"The 100"

Chamberlain's legendary 100 point game plus the games before and after

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The Sports Time Traveler

Last week, I covered Wilt Chamberlain’s games as they appeared in the newspapers from February 22 - 28, 1962. You can read that story in the link below:

Wilt's Wondrous Weeks - WEEK 1

In WEEK 2, I cover the games as I read them in the newspapers from March 1 - March 8, 1962. This includes Wilt’s 100 point game.

Below are my reports on the games.

NOTE: The bylines are the day after each game was played, corresponding to the day I read the newspaper accounts during my virtual trip.

Chicago - Thursday, March 1, 1962

The Warriors visited the Chicago Packers last night in a venue that the Chicago Tribune referred to as The Stockyards. I envision cows may have been grazing behind the baskets. I suppose there were no cows, but there weren’t many people either. Just 4,860 fans came out despite this being yet another NBA doubleheader. In the 1st game, the New York Knicks defeated the Detroit Pistons 119 - 109.

The Packers have lost all 8 prior games they’ve played against Chamberlain and the Warriors. But last night they managed to keep it close. Packers fans were hoping that their sensational rookie center, Walt Bellamy, who is averaging over 30 points per game, might put up a big game against the Big Dipper. In their most recent meeting, just 8 days earlier, Wilt had outscored Walt by just 4 points, 48 - 44.

At the outset Bellamy looked like this just might be the game he outscores Wilt. Bellamy scored the first 2 points of the game. And he held Wilt without a field goal for the first 5 minutes of the game. That powered the Packers to a 16 - 8 lead. But, of course, Wilt did start to hit from the field and the Warriors tied the game at 29.

However, the Packers kept the game close. It was 64 - 60 Warriors at the half. And it was 92 - 90 with 1 second remaining in the 3rd quarter, when Al Attles hit a 40 foot buzzer beater to put the Warriors ahead by 4.

Late in the game, the Warriors led by just 3 points at 112 - 109. But all hopes for the Packers bit the dust when Bellamy fouled Chamberlain on a basket. Wilt made the free throw to complete 3 point play, while Bellamy exited the game with 6 fouls and just 25 points.

FINAL SCORE:
128 Philadelphia Warriors
119 Chicago Packers

WILT CHAMBERLAIN
Points: 61
Field Goals: 24 for 46
Free Throws: 13 for 17

Hershey, PA - Saturday, March 3, 1962

Pre-Game

Coming into last night’s games of Friday, March 2, 1962, here is what the NBA standings looked like as the 80 game season has less than 2 weeks remaining:

The Celtics and Lakers have clinched the Division Titles.

The Philadelphia Warriors and Syracuse Nationals have clinched 2nd and 3rd place in the Eastern Division. They will play a best of 5 game series for the right to play Boston for the Eastern Division Championship.

Last night, the Warriors played their home game against the last place New York Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania, nearly 100 miles west of Philadelphia and close to the state capitol of Harrisburg.

It’s the 3rd game this season the Warriors have played in Hershey. They won the other two. In those 2 games, Chamberlain scored 60 against the Lakers, and 47 against the Hawks. But what was most noteworthy is that he had unusual success at the foul line in Hershey, going 27 for 38, including 15 for 19 in the more recent of the 2 contests on January 26th.

Chamberlain, who until just a few games ago was shooting barely over 60% on his foul shots for the year, has suddenly found his stroke, shooting 45 for 59 for 76% from the foul line in his last 3 games.

And in each of those 3 games Chamberlain has scored 60+ points.

Wilt Chamberlain enters the game needing 237 points in his final 5 games to become the first player ever to average 50 and score 4,000+ points in a single season.

Before the Warriors and Knicks played, the 4,124 fans inside the Hershey Sports Arena were treated to a preliminary basketball game between the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles and the Baltimore Colts. That’s right, the 2 football teams played each other in a game of basketball. The Harrisburg Evening News reported that the Eagles nipped the Colts 61 - 60. There were no further details of the game I could find. I would love to know if Johnny Unitas could hit a long bomb on the hardwood the way he does on the gridiron.

Warriors vs. Knicks

The NBA game started at 8:45pm ET in Hershey, PA, and was broadcast live to Philadelphia fans on WCAU AM radio 1210. The announcer was Bill Campbell. The game was not on television or radio in New York or anywhere else.

The game started out as an ordinary one for Wilt. He scored 23 in the 1st quarter during which the Warriors raced out to a 19 - 3 lead and finished the quarter ahead 42 - 26. Jack Kiser in the Philadelphia Daily News noted that Wilt has, “ripped off 23 points in the first period on several occasions.”

In the 2nd quarter, Wilt put up 18 more points to finish the half with 41. The Warriors led by 11 at 79 - 68.

After the game, Wilt told Jack Kiser that at halftime, he was thinking about the foul shot record. He said, “I’d hit ten straight, which was a record for me, missed one, then hit three more. That gave me 13, and I had a shot at the record.”

In the first 10 minutes of the 3rd quarter, Wilt poured in 20 more points to put him at 61. It was his 4th consecutive game topping 60.

Then in the last 2 minutes of the 3rd quarter, Wilt scored another 8 points. He had scored 28 points in the 3rd quarter and now had 69 for the game. The Warriors scored 46 in the quarter as a team and increased their lead to 125 - 106.

A New Single Game Points Record

It now became clear that Wilt could surpass his own NBA single game record of 78 points that he had set earlier this season in a triple overtime game. In that game, Chamberlain had only scored 53 at the end of the 4th quarter. Now he could set a new record for points in one game and do it in regulation time.

In the first 2 minutes of the 4th quarter, Wilt scored 6 points bringing his total to 75. Kiser noted that one of the baskets came on a lucky play, “He leaped for a rebound, and misjudged the bounce. The ball slammed against his wrist, and into the basket.”

At this point, Kiser indicated that the Knicks started, “employing every trick available to slow him down… They played five men on him, at times, not even attempting to cover anyone else in the last four minutes. They fouled Warriors’ guards as they were bringing the ball up court to keep them from hitting Wilt. And they tried to freeze the ball every chance they got during the final six minutes.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer similarly reported on the Knicks’ stalling tactics, “They held the ball for almost the full 24 seconds every time they gained possession and fouled Warriors other than Wilt when the tribe got possession.”

But the Knicks couldn’t stop Chamberlain. With 2:28 to go in the game, he reached 90 points.

Now the Hershey fans wanted to see Wilt reach 100. The Harrisburg Evening News reported that the fans shrieked, “Give it to Wilt. Give it to Wilt.”

The Inquirer reported that the Warriors did everything they could to help Wilt reach the mythical goal, “they passed up shots, they fed him in every possible way. They also fouled the Knicks to get possession when the visitors resorted to their slowdown.”

Wilt scored the next four points on “two king-sized jumpers,” according to Kiser, to make it 94 points. Then 2 foul shots brought the total to 96.

At this point, Chamberlain was anxious, as everyone in the building, except the New York Knicks, wanted to see him get to 100. He told Kiser, “When everybody’s pulling for you like that, then you don’t want to let them down. They were with me, and the team was with me, and that’s what made it great.”

One of the Great Sports Radio Calls in History

While there is no video of the game, you can listen to the last 90 seconds of the game from the Philadelphia WCAU AM radio broadcast.

I suggest you start listening at 1:50 mark when there is 1:01 to play in the game and Wilt has 98 points.

I consider announcer Bill Campbell’s call to be one of the great sports radio moments in history.

LINK to radio broadcast of the final minute

Here’s my favorite part of Bill Campbell’s radio call:

“Rodgers throws long to Chamberlain. He’s got it. He’s trying to get up. He shoots. No good. The rebound Luckenbill. Back to Chamberlain. He shoots. Up. No good (the crowd groans). In and Out. The rebound Luckenbill. Back to Rucklick. In to Chamberlain. He made it! He made it! He made it! A Dipper Dunk! He made it! The fans are all over the floor. They stop the game. People are running out on the court. 100 points for Wilt Chamberlain. They stop the game. People are crowding, pounding him, banging him. The Warriors players are all over him. Fans are coming out of the stands. 46 seconds left. The most amazing scoring performance of all-time. 100 points for the Big Dipper!”

Jack Kiser described the play in the Philadelphia Daily News that gave Wilt 100 with 46 seconds to left in the game, “he outleaped two defenders to spear a lob pas from Joe Ruklick and slam it through the nets. Then all hades broke loose… Hundreds of spectators stampeded onto the court, slamming him on the back, shaking his hand and yelling like they had scored the 100 points themselves.”

Eventually, the court was cleared and the game was finished.

FINAL SCORE:
147 New York Knicks
169 Philadelphia Warriors

WILT CHAMBERLAIN
Points: 100
Field Goals: 36 for 63
Free Throws: 28 for 32

The total of 316 points by both teams combined was an NBA record.

Several individual records were set by Chamberlain in addition to the 100 points:

• Most field goals - 36, surpassing Wilt’s old record of 31

• Most free throws made - 28, surpassing Dolph Schayes’ record of 27 (as noted by the Philadelphia Inquirer)

• Most points in one half - 59, surpassing Wilt’s old record of 44

• Most points in one quarter - 31, surpassing Wilt’s old record of 28

Guard Guy Rodgers of the Warriors also set a Warriors club record with 20 assists, deftly setting up Chamberlain for many of his basket.

NOTE from The Sports Time Traveler

Exactly what was the free throw record going into the game on March 2, 1962 is unclear. The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Harrisburg Patriot News indicated that it was 27 by Dolph Schayes. The Lebanon, PA Daily News indicated that it was 28 by Schayes.

Basketball-reference.com notes that records are only kept for most free throws made in a game since the 1983-84 season. So Basketball-reference.com indicates the current record is 28 by Adrian Dantley. Neither Chamberlain nor Schayes are mentioned on the all-time list since they both retired long prior to 1984.

Now back to 1962.

He Earned Every Point

Jack Kiser of the Philadelphia Daily News interviewed a humble Wilt Chamberlain after the game. The Big Dipper had a, “wide smile,” according to Kiser and told him, “I honestly never thought I’d score a hundred. Never in my wildest dreams. But it wasn’t all me. The rest of the team put as much effort into it as I did.”

Kiser wrote that for Wilt, “Every point was earned the hard way. The Knicks did their best to stop him, or at least slow him down.

And Kiser noted that Chamberlain’s shots weren’t all from near the basket. He wrote that some of his shots were, “long jumpers from 25 - 30 feet out.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer confirmed that, “the field goals came on a variety of shots from the field.” And dunk shots were made after Wilt had to, “bull through, around and over a tight knot of defenders.”

Kiser also described how Chamberlain deployed, “blazing speed that carried him downcourt for layups after he had launched the fast break on a rebound himself.”

The Harrisburg Evening News also noted that, “Wilt’s points came on a variety of his pet shots - the fallaway, the funnel flip, an occasional hook and numerous second-story dunks.”

Kiser summed it all up by calling Wilt’s 100, “the most devastating offensive show ever staged by a basketball player.”

New York City - Monday, March 5, 1962

Yesterday afternoon on Sunday, March 4, 1962, the Knicks and Warriors tangled again. This time the game was in Madison Square Garden at 2:30pm.

Wilt Chamberlain came into the game averaging 50.8 points per game. Thanks to his 100 point game, he now has a total of 3,863 points for the season with 4 games remaining. He needs just 137 points in the 4 games, an average of only 34, to finish the season averaging 50 points per game and reach 4,000 for the season.

9,346 fans came out to the afternoon game to see the man who had just scored 100 points 2 nights earlier. Gordon S. White of the New York Times wrote that the Garden’s long-time public address announcer, John Condon, “introduced the 7-foot-1 inch Warrior as Wilt Century Chamberlain.”

The last place Knicks got out in front fast and led 56 - 36 midway through the 2nd quarter. Jack Kiser of the Philadelphia Daily News spoke to Warriors’ coach Frank McGuire after the game about this moment. McGuire told him, “I called time out and told them if they didn’t snap out of it, then I was going to take all of them out and put in the subs…. I told them that New York was all hopped up for revenge because of Friday night’s game (when Wilt scored his unbelievable 100 points), and that it would be a shame for it to be wiped out by losing to New York today.”

Following the time out, the Warriors went on a 25 - 14 run and pulled to within 9 points at halftime.

Late in the 3rd quarter, the Warriors made up the entire deficit and tied the game at 94.

The game remained close throughout the 4th quarter. A 3 point play by Chamberlain put the Warriors ahead 122 - 120. That was immediately followed by a Guy Rodgers’ steal and layup that gave the Warriors a 4 point lead with 2:59 to play.

But the Knicks came back and held a 128 - 127 advantage with 50 seconds to play. The Warriors had the ball, and the Knicks starting center, Darrell Imhoff had just fouled out. The ball went in to Chamberlain of course, and the Knicks surrounded him.

Chamberlain who had 58 points at this stage wanted to reach 60. He had never scored 60 in New York. Kiser noted that, “Wilt had the ball on the left side of the basket, about 12 feet out, and was being guarded by the usual gang of Knicks. He’d been hitting the shot from that spot with ease all day. But he didn’t take this one.”

Chamberlain wanted the win more than he wanted the 60, so he passed off to an open Paul Arizin. Gordon S. White in The New York Times called it, “a clean, quick pass.”

Arizin hit the basket with 29 seconds to go to put the Warriors ahead by 1.

The Knicks still had one more chance, but the Warriors made Richie Guerin miss and Guy Rodgers dribbled out the clock to secure the victory.

Jack Kiser noted that in the final seconds, “Chamberlain was under the basket all the time, but he didn’t call for the ball so he could hit his 60.”

Chamberlain told Kiser, “I didn’t want the points. I wanted the game.”

Wilt then went into more detail about the play in which he passed to Arizin for the game winner, “I was tempted to take the shot. I’d never scored 60 in the Garden before, and the New York writers have been kidding me about it. I’d like nothing better than to do it, but Paul had a better shot at the basket than I did. And winning the game was much more important than my getting 60. Paul’s man folded back on me and he was alone on the side. He don’t miss many from there, so I hit him with the ball and he hit the basket.”

There was another way for Wilt to get 60, that would have not involved him taking any extra shots. He missed 6 of his 16 free throws. If he would have just made 2 of them, he would have had his 60 in New York and 60+ for 5 straight games.

FINAL SCORE:
129 Philadelphia Warriors
128 New York Knicks

WILT CHAMBERLAIN
Points: 58
Field Goals: 24 for 41
Free Throws: 10 for 16

Wilt Chamberlain on the Ed Sullivan Show

After the Knicks game, Wilt Chamberlain didn’t have much time to celebrate the victory. He had to shower, put a suit on and make the one quarter-mile trip from the old Garden at 8th avenue and 50th street to the Ed Sullivan theater on Broadway at 53rd street.

Wilt was invited to be a guest on the Ed Sullivan show which aired last night at 8pm on channel 2 in the New York area and nationwide on CBS.

You can watch Wilt’s short appearance right here:

Philadelphia - March 6, 1962

Here were the standings as of this morning:

The Warriors have 3 games left to play and the games are meaningless. They are locked into 2nd place in the Eastern Division. They will play the Syracuse Nationals in the first round of the playoffs.

In the Philadelphia Daily News this morning, Jack Kiser’s column posed the question as to whether Wilt should rest for the final 3 games to prepare for the playoffs instead of continuing to play all 48 minutes of every game.

Wilt told Kiser, “Right now I’d rather play the full 48 for all three games. And it’s not because I want to score points, either. My goal right now is the playoff championship, not 4,000 points. I just believe I can stay in better shape by playing than by sitting. We play only three games in two weeks… I’ll get plenty of rest. But if I take four or five days off, I’d go stale.

Kiser also spoke to Warriors’ coach Frank McGuire who agreed with Wilt, “He seems to be getting stronger… He knows more about whether he’s tired than I do… I’m going to figure he’s strong enough to stay out there until he asks me for a breather.”

The Warriors 3 remaining games are on March 7th, March 11th and March 14th. So there are 2 - 3 days off between each game.

Kiser also noted that over the past 5 games, which were played in just 8 days, Wilt has averaged 70.2 points per game.

Here are Wilt’s last 5 games:

67, 65, 61, 100, 58

The last four have been Warriors victories.

Their next game is against the Boston Celtics and it is a statement game. If the Warriors are to win a title, they have to defeat the Celtics in a 7 game series for the Eastern Division (assuming the Warriors get past the Nationals in the 1st round).

Boston - March 8, 1962

Last night, the Warriors played here in the Boston Garden against the Eastern Division champion Boston Celtics.

In a couple of weeks, these two teams could be meeting for the Eastern Division Championship.

Less than a couple of weeks ago in Philadelphia, these two teams met and the Celtics won by 23 with Bill Russell holding Wilt Chamberlain to a season low 26 points.

After that game, Wilt began the greatest scoring barrage by one player in history averaging 70 points a game for 5 games, including his 100 point game. And the Warriors won 4 of the 5 contests.

But now they had to face the Celtics one last time in the regular season.

The Warriors were playing with 2 days of rest for the first time since February 20th. The Celtics were playing on no rest as they lost last night to the last-place Knicks in Madison Square Garden, and then they had to travel home.

Despite the seeming advantage for Philadelphia, the Boston defense, anchored by Bill Russell, must have turned most Warriors’ fans into worriers after last night’s performance. Chamberlain made just 1 of his first 6 shots and the Celtics took a 33 - 20 lead at the end of the 1st quarter.

Just prior to halftime came the biggest shot of the day. It wasn’t a traditional basketball shot. It was a right uppercut. The Celtics’ Tom Heinsohn and the Warriors’ Tom Meschery had been bickering at each other. The barbs quickly turned into blows. Here is how Heinsohn described it to Cliff Keane in the Boston Globe, “I was peeking at the guy out of the corner of my eye after the foul, and he starts to swing haymakers at me. He must have swung five of them, and finally, I let go and nailed him on the eye with a right-hand uppercut.”

The on court fight was broken up by the Boston police.

The Warriors had to be escorted by the police to the locker room both at halftime with Boston leading 70 - 49, and at the end of the game.

After 3 quarters it was Boston 113 - Warriors 78.

Jack Barry of the Boston Globe reported today that with 8 minutes to go in the game, Bill Russell, who had played the first 40 minutes of the game guarding Chamberlain without a break, had held the Big Dipper to just 25 points.

Barry wrote that when Celtics’ coach Red Auerbach finally took Russell out of the game with 8 minutes remaining, “The big fellow drew of one of the finest hands of the year,” from the Boston Garden crowd.

FINAL SCORE:
102 Philadelphia Warriors
153 Boston Celtics

WILT CHAMBERLAIN
Points: 30
Field Goals: 13 for 30
Free Throws: 4 for 11

The 51 point loss was the largest margin of defeat in Philadelphia history.

The game certainly sent a warning to the Warriors that the Celtics will be savage opponents in the playoffs. The Warriors’ Tom Meschery felt it more than any of Wilt’s other teammates. He required 7 stitches after the game.

The game also made it apparent that in these two Wondrous Weeks for Wilt, there was one man who could control the output of Big Dipper for an entire contest. And that was Bill Russell.

In the last 7 games, Chamberlain had averaged 28 per game when playing against Boston and 70 per game when playing against other teams.

Wilt Chamberlain now has 3,951 points in the 1961-62 season with 2 games remaining on the schedule. He needs just 49 points across those 2 games to finish the season with 4,000 and an average of 50 per game.

The Sports Time Traveler is going to continue following Wilt Chamberlain and the Philadelphia Warriors for the final 2 games and into the playoffs.

Thanks for reading.

I would love to see your comments.