Was Wilt Superman?
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What do you want me to say?
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Let’s put it this way.
Wilt Chamberlain was able to overcome KU’s PR black hole, and play in San Francisco’s and Philadelphia’s PR black holes, and spend barely the last quarter of his career in LA’s spotlight, and still become recognized as one of the greatest players of all time by an NBA and media hell bent on finding OTHER greatest players of all time before, during and ever after his career that would (and did) make the NBA and national media vastly more money than peddling the truth about Wilt’s unparalleled greatness ever could.
Superman?
Let’s be real about this: Wilt was bigger and better than Superman.
He was Mega-Superman.
I’ve suggested this before.
He was what the the Roman poet Ovid had in mind when he conceived the Latin “semideus.” or half-god, that we have come to call “demigod.”
In Roman times, the gods and demigods and mortals existed in their poetry and drama and mythology to call attention to human capability.
There really were gods beyond us.
Then there were the demigods–humans of such capabilities that they could do to limited extent godly things that event he great mortals could not aspire to.
One look at the Wilt’s empirical statistics of performance make clear that there are all the other great mortals that have played the game, and then there is the demigod aka Wilt Chamberlain.
Wilt was NOT a god. He could not make even 60 percent of his free throws. He could not win a college national championship. He could not win more than two NBA championships. He could not coach the San Diego Conquistadores to better than a .440 record in his only season of coaching professional basketball.
But here is just some of what he did do from his wikipedia page and remember he did these and many more remarkable things amid a league and media that sought to promote others that did far less specifically at his expense. Wilt struggled against not only racism, and Kansas-ism, but against Goliath-ism. As he said sardonically, “No one roots for Goliath.”
2× NBA champion (1967, 1972)
NBA Finals MVP (1972)
4× NBA Most Valuable Player (1960, 1966–1968)
13× NBA All-Star (1960–1969, 1971–1973)
NBA All-Star Game MVP (1960)
7× All-NBA First Team (1960–1962, 1964, 1966–1968)
3× All-NBA Second Team (1963, 1965, 1972)
2× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1972, 1973)
NBA Rookie of the Year (1960)
7× NBA scoring champion (1960–1966)
11× NBA rebounds leader (1960–1963, 1966–1969, 1971–1973)
9× NBA field goal percentage leader
NBA assists leader (1968)
No. 13 retired by Golden State Warriors
No. 13 retired by Philadelphia 76ers
No. 13 retired by Los Angeles Lakers
NBA 35th Anniversary Team
NBA 50th Anniversary Team
NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player (1957)
2× Consensus first-team All-American (1957, 1958) No. 13 jersey retired by University of Kansas
NBA records
Single-game scoring record (100)
Highest single-season scoring average (50.4)
Single-season scoring record (4,029)
Single-game rebounding record (55)
Highest single-season rebounding average (27.2)
Single-season rebounding record (2,149)
Highest single-season minutes average (48.5)
HOLDS NUMEROUS OTHER RECORDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
Career statistics
Points 31,419 (30.1 ppg)
Rebounds 23,924 (22.9 rpg)
Assists 4,643 (4.4 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Basketball Hall of Fame as player
College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006
Rock Chalk, Mr. Chamberlain!!!
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@jaybate-1.0 Nice profile. And, let us note that the NBA All Defensive Team was begun only in 1969, and that blocked shots were not even an official stat while Wilt played (1959-73). As my friends at Wikipedia say, “Had they accounted for blocked shots in his era (blocks were not recorded until the 1973–1974 season), Wilt Chamberlain would be the all-time career leader in blocked shots, blocks per game average and blocked shots in a game (26).”
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Let’s be real about this: Wilt was bigger and better than Superman.
He was Mega-Superman.
If I had posted earlier, this is what I would have said!
Wilt was the inspiration for Superman. Superman only wishes he were Wilt.
All the other superheros are not worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as Wilt.
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@nuleafjhawk ( i tried to copy part of this from @jaybate-1-0 's post - don’t know what happened )
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Is Jack Whitman Clark Kent?
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As I recall, Wilt was highly accomplished in off-court pursuits too. Might have had Lois Lane dancing on her toes!
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http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=26118422
Wilt’s 100 point game anniversary is today.
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dylans said:
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=26118422
Wilt’s 100 point game anniversary is today.
Extra points for resurfacing an old relevant thread!
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GOAT!!!
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@approxinfinity good @jaybate-1.0 above
