Wilt was a Globetrotter
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I didn’t remember this at all.
Perhaps the most famous player to ever don the red, white and blue Globetrotter uniform was National Basketball Association Hall of Famer Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain. Chamberlain dropped out of college after his junior year to play basketball professionally, but was barred from the NBA by league rules that prohibited players who had not completed their studies. The Globetrotters, who had no such prohibition, hired Chamberlain to play the 1958-1959 season for $50,000, the equivalent of about $400,000 today. His tenure with the Globetrotters took him and the team to Moscow for a goodwill tour and a meeting with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. After his season with the Globetrotters, Chamberlain went on to unbelievable success in the American Basketball Association and the NBA, becoming the first player to ever score 100 points in a single game. Chamberlain’s number with the Globetrotters, 13, was officially retired March 9, 2000. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978.
Curly Neal was the absolute best Globetrotter (IMO).
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I do, but certainly not as clearly as I once did. I listened to most all of Wilt’s games on a meager, green, plastic case Philco radio with unending static & skip. If the weather was stormy, it was a washout, had to either catch the score on the news or the KC Times the next morning. Oft times it wasn’t there either. Virtually no college games were televised in the 50’s, so that was as good as it was, Even 50 miles from River City & a day or two wait was too common. After the 57’ game I was so disappointed when Wilt left school early, but in the 60’s when abc began televising the NBA, it was an absolute thrill to watch the man that put Kansas BB on the map forever.
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I bet you did not know that the first female Globetrotter was no other than Lynette Woodard, KU’s best female (and Hall of Fame) basketball player ever. She eventually had a stint as head coach at KU.
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@RockChalkinTexas I forgot that Wilt was a Globetrotter! Man, I remember watching Scooby Doo cartoons when I was a kid and I know Curly was on the cartoon, Not sure about Wilt though. Maybe he was too. ROck CHalk!
