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Wilt Chamberlain: A Man of Many Facets

Mar. 3, 1962 - Wilt Chamberlain, the 7-foot-1-inch Philadelphia Warriors’ ace who scored 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks last night, has many facets. Besides his basketball career, he runs — with a partner — a boys’ camp, owns a Harlem nightclub, speaks four foreign languages (French, Spanish, Italian and German), plays the guitar and bass fiddle, sings folk and popular music (he’s recorded two songs), and owns an apartment project in Los Angeles. But despite his individual greatness on the basketball court, his team has been unable to win a title. Some NBA players, coaches and fans say he refuses to lend himself to a team effort, loafs on defense, and actually hurts his club’s chances. His coach, Frank McGuire, strongly disagrees. “True,” says McGuire, “it isn’t a one-man game. But Wilt has been superhuman. I hate to think where we’d be without him, with just a mere human being in his place.”

© 2024 by Joe Rubenstein

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