Early life
Chamberlain drew national attention playing at Overbrook High School in West Philadelphia (1951-1955), leading his school to City Championships in 1954 and 1955. He scored 90 points, including 60 points in a 10-minute span, against Roxborough High School. In his senior year, Chamberlain scored 800 points in the first 16 games, finished with a season average of 47.2 PPG, and was named a high-school All-American. For his high school career, Chamberlain finished with 2,252 points and an average of 38.2 PPG.

In July 1954, he was showcased in a Paramount Newsreel, entitled Giant Basketball Sensation, which was exhibited nationally in theaters. The narrator was Marty Glickman, who can be seen with the 17-year-old Chamberlain. Footage of Chamberlain at a resort in Monticello, New York (he was working at Kutcher's Country Club as a bellhop) shows him making a couple of baskets in a small game. The newsreel ends with Glickman prophetically observing, "remember the name (Chamberlain), it will probably make big sports copy for years to come."

He played two years for the University of Kansas (freshmen were then ineligible to play NCAA varsity basketball), where he earned All-American honors twice and led the Jayhawks to the 1957 championship game (which they lost to North Carolina 54-53 in three overtimes).

After a frustrating junior year in which Kansas did not even reach the NCAA Tournament (at the time, teams that had lost their league championship were not invited), he decided to turn pro, citing that he wanted to be paid for being double- and triple-teamed every night. Chamberlain was contracted to the Philadelphia Warriors, who had picked him in 1955 as a territorial pick. However, he was ineligible to play in the NBA until his college class graduated in 1959. In the interim, he played a season with the Harlem Globetrotters.

When Chamberlain played with the Trotters, coach Abe Saperstein had the dilemma of having two great centers, Meadowlark Lemon, the undisputed "Clown Prince" of the 'Trotters, and Chamberlain. Saperstein settled upon an original approach—playing Chamberlain as point guard, which allowed him to show off his shooting, passing, and penetration skills. The seven-foot-one Chamberlain was possibly the tallest starting point guard ever to play on such a high level. (Reference: Spinning the Globe, the book on the Trotters). After that season, he was listed as the third pick in the NBA Draft but was actually a territorial pick.

NBA career

Philadelphia Warriors/San Francisco Warriors
In his first year with the Warriors (1960), Chamberlain set new NBA records in scoring, averaging 37.6 points per game, and rebounding with 27.0 per game. In the NBA All-Star Game, he was named Most Valuable Player after scoring 23 points and grabbing 25 rebounds during the East's victory over the West. He also became the first of two players (with Wes Unseld, 1969) to be named MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season.

With Chamberlain in the pivot, Warriors improved from a last place division finish in the 1958-59 season to the second best record in the NBA. The Warriors, however, would lose to the Boston Celtics in the Conference Finals that year, despite Chamberlain outscoring his opposing center Bill Russell by 81 points. This would become a repeated occurrence in Chamberlain's career.

The rookie Chamberlain then shocked the Warriors' fans by saying he was thinking of retiring. He was tired being subject of double- and triple teams, and teams hacking him down with hard fouls. Chamberlain feared to lose his cool one day, a thing which he did not want to happen. Celtics forward Tom Heinsohn said his team ruthlessly exploited his only weakness, free throw shooting, with an early version of the Hack-a-Shaq (a tactic in which a poor free throw shooter is intentionally fouled, in the hope that he misses free throws and the team gets an easy ball possession without giving up many points). "Half the fouls against him were hard fouls", Heinsohn continued, "he [Chamberlain] took the most brutal pounding of any player ever". An additional point was that Chamberlain refrained from retaliating, and preferred to play through the many fouls. [1]

This tactic proved highly effective against Chamberlain. Since the Celtics were in the same Eastern Division as the Warriors, Chamberlain and his teammates could not even reach the NBA Finals without finding a way to beat them. The Boston Celtics were in the midst of their legendary run of winning 11 NBA championships in 13 seasons.

However, Chamberlain established himself as one of the greatest players of all time. In his first five years, his regular-season stats read 37.6 points / 27.0 rebounds per game (1960), 38.4 ppg / 27.2 rpg (1961), 50.4 ppg / 25.7 rpg (1962), 44.8 ppg / 24.3 rpg (1963), 36.9 ppg / 22.3 rpg (1964) and 38.9 ppg / 23.5 rpg (1965). [2] As of 2006, the closest player other than Chamberlain himself to average as many points per game is Elgin Baylor who averaged 38.3 in the 1961-62 season.

The next best rebounding performance from a player other than Chamberlain is Bill Russell with 24.7 in 1963-64. In the 1961-62 season, Chamberlain also became the first and only player to score 100 points in a NBA game (see below), a feat that hasn't come close to being broken. The next highest single game total is Kobe Bryant's 81 points.

In 1963, the Warriors relocated to San Francisco, and in 1964 Chamberlain and the San Francisco Warriors lost to the Celtics in the NBA Finals, 1-4. After that season, Chamberlain was traded back to Philadelphia, where the Syracuse Nationals had recently moved to become the 76ers. In Philadelphia, he joined a promising 76ers team that included guards Hal Greer (a future Hall of Famer) and Larry Costello and wingmen Chet Walker and Lucious Jackson.

Philadelphia 76ers
Back in the Eastern Division, Chamberlain and the 76ers' drive to the finals was thwarted by the Celtics' on-going dynasty. The Eastern Conference Finals that year came down to the final seconds of Game 7, when the Celtics won by one point with a legendary play: when the 76ers' Hal Greer attempted to pass the ball inbounds, John Havlicek stole it to preserve the Celtics' lead. Chamberlain was the centerpiece of the formidable 1967 76ers team that included future Hall of Famers Greer and Billy Cunningham, as well as noted players Chet Walker and Luke Jackson. The team roared through its first 50 games at 46-4, en route to setting a (then) record 68 regular-season wins. In the playoffs, they finally knocked off the Celtics (to end their title streak at eight) before going on to capture the NBA title (Chamberlain's first) by defeating the San Francisco Warriors in six games. In that series, Chamberlain scored a relatively modest 17.7 points per game, but snared an incredible 28.7 rebounds per game. In fact, his worst rebounding game in that series was Game 6 with 23.

His board-cleaning feat was made even more astonishing by the fact that the opposing center was top rebounder Nate Thurmond, who himself averaged 26.7 RPG over that series. Chamberlain and Thurmond became the 5th and 6th (and until today, last) players to grab 20+ rebounds in every game of the NBA Finals [3]. In 1980, that 1967 Philadelphia team was voted the NBA's best team of the first 35 years of the league. Chamberlain himself described the team as the best in NBA history. Chamberlain received his third MVP award that season.

In 1967-68, Chamberlain got into a nasty dispute with the 76ers' owners, Ike Richman and Irv Kosloff. Chamberlain was promised by Richman a part of the club, but Richman died before the deal was completed. When Kosloff became sole owner, he refused to honor Richman's agreement with Chamberlain, infuriating the superstar. He threatened with retirement, and reached a truce with Kosloff to play out the season and then contemplate the future.

Chamberlain was selected league MVP for his fourth and last time, while becoming the only center to lead the league in total assists with 702 (8.6 assists per game). The 76ers owned the NBA's best record for the third straight season, but lost to the Celtics in seven games in the Eastern Division finals.

Chamberlain asked to be traded, and was dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers for Archie Clark, Darrall Imhoff and Jerry Chambers. (As a side note, Imhoff was also one of the two centers against whom Chamberlain had scored his 100-point game.) This qualifies as one of the most lopsided NBA trades ever, as the Sixers traded the most dominant player of his generation for three role players, and helped send the Sixers from a 62-20 record to a 9-73 record in the span of five seasons.

Los Angeles Lakers
After the trade, Chamberlain was teamed with future Hall-of-Famers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, creating one of the most prolific basketball scoring machines of all time. However, Chamberlain soon clashed with coach Bill van Breda Kolff, who was upset with the trade. The coach feared that the dominant low post presence Chamberlain would disrupt his Princeton-style tactics, which relied on fast player movement, all five sharing the ball. In return, Chamberlain loathed van Breda Kolff because he felt he straight-jacketed him into a scheme which took away his stats. However, the press was quick to side against Chamberlain, whose stats "diminished" and in addition earned a (then) astronomical $250,000 a year and was billed as an unthankful, aging has-been.

Baylor and Chamberlain, however, played only a handful of games as teammates because of career-ending and season-ending knee injuries. In Chamberlain's case, a hole was drilled through his kneecap, through which a tendon was passed, and the ensuing recovery was long and arduous. This injury sharply limited the number of games he played against young Milwaukee Bucks center Lew Alcindor.

The Lakers were heavily favored to win the 1969 NBA Finals against the old, battered Celtics, but then Chamberlain became the victim of one of the most controversial coaching decisions in NBA history. In Game 7, Chamberlain hurt his leg with six minutes left to play, with the Lakers trailing by nine points. Lakers coach van Breda Kolff took him out, and when Chamberlain wanted to return with three minutes left, Van Breda Kolff decided to bench him until the end.

The Celtics won, 108-106. When Chamberlain had asked out of the game, the Lakers had been trailing by nine points, but then mounted a comeback to pull within one by the time he asked back in; this caused some to assume that Chamberlain had not really been injured, but instead had given up and "copped out" of the game when it looked as though the Lakers would lose. Because of this, some branded him a scapegoat and a quitter. Even Bill Russell ridiculed him, which almost caused Chamberlain to end their friendship. However, when Chamberlain's teammate Jerry West heard of Van Breda Kolff's decision, he was utterly disgusted, and passionately defended Chamberlain.

Furthermore, even Van Breda Kolff, who never got along with Chamberlain (a factor that some speculate may have played a part in his decision to not put Chamberlain back in—a desire by Van Breda Kolff to prove he could win without Chamberlain), has always himself defended Chamberlain's injury as being fully legitimate.

In 1970, the acquisition of the sharpshooting guard Gail Goodrich helped with the Lakers' offensive firepower with the loss of Baylor. In the NBA Finals, the Lakers were matched up against the New York Knicks, one of the best defensive teams of the post-Russell-Celtics era. Both teams fought a hard, grueling series, but in Game 5, Chamberlain's opposing center Willis Reed suffered a serious thigh injury.

The Knicks won that game, but they were demolished in Game 6 with Chamberlain's strong offense, and they looked doomed in Game 7 without their starting center. However, Reed limped onto the court, won the opening tip-off against Chamberlain, and scored the first four points, inspiring his team to one of the most famous playoff upsets of all time. Although Reed was able to play only a fraction of the game, and could hardly move when he did play, Chamberlain still scored only 21 points (his season average had been 27.3) on only 16 shots, quite few in a Game 7. Further, he shot an abysmal 1-of-11 from the foul line, making the game perhaps his greatest on-court failure.

In 1971, the Lakers made a notable move by signing former Celtics star guard Bill Sharman as the head coach. Sharman reinvented the veteran Chamberlain as a defensive stopper. This proved very successful, as Chamberlain was elected to the All-NBA First Defensive Team for the first time in his career, and the Lakers set a new record for most victories in a season, 69, including an astounding 33-game winning streak, the longest in any American professional sport. Chamberlain jokingly claimed to be unimpressed: "I played with the Harlem Globetrotters and we won 445 in a row," he said at the time, "and they were all on the road."

Chamberlain and West would win their first and only Lakers title in 1972, remarkably in the first season without Baylor. This team included the forwards, scorer Jim McMillian and rebounding and defensive specialist Happy Hairston. In the series against the Knicks, Chamberlain averaged 19.2 PPG and was elected Finals MVP, mainly for his incredible rebounding. In the final game, he scored 23 and had 29 rebounds, despite a badly sprained right wrist. Over the series, he averaged 23.2 rebounds per game, taking in almost a quarter of the series' entire rebound total—at age 36.

The next year, in what would be his final season as a player at age 37, Chamberlain still led the league in rebounding with 18.6 per game, while shooting an NBA-record 72.7% from the field.

I look back and know that my last seven years in the league versus my first seven years were a joke in terms of scoring. I stopped shooting—coaches asked me to do that, and I did. I wonder sometimes if that was a mistake.

San Diego Conquistadors
In 1973, the San Diego Conquistadors of the American Basketball Association, a league that had been founded to compete with the NBA, offered Chamberlain a $600,000 contract as player-coach, and Chamberlain accepted. The Conquistadors quickly circulated publicity photos of Chamberlain in a Conquistadors uniform holding an ABA ball. However, Chamberlain still owed the Lakers the option year on his contract, and they sued, arguing that this barred Chamberlain from playing for another team, even though it was in a different league. The case was arbitrated in the Lakers' favor, and Chamberlain was kept off the court. He never played another game in either league.

Chamberlain did coach the Conquistadors in that season, however, and he played on the court in practices and scrimmages with the team.

Legacy
With an offensive repertoire that consisted of dunks, finger rolls, and a fadeaway jump shot, the 7-foot 1-inch (2.16 m), 275-pound Chamberlain holds nearly 100 NBA records, including the record for most points in a game: 100. He is still the only player to score 4,000 or more points in one season (only one other time in the history of the NBA has another player scored 3,000 points -- Michael Jordan was just barely able to do it in his finest scoring season). He also recorded a phenomenal 55 rebounds in one game, and averaged 27 rebounds per game that season, setting the all-time record for rebounds in a season, one that still stands and has never been threatened.

From 1959 to 1963 (5 seasons), Chamberlain had a spectacular run, recording 5 of the top 7 (including the top 3) scoring averages of all-time. In 1962, he averaged 50.4 points per game, following that with 44.8 in 1963. His closest rival in this category is Elgin Baylor, who recorded the 4th best scoring average (38.3 in 1962).

Records and feats
Chamberlain scored 31,419 points in 1,045 professional games. This was the most in NBA history when he retired in 1973, though his scoring total has since been exceeded by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, and Michael Jordan. His career scoring average of 30.06 points per game (ppg) is second-highest in league history, fractionally behind Jordan's 30.12 ppg.

Chamberlain's 1961-62 scoring average of 50.4 ppg, accomplished with the Philadelphia Warriors, is by far the NBA record. Chamberlain also holds the next two spots on the NBA's season scoring average list with 44.8 and 38.4 points per game.

The 36 field goals and 28 free throws Chamberlain made in his 100-point game are still NBA regular season records for a single game (he shares the free throw record with Adrian Dantley), as is the 59 points he scored in the second half.

Chamberlain scored 60 or more points in a game an astonishing 32 times, more than all other NBA players combined (26 times). The closest player on that list is Michael Jordan, who accomplished the feat 5 times. See List of National Basketball Association players with 60 or more points in a game.

Chamberlain scored 50 or more points in a regular season game 118 times (45 times in the 1961-62 season alone). The next closest player on that list is Michael Jordan, who accomplished the feat 31 times.

Chamberlain holds the record for consecutive games scoring 40 or more points with 14 in 1961. This set of games includes a stretch of 7 straight games in which he scored over 50.

Chamberlain still holds the record for points in an NBA All-Star game with 42.

Chamberlain grabbed 23,924 rebounds in his career, the most of any player in NBA history. His career average of 22.9 rebounds per game is also the highest of any NBA player.

Chamberlain is the only player to grab more than 2,000 rebounds in a single season: 2,149 rebounds in the 1960-61 season (27.2 rpg) and 2,052 in 1961-62. Chamberlain's amazing 1961-62 season stat line: 4,029 points (50.4 ppg) and 2,052 rebounds (25.6 rpg).

Chamberlain set a record for rebounds in a regular season game with 55, against the Boston Celtics on November 24, 1960. The opposing center in that game was Bill Russell, who had held the prior one-game record of 51.

Chamberlain also holds the record for rebounds in a playoff game (again against Boston) with 41, on April 5, 1967.

Chamberlain owns the record for most career rebounds in the NBA All-Star game with 197.

Chamberlain led the NBA in rebounding 11 times, in field goal percentage 9 times, and in scoring 7 times. Less eye-catching stats also serve to demonstrate Chamberlain's dominance: after critics called him a one-dimensional (or even selfish) player, Chamberlain defiantly promised to lead the league in total assists the next season, which he did in 1968 at a rate of 8.6 per game.

Chamberlain is the only player in NBA history to record a double-triple-double (meaning 20 points, 20 rebounds, 20 assists in one game). In 1968 against the Detroit Pistons, he logged 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists, testimony to Chamberlain's versatility.
In a related note, Chamberlain is also the only player in NBA history to record a quadruple double-double (meaning 40 points, and 40 rebounds or 40 assists in a single game). On January 21, 1960, Chamberlain scored 58 points and grabbed 42 rebounds against the Detroit Pistons. On December 8, 1961 he surpassed this feat, when he scored a then-record 78 points and collected 43 rebounds against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Chamberlain as well holds the record for the longest continuous streak of triple-doubles with nine straight in 1968.

Chamberlain was also known for incredible stamina and durability. In 1962, he averaged 48.5 minutes per game, meaning that he played practically every minute of regulation as well as overtimes. His 3,882 minutes played out of the team's possible 3890 left an average of six seconds rest per game. Chamberlain played over 46 minutes per game for seven seasons, and his career 45.8 average is unmatched. Chamberlain also holds the top five marks in minutes played in a season and the top seven marks in minutes-per-game in a season, including 3882 out of a possible 3890 minutes in his superlative 1961-62 season, an average of more than 48 minutes per game.

Despite the fact that Chamberlain was regularly double- and triple-teamed on offense and was relied upon so heavily on defense, he never once fouled out of a game in his 14 years in the NBA. In at least one game, he accumulated five fouls during the fourth quarter, and the game went into overtime, but still he did not foul out. (Six fouls was the personal limit.)

As an arguable but somewhat probable note, many sportswriters attest that Chamberlain would have had several if not many quadruple-doubles, and may have averaged a triple-double (points, rebounds, blocks) over his career; but since he played in an era during which statistics on blocks and steals were not officially recorded, this remains speculation.

In one season (1961-62), Chamberlain set all three of these individual season records: 1) most free throws attempted, 2) most free throws made, and 3) most free throws missed.

The record for most free throws made was eventually broken by Jerry West, but the other two records still stand.

Chamberlain holds a number of NBA field goal percentage records that have never been approached by other players. In February of 1967, he made 35 straight field goals over a four game span including an 18-18 performance on February 24 against Baltimore. Chamberlain's 0.727 field goal percentage for the 1972-73 season is well ahead of the second best performance in NBA history — his own 0.683 mark from the 1966-67 season.

Although Chamberlain was a dominant rebounder, in 1971-72 Laker forward Happy Hairston grabbed 1,045 while Chamberlain pulled 1,572. This remains the only time any two NBA teammates have grabbed more than 1,000 rebounds in the same season.

Accolades

• Rookie of the Year (1959-1960 season)
• NBA All-Star Game MVP 1960
• 4x NBA regular season MVP (1959-60, 1965-66, 1966-67, 1967-68 seasons)
• 7x All-NBA First Team (1960, '61, '62, '64, '66, '67, '68)
• 3x All-NBA Second Team ('63, '65, '72)
• 2x NBA champion (1967, '72)
• 1x NBA Finals MVP (1972)
• 2x All-Defensive First Team (1972, '73)
• Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame (1978)
• One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996).
• Chamberlain ranked #2 in SLAM Magazine's Top 75 NBA Players of all time in 2003.
• Chamberlain ranked #13 in ESPN list of top athletes of the 20th century