Wilt Chamberlain Breaks Basketball

Sports History This Week

March 2, 1962. Wilt Chamberlain, the NBA’s biggest star, makes the long drive out to Hershey, PA. There’s no pro basketball team in Hershey, but tonight, the town made famous for its chocolate is hosting a matchup between the Philadelphia Warriors and the New York Knicks. Chamberlain is Philly’s biggest star and he’s having a great season, but he partied hard the night before. Which makes what happens next all the more incredible.

Today, Wilt Chamberlain leads the Warriors against the Knicks in one of the most unforgettable individual performances in the history of team sports. How did the unique combination of circumstances set the stage for his truly unique achievement? And how does the NBA fundamentally change basketball to all but ensure that it will never happen again?

Special thanks to our guests: Ron Pollack, head statistician for the Philadelphia 76ers, Frank Fitzpatrick, former sportswriter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and author of “And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Basketball Game That Changed American Sports,” and Gary Pomerantz, author of “Wilt, 1962,” and “The Last Pass: Cousy, Russell, the Celtics, and What Matters In The End.”

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