Wilt, 1962
Page 27
Huey had long noticed how the Dipper was wary of people. He feared they wanted his fame or his money. It was as if he made them pass a credibility test, and Huey believes it took her ten years to pass that test. At times, even when they were no longer lovers, he could seem possessive: Once Huey and her boyfriend dined with the Dipper and his lovely young date. Chamberlain ignored his date all night, kept his hand on Huey’s knee, told fond stories about “us” and “we,” and the next day Huey’s boyfriend said, “That old man still loves you.” A few days later the boyfriend disappeared from Huey’s life, apparently chased off by Wilt. In 1997, on Huey’s fiftieth birthday, the Dipper phoned her and sang “Happy Birthday.” When he finished, he told her, “You better keep that tape. It’s going to be worth something when I’m gone.” She believed that he became a victim of his own celebrity: “And he was trapped there until the end of his life. He didn’t know how to get out of it.” Huey sensed the Dipper would rather stay at home alone on a Saturday night than admit he didn’t have a date, “to propagate the legend.” “He refused to be loved or to love,” Huey said. “He could allow it only marginally or intermittently. He could never love one woman.”
But their friendship endured. For the mental stimulation of it, they debated social issues. He noticed how Los Angeles had resegregated in the 1990s and how at most of the parties they attended either all of the guests were white (plus Chamberlain) or they were all black (plus Huey), unlike the more integrated parties of the Seventies. Huey thought the Dipper no longer identified himself as black, often referring to black Americans as “they” or “them.” She asked him, “Why do you say they?” He didn’t like the question and only grunted: “Huh-huh-huh-huh.” He loved talking about his mother, whom he worshipped, and also about the old days of the NBA, including the hundred-point game. Not that he had to bring up the hundred-point game. Too many times Huey and the Dipper stood in an elevator and heard someone say, “I was at the hundred-point game, Wilt.” Huey heard it in Miami, Rome, Helsinki, and the Dipper would only nod each time, saying nothing, and then later would tell her how the claim proved how silly people were. “They weren’t there,” he would say to Huey. “Why do they tell me that they came to that hundred-point game?” It never occurred to him, apparently, that people wanted to please him with the reference.
They had been vacationing with friends on the Amalfi coast in 1993 when Huey first noticed Chamberlain’s physical decline. Hiking down mountains to the sea, the Dipper, his hip in pain, admitted, “I can’t make it,” and the admission stunned Huey. His world grew smaller at the end. No longer exchanging quips with James Baldwin or Redd Foxx at Smalls Paradise, now he was spotted alone at a serene spot overlooking the Pacific studying books on Spanish, while continually searching for friends to play with at night, often settling on his beach volleyball cronies for games of backgammon, cards, or dominoes. The Dipper slept little. His bedroom television always was turned on. In his final few months, when his virility was drained, Huey sensed he no longer knew what to do with himself.
In their last hours together, on the Dipper’s bed, they watched Shakespeare in Love. With Ursa Major’s ceiling open, a warm and lovely Santa Ana breeze moved through the room. He asked her to stay. Another movie, he said. But Huey had to leave, and as she did, she said, “Feel better, Wiltie.”
Three days later, the Dipper died alone. On a table by his bed was a picture of his mother. Huey believed he would have chosen to die alone, that as he had held life to himself, so, too, would he make death his and his alone. Rushing back to Ursa Major one last time, Huey saw the reporters at the front gate and the helicopters in the sky.
NOTES
PREFACE
sassing him by calling him “Globetrotter”: Wilt Chamberlain as told to Tim Cohane, “Pro Basketball Has Ganged Up on Me,” Look (March 1, 1960): 52–53.
“a first sight of the New York skyline”: Philadelphia Daily News (December 15, 1957). The writer was Sandy Grady.
“The most perfect instrument ever made by God…”: Sandy Grady, “The Master Plan to Change Wilt Chamberlain,” Sport (March 1, 1962): 67.
hide scars from thousands of mosquito bites: Wilt Chamberlain and David Shaw, Wilt: Just Like Any Other 7-foot Black Millionaire Who Lives Next Door (New York: Warner, 1975), 29.
stories about a great-grandfather six-foot-ten: Ibid., 33.
big crane standing in a pool of water: Philadelphia Daily News (February 2, 1960).
Philadelphia had its share of guys named Dippy: Ray (Chink) Scott interview.
wearing his three-piece suit, necktie: Bill Kashatus. Connie Mack’s ’29 Triumph (Jefferson, NC: MacFarland&Company, Inc., Publishers, 1999), 12.
some NBA dressing rooms kept boxes: Terry Pluto, Tall Tales: The Glory Years of the NBA, in the Words of the Men Who Played, Coached, and Built Pro Basketball (New York: Simon&Schuster, 1992), 55.
Players smoked cigarettes: Joe Ruklick and Al Attles interviews.
“Ladies and gentlemen…”: Marty Blake interview.
up to 500 semipro baseball games: Gaston J. Funzi, “The Warriors’ Bouncy Boss,” Greater Philadelphia (November 1960): 51.
Incredible, he thought: “How Do You Stop Him?” Time (January 25, 1963): 40.
Larese lifted the ball high: York Larese interview.
INTRODUCTION
The gardener found his body: Los Angeles Times (October 20, 1999).
first call went to Chamberlain’s attorney: Seymour (Sy) Goldberg interview. The detailed description of the Chamberlain death scene is drawn from Goldberg.
“It was the first time…”: Ibid.
every word of the Haggadah: Ibid.
The Dipper looked peaceful in bed: Ibid.
Built on a World War II Nike missile: Maria Semple and George Meyer interviews.
200 tons of stone and enough redwoods: Chamberlain and Shaw, Wilt, 290–91.
fur of 17,000 Arctic wolves’ noses: Ibid., 293–94.
the “X-rated room,” with mirrors: Ibid.
sharing chicken and dumplings and watching: Lynda Huey interview.
“Come on, baby! Come on…”: Ibid.
They slept together in his trailer: Ibid.
“a lot of fun, just silly, playful…”: Ibid.
“Almost by himself, he made the league…”: Oscar Robertson, The Big O: My Life, My Times, My Game (Emmaus, PA: Rodale, 2003), 150.
“I believe Wilt Chamberlain single-handedly saved…”: Ibid., 151.
only the second among the fifty: Nate Thurmond interview.
“We think it may have been a heart attack”: Los Angeles Times (October 13, 1999).
“a Herculean figure on the basketball…”: Washington Post (October 13, 1999).
“size, strength and intimidation…”: New York Times (October 13, 1999).
“If Wilt Chamberlain can die…”: Philadelphia Inquirer (October 13, 1999).
the Dipper cheated at cards: Cal Ramsey interview.
“I killed him with my bare hands”: Ibid.
no statistical equal of the Dipper’s hundred: Frank Selvy, Clarence “Bevo” Francis, and Newt Oliver interviews. In the collegiate ranks (where games last forty minutes), the hundred-point level was reached in the 1950s by two stars playing for obscure schools in games against even more obscure opponents: Clarence “Bevo” Francis of Rio Grande (Oh.) College against Hillsdale (Mich.) College and Frank Selvy of Furman College against New-berry (S.C.) College. These games occurred eleven days apart in February 1954, one in rural Ohio, the other in a South Carolina textile town. A fluid six-foot-nine jump shooter named for his father (who had assumed the nickname “Bevo” from his favorite near-beer made by Anheuser-Busch), Francis played in southeastern Ohio for a college on the brink of bankruptcy; Rio Grande (pronounced Rye-Oh Grand) had only ninety-two students, including thirty-nine boys. Playing against Bible seminaries, military bases, and assorted junior colleges, Rio Grande swept to an unbeaten season in 1953. In a thirty-two minute game against Ashland
(Ky.) Junior College, Francis scored 116 points, but the NCAA refused to recognize his performance as a Division II record because Ashland was not a degree-granting four-year institution. The next season, in a game against Hillsdale, played in a high school gym in Jackson, Ohio, Francis scored 113 points; he took seventy shots against Hillsdale (a degree-granting, four-year school) and was rewarded with his record. Selvy, a six-foot-three guard at Furman, converted a shot from nearly half-court at the final buzzer to reach one hundred points against winless Newberry College. A Newberry player was so aggressively inept in covering Selvy, he fouled out two minutes, forty-three seconds into the game. With his mother, Iva, watching him play in college for the first time, Selvy took seventy-two shots, including an array of hooks from the pivot and longer-range shots. “The only way we could’ve stopped him,” the Newberry coach said afterward, “was to slow it down and we weren’t going to do that.” It was the first time a college basketball game had ever been televised live in South Carolina. On black-and-white TV screens, both teams’ jerseys looked the same, prompting viewers to complain to local stations. Furman responded by changing at halftime into its purple road jerseys to provide more contrast.
“You can start only one black…”: Neil Isaacs interview.
standing reach was nine feet, seven: “Wilt the Stilt Chamberlain,” Look (February 19, 1957): 118.
Malcolm X had served as a teenaged waiter: Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (New York: Grove Press, 1964), 80–83.
Gotty rented the Dipper a gorgeous: Vince Miller interview.
at least fifty players from twenty-seven schools: Stanley Cohen, The Game They Played (New York: Carroll&Graf Publishers, Inc., 1977), 226–27.
The team dispatched players in sound trucks: Tom Hawkins interview.
“We’re going to be at the Sports Arena…”: Ibid.
fought with the White Russians: Tom Meschery interview.
He was in a new Cadillac: Willie Naulls interview.
cremated, per his family’s wishes: Seymour (Sy) Goldberg interview.
CHAPTER 1: THE DIPPER IN HARLEM
“God, Satan, and Mississippi notwithstanding…”: James Baldwin, Collected Essays (New York: The Library of America, 1998), 136.
six times the average yearly salary: Scott Derks, ed., The Value of a Dollar, 1860–1999. Millennium Edition (Millerton, NY: Grey House Publishing, 1999). The average income of an American worker in 1962 (including farm laborers) was $5,155 per year. The book cites the average income for a public school teacher as $5,291, a federal civil employee $6,643, and a manufacturer $6,291.
twenty fine suits, thirteen pairs: Wilt Chamberlain as told to Tim Cohane. “Pro Basketball Has Ganged Up on Me,” Look (March 1, 1960): 57.
Oriental-motif apartment: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Peter Knobler, Giant Steps (New York: Bantam Books, 1983), 82–83.
two, three, or four kids in each: Chamberlain and Shaw, Wilt, 19.
each morning they felt the trolleys rumble: Ibid.
“No, mama, this seat right here is open”: Ibid., 57–58.
“Sit down, relax…”: Tom “Satch” Sanders interview.
Big Pete, Little Pete: Vince Miller interview.
his shirts picked up at the cleaners: Ibid.
stuttered slightly, he was a riotous emcee: Lloyd Williams interview.
“Lincoln got his head on all the pennies”: Redd Foxx, Laff of the Party, Volume 1 (Los Angeles: Dootone Records, 1956).
his first New York nightclub date in a decade: Amsterdam News (November 25, 1961).
“Preacher’s wife had the biggest ass…”: Redd Foxx, Laff of the Party, Volume 2 (Los Angeles: Dootone Records, 1957).
a laid-back, Miles Davis, be-bop cool: Ray “Chink” Scott interview.
tried to pick up Chamberlain’s suitcase: Cal Ramsey interview.
the Abyssinian Baptist Church crowd: Bob McCollough interview.
“Meeting again at Smalls Paradise…”: “Café Society Rediscovers Harlem,” Ebony (June 1962): 35–42.
overwhelmed by the magnitude: K.C. Jones interview.
“the Black World Beyond the Veil”: W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folks (New York: Avon Books, 1965), 265. This book was first published in 1903.
Red Rooster, where Willie Mays had held: Sam Stith interview.
“I’ll be back in an hour”: Ibid.
“Will this thing never end?”: Amsterdam News (December 30, 1961).
Jackie Robinson co-hosted a cocktail party: Amsterdam News (April 8, 1961).
dark suit and shined black shoes, made his rounds: Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (New York: Grove Press, 1964), 402–404.
“Anybody can sit. An old woman can sit”: Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963–65 (New York: Simon&Schuster, 1998), 13.
dropped off his date at her home in Queens at 6:00: Chamberlain and Shaw, Wilt, 152.
sending a ballboy to get him two hot dogs: Pluto, Tall Tales, 334.
“You should have seen this dame…”: Robert W. Creamer, Babe: The Legend Comes to Life (New York: Fireside, 1992), 185.
“The blonde sitting underneath the basket”: Ken Berman interview.
CHAPTER 2: THE SHOOTING GALLERY
He showed the jeweler a ten-carat diamond: Ken Berman interview.
“I’ll have you a match”: Ibid.
Brown had attended the same parties: Tim Brown interview.
Chamberlain walked into his garage and lifted: Clarence Peaks interview.
his hand had disappeared entirely: Tommy McDonald interview.
Marchetti would spend about forty-five on beer: Gino Marchetti interview.
God, he would make a good tight end!: Ibid.
“Few people ever score four thousand…”: Philadelphia Daily News (March 3, 1962).
the Dipper yowling, “Man, look at this”: Dave Budd interview.
That’s Wilt: Darrall Imhoff interview.
“The visitors saw what looked…”: HersheyPark Arena: 50-Year Birthday Celebration, 1936/1937–1986/1987, a commemorative souvenir program. Hershey Community Archives, Hershey, PA.
manure carted in from the farmlands: Ibid.
briefcase full of one hundred dollar bills: Donnie Butcher interview.
reminded him of a coal mining camp: Ibid.
initially a kid disc jockey at the Steel Pier: Bill Campbell interview.
gargled before each broadcast with Turtle Wax: Pat Williams interview.
General Electric refrigerator with a freezer: Earl Whitmore interview.
“You’re a sportsman, Mr. Whitmore…”: Ibid.
“Okay, boys, that’s it”: Paul Vathis interview.
“I told you, ‘No more…’”: Ibid.
“They can’t even skate”: Bill Pavone interview.
“I’m in ladies’ panties”: Bern Sharfman interview.
“that the two places you didn’t try to live…”: Ibid.
met Chamberlain once at the High Hat: Ted Russ interview.
“I’ve got two salesmen with me”: James Hayney interview.
“Evo, how’d you like to see the Yankees…”: Evo Ianni interview.
unpatrolled room where the Zamboni: Michael Larkin and Woody Slaybaugh interviews.
boy with the ticket would have propped open: Kerry Ryman interview.
keep sneakered feet out of sight, clambered atop: Kerry Ryman and Michael Larkin interviews.
eye to the floor for dropped ticket stubs: Michael Larkin interview.
When the arena lights dimmed: Dave Damore, Kerry Ryman, and Jim Balmer interviews.
CHAPTER 3: FIRST QUARTER
Warriors in Hershey were eleven-point favorites: New York Herald-Tribune (March 2, 1962).
the Dipper winning the opening tip: Sam Goldaper, “The BIG Game,” HomeCourt, Utah Jazz magazine (March 1997): 70.
The Dipper rebounded and dunked: Ibid.
“We’ve never beaten Minneapolis
…”: Carl Bennett interview.
oranges, crushed paper cups, a shoe: Johnny Oldham and Boag Johnson interviews.
“Let them do what they want”: Vern Mikkelsen and John Kundla interviews.
“Why are you doing this?”: Boag Johnson interview.
pregnant woman pulled out an umbrella: Johnny Oldham interview.
“Lakers Defeated 19–18…”: Minneapolis Tribune (November 23, 1950).
“slow motion that would shame the movies”: St. Paul Dispatch (November 23, 1950).
“[The Pistons] gave pro basketball a great…”: Ibid.
“I want to find out to what extent league rules…”: Minneapolis Tribune (November 24, 1950).
neither team even attempted a shot: Chicago Tribune (January 7, 1951).
120 total shots divided by 48: Harvey Pollack interview.
Oldham decided that if the Three Stooges: Johnny Oldham interview.
silver cufflinks that read “71”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 175.
“I’m covering you one-on-one tonight”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (December 10, 1961).
“And I think he would have scored a hundred…”: Philadelphia Daily News (December 9, 1961).
“Someday I could do it if I were relaxed, cool…”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (December 10, 1961).
“The Big Fella is going to get one hundred…”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 228–29.
Guerin had driven into the lane repeatedly: Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (February 26, 1962).
hear him in Convention Hall’s $1.25 cheap: Philadelphia Daily News (February 27, 1962).
He imagined the chair as Bill Russell: “The Playmaker,” Time (February 1, 1960): 40.
“Good luck, ‘Shake Hips’”: Ron Pollack interview.
Any catcall from the crowd, Guy Rodgers heard: Hal Lear interview.
McGuire once snuck a deflated basketball: Chamberlain and Shaw, Wilt, 148–49.
Imhoff thrust his right forearm: Darrall Imhoff interview.