Imhoff also placed his right foot between: Ibid.
NBA referees worked seventy games a year or more: Norm Drucker interview.
“The way you called the game…”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 38.
Smith, earning $120: Pete D’Ambrosio interview.
He even brought his own brown paper: Norm Drucker interview.
flow of the game early, aggressively seeking the ball: Darrall Imhoff interview.
Why am I not allowed in here?: Ibid.
“why don’t you just give the guy a hundred…”: Ibid.
with a beer in hand and hoping: Tom Gola interview.
“You’re a local kid so we’ll have a night…”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 208.
“Wilt was Philadelphia…”: Tom Gola interview.
accidental elbow that put a small dent: Ibid.
“What are you doing?”: Rod Hundley interview.
Chamberlain was thinking about a record: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (March 3, 1962).
CHAPTER 4: THE RISE OF THE DIPPER
“to be a good boy”: Cecil Mosenson interview.
wearing a scarf, a beret, and dark sunglasses: Ibid.
“You’re not going to pull that crap…”: Ibid.
“I want you to come up here and play us”: Hal Lear and Wally Nowacki interviews.
front doors thrown open and neighbors pouring: Hal Lear interview.
girls said, suggestively. “How big is he?”: Dave Shapiro interview.
“Don’t tell Dippy, okay?”: Ibid.
the Dipper pull from his satchel a BB gun: Ibid.
“Mainly from above the rim”: Joe Goldenberg interview.
Dipper, after separating the combatants, raised his arms: Cecil Mosenson interview.
Forrest “Phog” Allen had bragged that the freshman: Pete Newell interview.
“one out of ten [classes]”: Al Oerter interview.
“Somehow you don’t look like Wilt”: Ibid.
Saperstein offer Chamberlain one-third ownership: Ibid.
heard jazz jam sessions at nightclubs: Maurice King interview.
“How’d you like that…”: Neil D. Isaacs, Vintage NBA: The Pioneer Era 1946–56 (Indianapolis, IN: Masters Press, 1996), 103.
He let the Dipper drive his car: Chamberlain and Shaw, Wilt, 93.
Lester, his mythical hound dog: Max Falkenstien interview.
“Nobody ever asked us to leave…”: Maurice King interview.
a police car’s flashing blue lights: Ibid.
“I single-handedly integrated Kansas”: Lynda Huey interview.
Chamberlain’s car was already packed: Max Falkenstien as told to Doug Vance, Max and the Jayhawks: 50 Years On and Off the Air with KU Sports (Wichita, KS.: The Wichita Eagle&Beacon Publishing Company, 1996), 71–72.
he wore Band-Aids over his nipples: Chamberlain and Shaw, Wilt, 113.
“You gotta shoot more…”: Ibid., 108.
The greatest girl hounds: Ibid., 99.
“You’re in my country now…”: Louis “Red” Klotz interview.
“Drive me to 4700 North Broad…”: Mike Richman interview.
blacks were rocks, whites were you-alls: Chamberlain and Shaw, Wilt, 99.
“with thighs that made me want to cry…”: Abdul-Jabbar and Knobler, Giant Steps, 86–88.
place himself in a woman’s view, make eye contact: Lynda Huey interview.
edge of not knowing what to say by being slightly rude: Ibid.
“If we lust in earnest for each other…”: Wilt Chamberlain, A View from Above (New York: Villard, 1991), 261.
a young white woman waiting for Chamberlain: Tom Gola interview.
in sixteen states, mostly in the South: New York Times (June 13, 1967). This story explains the U.S. Supreme Court unanimous ruling that individual states cannot outlaw marriages between whites and nonwhites.
“Guess we won’t see Wilt until game time…”: Frank Radovich interview.
grandmother because she thought him godless: Tom Meschery interview.
They called him Wilt’s boy: Ibid. This anecdote is drawn from Meschery.
“I’m not angry with you”: Ibid.
“Wilt and I became more friendly…”: Ibid.
“We think that the President is a fine…”: Arnold Rampersad, Jackie Robinson: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), 362–63.
Selective Patronage Program to boycott: Reporting Civil Rights: Part One. American Journalism 1941–1963 (New York: The Library of America, 2003), 565–572. See also: Gerald L. Early, This Is Where I Came In: Black America in the 1960s (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003), 91–93. Early’s essay, “Cecil B. Moore and the Rise of Black Philadelphia, 1964–68,” depicts racial tensions and the resultant political mobilization of the African-American community in Philadelphia during the early and mid-Sixties. Early writes, “The level of frustration and anger in the black community [in Philadelphia] in the early 1960s was high, especially because the civil rights movement had heightened the political consciousness of ordinary blacks and because slowly improving economic conditions had heightened people’s expectations.”
“For the Northerner … Negroes represent…”: Baldwin, Collected Essays, 179.
Wisconsin for the candidacy of Hubert Humphrey: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 343.
“Is there a medal anywhere…”: Ibid., 363.
a supportive boss at Chock Full o’Nuts: Ibid., 337.
“titular head of the drive intended to make democracy…”: A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. letter to Wilton Chamberlain, March 22, 1960. NAACP, Philadelphia branch, Urban Archives, Temple University, Philadelphia Pennsylvania.
privately insisted that only black contractors: Sy Goldberg interview.
“it would reflect on me and then indirectly…”: New York Times (March 28, 1960).
“I never saw any evidence of racial prejudice”: New York Times (March 27, 1960).
“Maybe if Bill Russell said it, I’d pay attention”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (March 29, 1960).
“If Wilt is worrying about the effect…”: New York Post (March 28, 1960).
“It would be better for me and I could do more…”: New York Times (August 11, 1960).
NAACP branch in Philadelphia threatened to boycott: Philadelphia Daily News (March 10, 1962).
noticed five black Packers on the court: Pete D’Ambrosio interview.
“the loneliest town in the world”: Bill Russell as told to William McSweeny. Go Up for Glory (New York: Coward-McCann, Inc., 1965), 155.
“Woody Sauldsberry’s gonna be traded”: Al Attles interview.
Celtics owner Walter Brown fumed: Boston Globe (October 18, 1961).
“I will not play any place again…”: Boston Herald (October 18, 1961).
“No thinking person in Kentucky…”: Boston Globe (October 19, 1961). Also: Lexington (KY) Herald and Lexington Leader (October 18, 1961).
Lloyd explained to the rookie the way things were: Earl Lloyd and Ray Scott interviews.
“you were black your order always was to go”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 76.
“you felt responsible for each other”: Earl Lloyd interview.
“I about wanted to cry”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 75–76.
you must wear a suit and tie: Earl Lloyd interview.
“I’m not crusading for anyone”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (March 29, 1960).
CHAPTER 5: SECOND QUARTER
yet another late night: Donnie Butcher interview.
“Like a swan with a broken wing”: Philadelphia Daily News (December 12, 1961).
“Hey, Cleeve-laaaaand!”: Sam Stith interview.
“He was used to seeing country food…”: Johnny Green interview.
Jim Krebs, feigned fear, covered his head, and ran: Rod Hundley and Tom Hawkins interviews.
“backward explosion like a whale breaching…”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (January 13, 1961).
“was the overriding factor in Wilt’s whole psychology”: P
aul Arizin interview.
“the jolly giant’s fee-fi-fo-fum syndrome”: Tom Hawkins interview.
“Basketball is for the birds—the gooney birds”: Shirley Povich, “Basketball Is for the Birds,” Sports Illustrated (December 8, 1958).
he was less likely to be fouled, for him a good thing: Pluto, Tall Tales, 233.
“I tried to interview the guy standing up…”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (February 4, 1960).
“My family’s always laughed at me singing”: Ibid.
saw “Jumpin’” Bill Manning dunk: Johnny Green interview.
“Betcha can’t block this shot”: Ibid.
“You can’t let Embry do that!”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 226.
He pinched Wilt’s leg, side, or elbow: Clyde Lovellette interview.
teeth before realizing they remained in his mouth: Clyde Lovellette and Paul Arizin interviews.
“You get your ass out of that bed and sit up…”: Red Auerbach interview.
“What’s this boy doing here?”: Ibid.
“How many did ya get, Red?”: Johnny “Red” Kerr interview.
“H’lo, Mister Chamberlain”: Tom Gola, Norm Drucker, York Larese, and Darrall Imhoff interviews.
“Mister Bellamy, please tell Walt…”: Norm Drucker interview.
The first nine shots Walter Bellamy took: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin and Philadelphia Daily News (November 20, 1961).
“It was sad, man”: Earl Lloyd interview. Lloyd was an assistant coach for Detroit in 1961–62 and saw this game.
“Anybody can make a free throw”: Joe Ruklick interview.
“cornpone, kind of like an addled Jerry Lee Lewis”: Alan Richman interview.
“It was, honestly, the most pathetic…”: Philadelphia Daily News (February 26, 1962).
referees knew Kiser as “Poison Pen”: Norm Drucker interview. See also: Neil D. Isaacs, Vintage NBA: The Pioneer Era 1946–56 (Indianapolis, IN: Masters Press, 1996), 227.
Strom, smarting from Kiser’s criticism, once scuffled: Norm Drucker interview.
“You’re dumping, you’re shaving points…”: Ibid.
Leonard Lewin and Leonard Koppett, liked the Dipper: Leonard Lewin and Leonard Koppett interviews.
“too many writers around the league…”: Philadelphia Daily News (December 19, 1961).
“Seeing as how this is a sportswriters’ dinner…”: Philadelphia Daily News (March 30, 1960).
“Wasn’t that a lovely acceptance speech?”: Ibid.
trains blew soot that speckled copy paper: Sandy Grady interview.
“Bazooms! Give me more bazooms!”: Ibid.
Tummeling is what he called it: Larry Merchant interview.
“because Jack didn’t have standout writing…”: Sandy Grady interview.
“Eddie Gottlieb pays $1,000 [per game] to see Wilt…”: Philadelphia Daily News (December 15, 1961).
“With Convention Hall attendance what it is…”: Philadelphia Daily News (January 11, 1962).
“Wouldn’t it be fitting and proper…”: Philadelphia Daily News (January 30, 1962).
“Wasn’t the ignoring of Sam Jones…”: Philadelphia Daily News (January 5, 1962).
“There was something very intense about him”: Larry Merchant interview.
“Why didn’t you take Wilt out…”: Philadelphia Daily News (November 15, 1961).
“Why the intense attack?”: Ibid.
THE MAN WHO WAS NEVER A BOY: Philadelphia Daily News (February 2, 1960). Kiser’s series, “Exclusive: The Wilt Chamberlain Story,” ran for five consecutive days.
“Even if Chamberlain was … bluffing…”: Philadelphia Daily News (March 28, 1960).
“just to show Kiser that he didn’t know…”: Jim Heffernan interview.
“Nobody can breathe on him without getting…”: Philadelphia Daily News (November 10, 1961).
“They’ve created a monster…”: Philadelphia Daily News (January 19, 1962).
“How do you think the other [Warriors] players…”: Philadelphia Daily News (January 19, 1962).
“Now that Wilt Chamberlain has gone cold…”: Philadelphia Daily News (January 5, 1962).
“At last glance Wilt was hitting 49.3 percent…”: Philadelphia Daily News (February 6, 1962).
“It could be that all of Chamberlain’s dunk shots…”: Philadelphia Daily News (December 15, 1961).
“he pads his bank account”: Boston Traveler (January 19, 1962).
source of Wheelright’s material was … Jack Kiser: Hugh Wheelright interview.
“Has anybody on this club been told to feed…”: Philadelphia Daily News (January 20, 1962).
“It was a malicious, vicious article, Hugh”: Hugh Wheelright interview.
“It’s yellow journalism!”: Ibid.
The secret remained theirs to keep: Ibid.
CHAPTER 6: GOTTY AND THE ZINK
Gotty drove to Hershey: Jim Heffernan interview. Heffernan rode with Gottlieb and Zinkoff to Hershey.
“A mogul is a top banana”: Frank Deford, “Eddie Is the Mogul,” Sports Illustrated (January 22, 1968): 43.
“Get over to that corner there…”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (December 8, 1979).
“He’s meshugs”: Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia, PA). Undated. Eddie Gottlieb file. Greater Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. The Gershman Y.
“Why the hell did you do that?”: Funzi, Greater Philadelphia (November 1960): 52.
“waitresses,” he called them: Philadelphia Inquirer (December 26, 1985).
“Why buy a cow when milk is so cheap?”: Ibid.
“Now maybe the girl thought…”: Deford, “Eddie Is the Mogul,” 44.
“size and shape of a half-keg of beer”: New York Times (January 13, 1980).
“bloodhound, a wonderful face with big John Huston jowls”: Tom Meschery interview.
“What do you mean, what does a promoter do?”: Funzi, Greater Philadelphia (November 1960): 20.
later attended the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (December 8, 1979).
“We’ll do your laundry, too”: Philadelphia Inquirer (December 10, 1979).
preferably in cash since that saved him three: Deford, “Eddie Is the Mogul,” 43.
He ripped the ball from the kid’s hands: Paul Arizin interview.
gauge a crowd, and guess its size, invariably: Jim Heffernan interview.
the stakes always were the same—a prune Danish: Philadelphia Daily News (December 7, 1979).
“takes a certain kind of mechanical brain”: Funzi, Greater Philadelphia (November 1960): 20.
they couldn’t read the denominations: Angelo Musi, Jr., interview.
team’s players wore Hebrew letters across their chests: James Rosin, Philly Hoops: The SPHAs and Warriors, A Look at the First Two Professional Basketball Teams in the City of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Autumn Road Publishers, 2003), 3.
“Half [the fans] would come to see the Jews killed…”: Jewish Exponent. Undated. Eddie Gottlieb file. Greater Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. The Gershman Y.
Gotty drove his eight-seat Ford touring car: Rosin, Philly Hoops, 9.
Gil Fitch, rushed into the locker room: Gil Fitch interview.
“Many a fella met his wife there”: Funzi, Greater Philadelphia (November 1960): 50.
“And what’s your problem?”: Angelo Musi, Jr., interview.
Gotty instructed the Zink to drive around the parking: Jim Heffernan interview.
Listen, I’ve got news for you: Joe Ruklick interview.
“Just bring your own chair”: Marty Blake interview.
“seventy-five percent black in five years”: Carl Bennett interview. See also: Ron Thomas, They Cleared the Lane: The NBA’s Black Pioneers (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002), 24–25.
“This was my blood; this wasn’t a tax gimmick”: Deford, “Eddie Is the Mogul,” 45.
“You dumb S.O.B.”: Carl Bennett interview.
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“Wait until the people in Convention Hall…”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (October 20, 1959).
With ratings and sponsor interest: Philadelphia Daily News (January 18, 1962).
“And they were here as guests”: Philadelphia Daily News (December 15, 1961).
“Would we draw better without Wilt?”: Philadelphia Daily News (January 26, 1962).
CHAPTER 7: MCGUIRE AND HIS WARRIORS
“to see that Wilt made the plane on time”: Dean Smith with John Kilgo, and Sally Jenkins, A Coach’s Life (New York: Random House, 1999), 73.
named by the Barbers of America: Ray Cave, “McGuire Raises a Standard,” Sports Illustrated (October 30, 1961): 36.
McGuire had walked the New York waterfront: Carol Ann Morgan interview. Ms. Morgan is the daughter of Frank McGuire.
“It’s a bum rap”: Joe Ruklick interview.
On one side he’d put the cops he knew: Smith with Kilgo, and Jenkins, A Coach’s Life, 47.
greasing palms, a ten-spot to the hatcheck lady: Jack Curran interview.
“as dissimilar as a bagel and a steak”: Cave, “McGuire Raises a Standard,” 33.
drank J&B Scotch Mist: Tom Gola interview.
Wilt’s making all this money: Pluto, Tall Tales, 229.
$10,000 in expense: Ibid., 230.
“I don’t want you to worry about…”: Carol Ann Morgan interview.
“You lost your coach last night”: Al Attles interview.
“It costs twenty-five cents more…”: Smith with Kilgo, and Jenkins, A Coach’s Life, 46.
ball to Chamberlain “two-thirds of the time”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 227.
“We should win the pennant…”: Paul Arizin interview.
“We’re ahead 50–0 at the start…”: Tom Gola interview.
“Coach, whatever you say is fine…”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 227.
“I’ll go get him when I want to”: Philadelphia Daily News (February 5, 1960). Also: Joe Ruklick interview.
“Wilt responds to leadership by someone…”: Cave, “McGuire Raises a Standard,” 33.
“Chamberlain will score about a hundred thirty…”: Jimmy Breslin, “Can Basketball Survive Chamberlain?” The Saturday Evening Post (December 1, 1956): 106.
Naturally, Wilt won the tap, but: Tommy Kearns interview.
“How long do you want to play?”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 226.
Wilt, 1962 Page 28
