Wilt, 1962

by Gary M. Pomerantz

  Chamberlain let Frankie tug on his mustache: Carol Ann Morgan interview.

  football’s Roosevelt Grier, smoking a cigarette: Tom Gola interview.

  “I got a room twice this size…”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 334–335.

  “[McGuire’s] challenge is to develop further…”: Cave, “McGuire Raises a Standard,” 30.

  The driver kept turning over his right shoulder: Joe Ruklick and Ken Berman interviews.

  “White bread, rye bread…”: Philip Roth, Portnoy’s Complaint (New York: Vintage, 1994), 56.

  nickname, The Destroyer, grew from a collision: Al Attles interview.

  “We’re passing over Toledo, Ohio”: Ibid.

  “I’ve got a phone in my ass”: Ted Luckenbill interview.

  Dipper guzzled a bottle of 7-Up: Jeff Millman and Larry Jacobs interviews.

  “Two-Hand, Underhand Loop Shot”: John Christgau, The Origins of the Jump Shot: Eight Men Who Shook The World Of Basketball (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999), 12–13.

  still looking at his open palm: Joe Ruklick interview.

  “Don’t pay attention to his breathing”: Red Auerbach interview.

  they never had a meaningful discussion: Paul Arizin interview.

  a lifelong aversion to flowers: Ibid.

  “Meschery was a guy who looked slightly…”: Stan Hochman interview.

  “Tired of his guff”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (March 8, 1962).

  lived in the old home of the mad monk Rasputin: Tom Meschery interview.

  “You must be joking, Vladimir Nikolaevich”: Alexander Kerensky, Russia and History’s Turning Point (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1965), 345.

  Lvov bribed his way out: Tom Meschery interview.

  young Tom on his mother’s back: Ibid.

  a loaded pistol, two swords, and a photograph: Ibid.

  “There are the real drinkers…”: Paul Arizin interview.

  He might even sing Bobby Darin’s version: Joe Ruklick interview.

  “Wilt did everything in grandiose proportions”: Los Angeles Times (March 2, 1987).

  “You ever stop to take a leak?”: Joe Ruklick interview.

  “he had a lot more money…”: Tom Meschery interview.

  “they could beat the New York Yankees!”: Joe Ruklick interview.

  “Nobody leaves until only one man…”: Ibid. Also see: Chamberlain and Shaw, Wilt, 134–38.

  Gola, blushing, insisted it was a venial sin: Joe Ruklick interview.

  “This is not a book in the ordinary sense…”: Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer (New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1961), 2.

  “Perhaps it wasn’t so pleasant to smell…”: Ibid., 48.

  “Your mother would kill you…”: Joe Ruklick interview.

  “Joe, you sit at the end of the bench…”: Ibid.

  “Yeah. We screw your wife!”: Frank Radovich interview.

  “He is the best that has ever been”: “The 7-Foot Man,” Newsweek (December 17, 1956): 96.

  “Chamberlain’s great performance came under…”: Ibid.

  “It’s just ridiculous”: Ibid.

  his white Warrior teammates speaking more freely: Joe Ruklick interview.

  “A bonus check, Mogul?”: Ibid.

  “to vote your honest opinion”: Ibid.

  He strung their leashes: Ibid.

  “Yeah, I saw that movie”: Ibid.

  “You’re not in college anymore”: Ted Luckenbill interview.

  “Why did you do that?”: York Larese interview.

  “Frank’s boy”: Ibid.

  people didn’t think he had an education, or any intelligence: York Larese interview.

  many whites thought he couldn’t write or even talk: Wilt Chamberlain and Bob Ottum, “I’m Punchy from Basketball, Baby, and Tired of Being a Villain,” Sports Illustrated (April 12, 1965): 32–33.

  “What’s he sayin’, Dip?”: Joe Ruklick interview.

  Dutch country inn that was a favorite of Gotty’s: Ken Berman interview.

  CHAPTER 8: HALFTIME

  “the only p.a. announcer I’ve ever known…”: Philadelphia Inquirer (December 26, 1985).

  a box of New Phillies Cheroots cigars: Dave Zinkoff, “Zink at the Mike,” The Wigwam: Philadelphia Warriors vs. New York Knicks; Philadelphia Eagles vs. Baltimore Colts, Game Program (Hershey, PA, March 2, 1962. Published by the Philadelphia Warriors): 14. (Personal files of Ron Pollack.)

  “I won!”: Arnie Skaar interview.

  certified on the page in blue ink by the Zink’s handwritten: George Dirkes interview.

  “You asked to look at it”: Jim Johnston, Paul Wice, and George Dirkes interviews.

  “You two guys figure it out”: George Dirkes interview.

  The Zink offered Dirkes and Skaar: Ibid.

  “Let’s keep getting the ball to Dip”: Joe Ruklick interview.

  “I’m glad you didn’t back down from…”: Ibid.

  teammates a look of quiet resignation: Willie Naulls interview.

  Sweetcakes. That’s what Bill Russell called: Bill Russell as told to William McSweeny, Go Up for Glory (New York: Coward-McCann, Inc., 1965), 100–01.

  “Willie Naulls was a guy I wanted to be like”: Ray “Chink” Scott interview.

  “suave, smooth, experienced and well under control”: Leonard Koppett, “Great Future Awaits Walt Bellamy,” Knickerbockers vs. Chicago, Game Program (Madison Square Garden, January 23, 1962): 3. (Personal collection of Dave Budd.)

  “Willie, if you ever get traded, can I have…”: Sam Stith interview.

  inviting Naulls to his home: Willie Naulls interview.

  took Naulls to hear the Temptations and other Motown: Ibid.

  Dipper had invited him to drive back to New York: Ibid.

  “looked at what your parents gave you versus…”: Ibid.

  referred to as Willie the Black Whale: Ibid.

  Shooters always think they are about to make ten: Ibid.

  his heart set on popcorn and pinball: Kerry Ryman interview.

  CHAPTER 9: IMHOFF, GUERIN, AND THE KNICKS

  “You’re all I’ve got tonight”: New York Times (March 2, 1987).

  surfing in southern California, wearing white duck pants: Darrall Imhoff interview.

  at $12,500 per: Ibid.

  “If you want the ball…”: Ibid.

  “Get that sucker away from me!”: Rod Hundley interview.

  “Hey, Richie, I don’t want any part…”: Ibid.

  “C’mon, Richie! I’ll give you whatever…”: Bob Cousy interview.

  Richie will get you front row seats: Donnie Butcher interview.

  Richie could throw down a few at Clete Boyer’s: Ibid.

  He spent nearly two hours a day: Sid Gray, “Richie Guerin—Always Trying to Improve,” Knickerbockers vs. Syracuse, Game Program (Madison Square Garden, December 1, 1961) 3. (Personal collection of Dave Budd.)

  “I’ll punch your head off”: Pete D’Ambrosio interview.

  “Gimme twenty, rook”: Johnny Green and Darrall Imhoff interviews.

  gamblers were upset the Knicks: Darrall Imhoff interview.

  “Darrall, there’s something we need to talk…”: Ibid.

  “I never yet have had a player…”: Ibid.

  “is throw a rock at you”: Pete Newell interview.

  introduced him to the jazz music of Dave Brubeck: Willie Naulls and Darrall Imhoff interviews.

  Budd mistakenly used the tightly bristled hairbrush: Dave Budd interview.

  “His potential is such that every team…”: Leonard Koppett, “Knicks’ Future Bound to Be Better,” Knickerbockers vs. Syracuse, Game Program (Madison Square Garden, February 27, 1962): 3. (Personal collection of Dave Budd.)

  “Nothing indicates sufficient strengthening…”: New York Post (October 17, 1961).

  real value for their money: three hours of entertainment: Leonard Koppett interview.

  gathered at an Eighth Avenue tavern called the Everglades: Pluto, Tall Tales,
51.

  couldn’t secure a sponsor: Les Keiter interview.

  “No, but a lot of people set records against us”: Sam Stith interview.

  “freakish” or “praying mantis types”: New York Daily News (March 4, 1962).

  “I have strong reservations…”: Jerry Izenberg interview.

  The Post had a liberal Jewish readership: Leonard Koppett interview.

  “Yeah, Johnny Green is only six-foot-five…”: Jerry Izenberg interview.

  “You’ve been around longer than I have”: Sam Stith interview.

  Green so enraged, pulled him from Guerin: Johnny Green, Darrall Imhoff, and Sam Stith interviews.

  “You’re not playing cards with us tonight?”: Ibid.

  Maris sought a raise from $29,000: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (February 26, 1962) and Los Angeles Times (February 27, 1962).

  “What’s doin’, Rog?”: Leonard Koppett interview.

  Imhoff saw the crash site where workers searched: Darrall Imhoff interview.

  more than $60,000 floated: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (March 2, 1962).

  Phil Jordon had been thrown out of that game: Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (February 26, 1962).

  local Spokane Kiwanis Club had granted his widowed: Jim McGregor interview. See also: Jim McGregor, and Ron Rapoport, Called for Travelling: The Incredible Life Story of One of the Best-Known Basketball Personalities in the World (New York: Macmillan Publishing, Co, Inc., 1978), 5.

  his teammates wouldn’t see him again until: Ken Sears, Donnie Butcher interviews.

  “If I don’t play, I don’t care”: Donnie Butcher interview.

  “The last two months of the National Basketball…”: Bob Cousy with John Underwood, “Cousy Asks: Basketball—Or Vaudeville?” Sports Illustrated (March 19, 1962): 20–21.

  He brought a case of beer with him: Sam Stith interview.

  “Richie, how ya doin’?”: Ibid.

  He asked Butcher to get Pepto-Bismol: Donnie Butcher interview.

  “Butch, tell them I can’t go”: Ibid.

  CHAPTER 10: THIRD QUARTER

  “Run, jump, beat the ball down…”: Willie Naulls interview.

  Chamberlain’s refusal to whip the ball down: Red Auerbach interview.

  They met him in force above the free-throw line: Dave Budd, Johnny Green, Donnie Butcher, and Darrall Imhoff interviews.

  Donovan bit his lip, a nervous tic: Sam Stith interview.

  repeatedly slid pieces of paper to him, game facts: Toby Deluca interview.

  Chamberlain’s points, written in black ink, crossed: Ibid.

  one of the Lakers had broken through it: Tom Gola interview.

  clowns used red, varnished springboards: Kerry Ryman interview.

  needed to hang from the rim after each dunk: Ibid.

  cranking out news releases each time a new park: Harvey Pollack interview.

  his trusted Olivetti, a ditto machine: Ibid.

  “Wilt fade-away, 14 feet…”: Ron Pollack interview.

  “Please detail for us every field goal…”: Harvey Pollack interview.

  “Wilt, whose number do you want…”: Vince Miller and Harvey Pollack interviews.

  The Harrisburg Patriot would dictate: Harry Goff interview.

  “Mr. Strom informed me that Chamberlain…”: Norman Drucker telegram to Maurice Podoloff, January 3, 1962. (Personal files of Norm Drucker.)

  Ted Husing broadcast the remarkable five-set Davis: Bill Campbell interview.

  details about the curtains, the chair, and the table: Ibid.

  “This is Bill Campbell speaking…”: This quote is from the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. It can be heard online at www.angelfire.com/tv2/philapioneers/campbell.html.

  “What did you have to say that for?”: Ibid.

  “You’ll never know what it looked like…”: Tom Callahan interview.

  “You better get out of his way otherwise”: Al Attles interview.

  “It was as if he were an enlarged version…”: Joe Ruklick interview.

  “My own feeling for basketball had faded…”: John McPhee, A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton (New York: Farrar, Straus&Giroux, 1978), 6–7.

  big men had been called pituitary freaks: Bob Kurland interview.

  “Baseball’s time is seamless and invisible…”: Nicholas Dawidoff, ed., Baseball: A Literary Anthology (New York: The Library of America, 2002), 1.

  “Well, who put the half-dollar up there?”: Cal Ramsey interview.

  slammed with such force the ball bounced over: Bob McCollough, Fred Crawford, and Cal Ramsey interviews.

  “To the anti-basketball skeptic, Chamberlain’s massive…”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (January 16, 1962).

  “some goon stands under the basket and taps…”: Philadelphia Inquirer (March 2, 1962).

  “I respect Russell and he’s my friend”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (December 9, 1961).

  his most confident shooters suffered nightmares: Pete Newell interview.

  “Tell Wilt when he shoots that fall-away…”: Ibid.

  for fear he’d get hit by eggs or coins: Norm Drucker interview.

  “I assume you’re not paying any attention…”: Bill Russell and Taylor Branch, Second Wind: The Memoirs of an Opinionated Man (New York: Random House, 1979), 158–59.

  “The best way to help integration is to live…”: “How Do You Stop Him?” Time (January 25, 1963): 40–41.

  “Is this the way you build up basketball?”: Philadelphia Daily News (January 26, 1962).

  “I’d like to see Russell play Wilt all alone”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (January 16, 1962).

  “You stay right here”: Paul Vathis interview.

  CHAPTER 11: RYMAN OF CHOCOLATE TOWN

  as a young girl often saw Mr. Hershey: Lucille Poorman Ryman interview.

  “His ambition, generosity and success…”: Lucille Poorman (Ryman), “Our Founder,” poem written in 1945. Lucille Poorman Ryman’s personal files.

  a proposed split of the corporation stock: Hershey News (February 15, 1962).

  women’s bowling team, the Chocolettes, bound: Hershey News (March 15, 1962).

  set up by his mother in a chaise longue: Lucille Poorman Ryman interview.

  “We Like Ike, We Love Mamie!”: Hershey Community Archives. “Eisenhower Birthday Party, October 13, 1953.” Microfilm 85M54, No. 81-A57. This includes event coverage from the following newspapers: Harrisburg Sunday Patriot-News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Columbia (PA) News, York (PA) Dispatch, Pottsville (PA) Republican, Reading (PA) Eagle, Lebanon (PA) Daily News. Hershey Community Archives, Hershey, PA.

  “You’re growing up like a rich kid…”: Kerry Ryman and Reuel Ryman interviews.

  membership cost his parents three dollars: Ibid.

  lifted little Larry Wagner, a boy known as the Flea: Larry Wagner interview.

  for brands of cocoa beans: Java, Granada: Joel Glenn Brenner, The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars (New York: Broadway Books, 2000), 105.

  “I am trying to build here…”: Carter Nicholson, “Hershey—The Friend of Orphan Boys,” Success (October 1927): 118.

  he found, and fired, the supervisor: Oral History interview with Austin C. Geiling Jr. 1991. Accession: 910H30. Hershey Community Archives Oral History Collection, Hershey, PA, Tape 1, Side 1, transcript pp. 2–3 and 15.

  He was known to hire private detectives: Brenner, The Emperors of Chocolate, 116.

  “If this turns out to be a hangout…”: Ernie Accorsi Jr. interview.

  sold his caramel business for $1 million: Brenner, The Emperors of Chocolate, 105.

  the first spade dug into the valley’s: Ibid., 105.

  followed in 1907 by Hershey’s Kisses: Ibid., 113.

  complained of “da chockle shtink”: Roy Bongartz, “The Chocolate Camelot,” American Heritage (June 1973): 5.

  handshake from Hershey and $100: Dan Siev
erling interview.

  Henry A. Wallace dedicated its ornate theater: Brent Hancock interview.

  afterwards fans unknowingly jostled him: Ibid.

  mixed onions and carrots into his chocolate: Ibid.

  “Listen, you dumb Wop…”: Ernie Accorsi Jr. interview. Accorsi, Joseph Nardi’s grandson, related this entire anecdote, oft told within his family.

  “Hey, fellas, it sounds really good!”: Reuel Ryman interview.

  “Yoo-hoo, Loo-seal?”: Lucille Poorman Ryman and Kerry Ryman interviews.

  “We raised a little hell, but…”: Kerry Ryman interview.

  a tourist saw this, screeched his car: Kerry Ryman, Dave Damore, and Michael Larkin interviews.

  earlier had chauffeured for Ryman’s maternal grandfather: Kerry Ryman interview.

  he saw El Cid in the Hershey Theater eleven: Tim Brown interview.

  “You supposed to be the indestructible…”: Ibid.

  “kind of an unwritten rule”: Clarence Peaks interview.

  “Star performer for the Warriors, Wilt ‘the Stilt’…”: Hershey News (March 1, 1962).

  they played “Kick Hockey” near the concession: Kerry Ryman interview.

  Bugs Damore had jumped and landed: Michael Larkin interview.

  CHAPTER 12: STIRRINGS

  Lucille Ryman had watched the president: Lucille Poorman Ryman interview.

  “Were we to stand still while the Soviets…”: Philadelphia Inquirer (March 3, 1962).

  Hammond organ with the Charlie Morrison Trio: Reuel Ryman interview.

  “Hey, where are the Knicks tonight?”: Jerry Izenberg interview.

  amounted to rubbing it in, an honor code broken: The Sporting Life, ESPN Radio, March 2, 2002. Host Chuck Wilson, on the fortieth anniversary of the hundred-point game, interviewed Richie Guerin. “It was what was considered to be unprofessional,” Guerin said. “You know there is a certain code in sports where you don’t rub it in.”

  Jurgensen, in near awe, marveled at Chamberlain’s: Sonny Jurgensen interview.

  Wilt was a dominant force and he was in his own zone: Tim Brown interview.

  “Usually tall guys are sort of clumsy”: Gino Marchetti interview.

  thinking about beer, Marchetti and Pellington left: Ibid.

  the Sandman sat on a bench at courtside: Dave Damore interview.

  “If I had your money, Wilton…”: Pete D’Ambrosio interview.