by John Taylor
God, I’ve traded away: “Sportsman of the Year,” Sports Illustrated, Dec. 23, 1968.
“If he intends”: Russell, Go Up, 46.
Gross was a dry: Auth. ints. of Vic Ziegel and Michael Gross.
Ike Gellis, was a gambler: Auth. int. of Vic Ziegel.
a “digger”: New York Daily News, May 11, 1973.
Madison Square Garden: Riess, City Games, 29.
“This ain’t possession basketball”: Account of game in New York Post, Dec. 19, 1956.
“Not even pro baseball”: “Education of a Basketball Rookie,” The New York Times Magazine, Feb. 24, 1957.
“Russell, are you worried”: Bill Russell int. in USA Today, May 4, 1999.
“Bill Russell’s Buildup”: “Bill Russell Is Better Than Ever,” Sport, Jan. 1961.
Russell . . . became stuck: Boston Herald, Dec. 23, 1956.
“Just try not to let”: “I Was a 6¢9" Babe in the Woods,” The Saturday Evening Post, Jan. 18, 1958.
“Doesn’t this guy”: Ibid.
Auerbach, watching from the sidelines: “Sportsman of the Year,” Sports Illustrated, Dec. 23, 1968.
“You’ll have to forgive me”: Carey, High Above, 101.
“After waltzing effortlessly”: Boston Herald, Dec. 23, 1956.
“It’s certain that the increased receipts”: “Education of a Basketball Rookie,” The New York Times Magazine, Feb. 24, 1957.
“Boston Forming ‘Dynasty’ ”: New York Post, Dec. 28, 1956.
“If you let the names”: “I Was a 6¢9" Babe in the Woods,” The Saturday Evening Post, Jan. 18, 1958.
“putting the question”: Koppett, Twenty-four Seconds, 67.
“What do you do”: “I Was a 6¢9" Babe in the Woods,” The Saturday Evening Post, Jan. 18, 1958.
“Russell, what’s the matter”: Fitzgerald, Championship, 54.
Russell felt that the . . . fine: “I Was a 6¢9" Babe in the Woods,” The Saturday Evening Post, Jan. 18, 1958.
“What the hell”: Shapiro, Bill Russell, 60.
Years later, Auerbach would decide: “The Winning Ways of Red Auerbach,” Sport, March 1965.
“Hey, Bill!”: Harris, Lonely, 22.
blocked as “Wilsonburgers”: “We Are Grown Men Playing a Child’s Game,” Sports Illustrated, Nov. 18, 1963.
“In one beautiful”: Fitzgerald, Championship, 52.
“In a single generation”: “Basketball Is for the Birds,” Sports Illustrated, Dec. 8, 1958.
CHAPTER 6
“When one player”: New York Post, Dec. 28, 1956.
“I’ve never seen anything”: Ibid.
“I feel sick”: “Can Basketball Survive Chamberlain?,” The Saturday Evening Post, Dec. 1, 1956.
“And what is that?”: New York Post, Dec. 29, 1956.
“Wilt Chamberlain’s the greatest”: Chamberlain, Wilt, 68.
“Allen—and 14,000 others”: Enid (Oklahoma) Daily Eagle, Nov. 19, 1955.
“It took me”: Chamberlain, Wilt, 51.
Allen worked personally: “Why I Am Quitting College,” Look, June 10, 1958.
“Why isn’t Chamberlain”: “Can Basketball Survive Chamberlain?,” The Saturday Evening Post, Dec. 1, 1956.
“He played here”: Ibid.
years later Chamberlain admitted: Chamberlain, Wilt, 60.
The decision left Allen: Libby, Goliath, 34.
“He scored at will”: Auth. int. of Joe Ruklick.
“I’d enjoy the next”: Sullivan, Wilt Chamberlain, 42.
During the games: “Why I Am Quitting College,” Look, June 10, 1958.
“The trouble seemed”: Sullivan, Wilt Chamberlain, 46.
“I told Phog”: “Can Basketball Survive Chamberlain?,” The Saturday Evening Post, Dec. 1, 1956.
Although Chamberlain’s team: “How We Became the Champs,” The Saturday Evening Post, Dec. 14, 1957.
“We’re playing Wilt”: Chamberlain, Wilt, 67.
“We’re a chilly club”: Rappaport, Classic, 113.
Is this coach crazy?: “How We Became the Champs,” The Saturday Evening Post, Dec. 14, 1957.
Quigg was nervous: Rappaport, Classic, 111.
it wasn’t his fault: Chamberlain, Wilt, 68.
CHAPTER 7
The team’s offense: Auth. int. of Tom Heinsohn.
“If you play for me”: Boston Record American, Feb. 16, 1965.
Throughout the season: Auth. int. of Tom Heinsohn.
His teammate Jim Loscutoff: Fitzgerald, Championship, 98.
“You bunch of chokers!”: Auerbach, Red, 317.
Tensions existed: Auth. int. of Tom Heinsohn.
“Russ, this is my cousin”: Auth. int. of Tom Heinsohn. Also Heinsohn, Heinsohn, 76.
this struck Russell: Russell Go Up, 128.
“I think you ought”: Auth. int. of Tom Heinsohn. Also Heinsohn, Heinsohn, 92.
Cousy had a hot hand: Cousy, Basketball, 172.
“Coon!,” “Black nigger!”: Russell, Go Up, 94.
“The hatred between”: Auerbach, Winning, 186.
“You’re all stealing”: “I’ve Barely Begun to Fight,” Sports Illustrated, Nov. 18, 1968.
“Make it five”: Pettit, Bob Pettit, 56.
“What the hell”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 138.
“Look at that”: Ben Kerner int. in Boston Herald, Jan. 2, 1985.
“I must ascertain”: Auerbach, Red, 135.
“From all I hear”: Shaughnessy, Seeing, 127.
The team’s locker room: Auth. int. of Tom Heinsohn.
Don’t be throwin’: Auth. int. of Tom Heinsohn.
“Defense and dollars”: Greenfield, World’s Greatest, 149.
he still felt so nauseated: Hirshberg, Bill Russell, 10.
Auerbach told the team: Auth. int. of Tom Heinsohn.
“Shut up, Russell”: Auth. int. of Tom Heinsohn.
Heinsohn didn’t want to leave: Auth. int. of Tom Heinsohn.
Hannum put himself: “Old Days and Changed Ways,” Sports Illustrated, Nov. 25, 1968.
It seemed to Ben Kerner: Pluto, Tall Tales, 127.
Hannum liked to sit around brainstorming: “Old Days and Changed Ways,” Sports Illustrated, Nov. 25, 1968.
Ed Macauley wondered: Pluto, Tall Tales, 131.
Auerbach, watching: Auerbach, Winning, 5.
CHAPTER 8
“I have no definite proof”: Sullivan, Wilt Chamberlain, 35.
When he first arrived: “Why I Am Quitting College,” Look, June 10, 1958.
“It was nice talking to you”: Ibid.
“glandular infection”: Chamberlain, Wilt, 74.
Chamberlain had begun: “Why I Am Quitting College,” Look, June 10, 1958.
Chamberlain figured: “The Real Wilt Chamberlain,” Sport, March 1961.
“Very early”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 101.
“You might as well”: Chamberlain, Wilt, 101.
“idly palming”: The New York Times, June 19, 1958.
In almost every city: “Wilt vs. the NBA,” Sport, April 1959.
He was astonished: Chamberlain, Wilt, 90–91.
After touring Europe: Auth. int. of Michael Richman.
“a wonderful little guy”: The New York Times, Jan. 13, 1980.
“He pumped the house”: Auth. int. of Joe Ruklick.
“What can I tell you”: “Wilt vs. the NBA,” Sport, April 1959.
CHAPTER 9
You dumb schvartzeh!: Shaughnessy, Seeing, 115.
“If I can’t yell”: Boston Herald, Jan. 31, 1984.
“Do you think”: Russell, Go Up, 69.
“Russell, what do we”: Shaughnessy, Seeing, 115.
Russell had to put up: “Growing Up with Privilege and Prejudice,” The New York Times Magazine, June 14, 1987.
trouble finding a job: “Oscar Robertson at the Peak,” Sport, April 1964.
Cousy knew it was out: Cousy, Celtic Mystique, 55.
Russell was coolly rebuffed: “The Man Who Must Be Different,” Sport
s Illustrated, Feb. 3, 1958.
broken into twice: “The Unknown Side of Bill Russell,” Sport, March 1966.
Russell liked the house: “I Was a 6¢9" Babe in the Woods,” The Saturday Evening Post, Jan. 18, 1958; “We Are Grown Men Playing a Child’s Game,” Sports Illustrated, Nov. 18, 1963.
It seemed obvious: “I Owe the Public Nothing,” The Saturday Evening Post, Jan. 18, 1964.
“The crowds won’t stand”: Russell, Go Up, 73.
“a permanent fixture”: Branch, Parting, 203.
It stood out: Russell, Go Up, 14.
“Mike, I just worked”: Auth. int. of Michael Richman.
Gottlieb and Chamberlain announced: Philadelphia Daily News, May 31, 1959.
One of the first things: “The Real Wilt Chamberlain,” Sport, March 1961.
Then, in a game: “The Tragedy of Maurice Stokes,” Sport, Feb. 1959.
they were surprised: “The Big Collision,” Sport, Dec. 1959.
It was time, he decided: Chamberlain, Wilt, 102.
CHAPTER 10
He micromanaged his players’: Maraniss, When Pride, 223.
I’m not running a union: Auerbach, Red, 172.
it was said of Jones: Greenfield, World’s Greatest, 117.
“Red, . . . there’s a colored kid”: Ibid., 116.
“Had he attended”: “The Man Who Replaced Bob Cousy,” Sport, Nov. 1964.
“You’re a Yankee”: Halberstam, Summer, 23.
Auerbach, too, insisted: “A Master’s Touch,” Sports Illustrated, April 5, 1965.
his players liked to joke: Maraniss, When Pride, 331.
He once estimated: Auerbach, Red, 215.
“stupid and incompetent”: Shaughnessy, Seeing, 139.
“I won’t go”: Russell, Go Up, 98.
Edward Finke, who: Havlicek, Hondo, 137.
“He guarantees the integrity”: Cited in “Hothead on the Boston Bench,” Sport, Feb. 1956.
“No coach is so violently”: Cited in Shaughnessy, Seeing, 131.
“He will dominate”: “The Big Collision,” Sport, Dec. 1959.
“both beautiful”: The New York Times, Oct. 25, 1959.
“the finest debut”: New York Herald-Tribune, Oct. 25, 1959.
“The Age of Wilt”: Philadelphia Daily News, Oct. 26, 1959.
How do you defend: “Wilt Chamberlain As We Knew Him,” Sport, Aug. 1960.
preferred to play: “Pro Basketball Has Ganged Up on Me,” Look, March 1, 1960.
“probably the greatest”: “Doing Just Fine, My Man,” Sports Illustrated, Aug. 18, 1986.
Every day, he ate: “Pro Basketball Has Ganged Up on Me,” Look, March 1, 1960.
Tommy Heinsohn decided: Auth. int. of Tom Heinsohn.
“If we let”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 226.
“They’re getting away”: Libby, Goliath, 64.
Ruklick, Chamberlain’s white backup: Auth. int. of Joe Ruklick.
a thirty-three-year-old juvenile delinquent: Havlicek, Hondo, 87.
“Clyde said”: Auth. int. of Cal Ramsey.
Ball was surprised: Philadelphia Daily News, April 26, 1979.
“If I punch someone”: Sullivan, Wilt Chamberlain, 73.
“There were less than a hundred”: Auth. int. of Al Domenico.
“There are days”: “Walking Wounded Everywhere,” Sport, Feb. 1960.
“Suddenly, housewives”: “When Wilt and Russell Meet,” Sport, March 1960.
“What do they mean”: New York Post, March 21, 1960.
“You do that again”: Auth. int. of Tom Heinsohn.
“Believe it or not”: Carey, High Above, 131.
Chamberlain’s knuckles: New York Post, March 21, 1960.
“They have momentum”: New York Post, March 23, 1960.
“Is it true”: New York Post, March 25, 1960.
CHAPTER 11
The first was television: Manchester, Glory, 584–86, 877.
That 1958 game: “The Best Football Game Ever Played,” Sports Illustrated, Jan. 3, 1959.
commercial jet travel: Manchester, Glory, 818, 1002.
“an overweight ghost”: Cited in Koppett, Twenty-four Seconds, 104.
The Lakers struggled: Auth. int. of Elgin Baylor.
“If he had turned”: “Elgin Baylor: One Man Franchise,” Sport, April 1959.
“He never broke”: Cited in Pluto, Tall Tales, 171.
His one idiosyncrasy: Auth. int. of Elgin Baylor.
In the opening seconds: “Elgin Baylor: One Man Franchise,” Sport, April 1959.
Baylor also had: Account of Baylor’s boycott from auth. int. of Elgin Baylor; also “Life with Elgin Baylor,” Sport, March 1963.
“Never before had a”: “Elgin Baylor: One Man Franchise,” Sport, April 1959.
The army, more than happy: Auth. int. of Elgin Baylor.
The owners voted again: Pluto, Tall Tales, 181.
Baylor found out: Auth. int. of Elgin Baylor.
“He has arms”: Los Angeles Times, April 27, 1969.
Schaus finally started him: West, Mr. Clutch, 81.
CHAPTER 12
“He loved Saperstein”: Auth. int. of Seymour Goldberg.
Owners around the league: “Wilt Chamberlain As We Knew Him,” Sport, Aug. 1960.
“He never seemed”: Auth. int. of Joe Ruklick.
Johnston’s biggest problem: Auth. int. of Joe Ruklick.
“I’m trying to rebound”: “The Master Plan to Change Wilt Chamberlain,” Sport, March 1962.
“From then on”: Auth. int. of Joe Ruklick.
“Every player should be”: Sullivan, Wilt Chamberlain, 91.
“Chamberlain’s view was”: Auth. int. of Paul Arizin.
the players cruelly joked: Auth. int. of Joe Ruklick.
Chamberlain blamed the problem: The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 18, 1991.
Don’t let it bother you: Sullivan, Wilt Chamberlain, 87.
“You’re not a team!”: Libby, Goliath, 96.
Chamberlain, for his part: Chamberlain, Wilt, 123.
“That’s enough”: Auerbach, Red, 279.
“The best public relations man”: “McGuire Raises a Standard,” Sports Illustrated, Oct. 30, 1961.
McGuire talked: Ibid.
“never before”: Ibid.
Frank McGuire was: Auth. int. of Joe Ruklick.
He kept files: “How We Became the Champs,” The Saturday Evening Post, Dec. 14, 1957.
McGuire figured: Libby, Goliath, 81.
“Fifty?” Chamberlain protested: Philadelphia Daily News, April 27, 1959.
“I have two goals”: “The Master Plan to Change Wilt Chamberlain,” Sport, March 1962.
McGuire could not believe: Auth. int. of Al Attles; also Pluto, Tall Tales, 229, and “McGuire Raises a Standard,” Sports Illustrated, Oct. 30, 1961.
“If my scoring average”: Philadelphia Daily News, April 27, 1979.
“Frank was a more”: Auth. int. of Paul Arizin.
“Wilt,” he joked: Libby, Goliath, 107.
“Some day soon”: Wolf, Great Moments, 129.
“The game seemed”: McPhee, A Sense, 6.
“Basketball, professional basketball”: “Elgin Baylor and Basketball’s Big Explosion,” Sport, April 1961.
“On a hot night”: Ibid.
The game was seen: Auth. int. of Harvey Pollack.
In the years to come: Philadelphia Daily News, April 27, 1992.
