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The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball

Page 47

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.

 

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