Most people know that Wilt Chamberlain (August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) is considered one of the most prominent and dominant players in NBA history.
Wilt played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played for the University of Kansas and also for the Harlem Globetrotters before playing in the NBA. He stood 7 ft 1 in tall and weighed 250 pounds as a rookie before bulking up to 275 and eventually to over 300 pounds with the Lakers. He is the only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game or average more than 40 and 50 points in a season.
…But, what most people don’t know is that Wilt Chamberlain dominated professional basketball at age 16, initially under a false identity and scoring as much as 46 points against professionals. He played under the fake name “George Marcus” at age 16 for the Pittsburgh Raiders. The next year, he averaged over 53 points per game at age 17 for the Quakertown Fay. According to the book Quakertown, Chamberlain was allowed to play for the Fays because the Pennsylvania Athletic Association didn’t have jurisdiction over the city schools at the time, so Wilt could play professionally without losing high school eligibility.
Wilt played for Philadelphia’s Overbrook High School. In his final Overbrook season, he continued his high scoring, once logging 74, 78 and 90 points in three consecutive games.
To learn more about Wilt Chamberlain’s incredible and crazy story about playing professional at age 16, see the great historical detective work shared by this user on Reddit.
And, this fascinating YouTube Video.
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