Oh, What A Night
http://www.atomicsportsmedia.com/articles/795/1/Oh-What-A-Night/Oh-What-A-Night.html
Peter Giordano
By Peter Giordano
Published on 03/31/2007
Kobe Bryant's recent scoring binge made the sports world stand up and pay attention. It also brought the name Wilt Chamberlain back to the lips of broadcasters and fans. Pete Giordano takes a look back to the epic night in Hershey, PA when Wilt set the NBA record that stands above all others.
Kobe Bryant's recent scoring binge made the sports world stand up and pay attention. It also brought the name Wilt Chamberlain back to the lips of broadcasters and fans. Pete Giordano takes a look back to the epic night in Hershey, PA when Wilt set the NBA record that stands above all others.
Oh, What A Night
When it first comes to mind, the city of Hershey, PA is notorious by many for one thing, it’s Chocolate. Visitors in the town will tell you how refreshing and wonderful the smell of chocolate is some miles away. Some even regard the small community as Chocolatetown, USA. Okay, enough about Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Hershey’s Kisses already. Much of this nation will overlook how famous this small town in western PA became on March 2nd, 1962, some 45 years ago.
It was a time where the #1 song on the Billboard Top 100 hit list was Elvis Presley’s “Good Luck Charm,” and Hershey’s Chocolate World was a good ten years from opening. An infant boy who will later be nicknamed “MJ” will be born a year later. Perhaps most importantly however, the Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain was as fierce and hostile as ever.
Chamberlain made history that second day of March. How a man standing at seven feet and one inch tall could score 100 points in a single game, the sports nation wanted to hear about it.
It was between the hometown Philadelphia Warriors and their rivals from up north, the New York Knickerbockers. A cold and slushy Friday night, neither team was very enthusiastic in playing a meaningless game with no impact on the final standings. Heck, the game wasn’t even on television! Thus the game was still played before a crowd of slightly more than 4,000 fans at the Hersheypark Arena, a place where the Warriors played only a few times a year.
From the opening tip, the Warriors were out in front pouring on bucket after bucket. The game could have been called after the first quarter where the Knicks were down 42-26. Chamberlain in only his fourth season as a pro racked up more than half his teams points with 23! In the second quarter, more points followed. Wilt “the Stilt” scored another 18. For all you Journalism majors out there, that’s 41. Still, he’s got to have a better second half performance to even flirt with the century mark. A fun fact: Kobe Bryant scored only 26 points before halftime on route to his 81 point performance against the Raptors last year.
The biggest question coming out of the first half is which player from the Knicks is getting posterized every time on D? Well, the luckiest man of the night was Phil Jordon. He was the Knicks regular center that year, but was sidelined with an injury. Darrall Imhoff (Yeah, I have no idea who he is either), a former second overall pick in the 1960 NBA Draft assumed Jordon’s duties. Ironically, Imhoff was traded that same year to the Pistons. Tough break, Darrall.
The second half was more entertaining than the first for obvious reasons. Players all around Wilt knew something was brewing. His teammates kept feeding him for dunk after dunk. Posters of Chamberlain dunking on Imhoff were being made and sold in the parking lot for half price. Chamberlain went perfect from the floor that quarter. Chamberlain made ten buckets that quarter and went perfect from the free throw stripe. Journalism majors: his total in three quarters is around the 69 mark. That’s funny, wasn’t Wilt famous for another number in his life? 20,000 if I’m not mistaken. Coincidence? I think not.
The fourth quarter of play was one to remember. Still more dunks, but this time some sky hooks and bank shots were thrown into the mix. A little more than five minutes remained and Wilt was eleven away from pandemonium. A lay-up and a twelve footer later, Wilt had 93. When Chamberlain reached 98, he played some D and stole passing only having his 100th point rim out. In the final minute, Chamberlain took a pass from one of his teammates and fittingly, dunked it home. After this happened, fans apparently rushed the court in jubilation. According to the audio tape that’s in Springfield at the Hall of Fame:
“It's good! He made it! That's 100! Oh, the fans are all over the floor now…!”
The final score was Philadelphia 169 and the Knicks, 147.
I wasn’t at this game and I am sure most of you weren’t either. It’s important to understand how unbreakable this record is. Kobe Bryant holds second place for most points in a game with 81, still 19 points away from tying it! The other week, it took not one but two players (Michael Redd and Ben Gordon) to even reach 100 point total. If Jordan couldn’t do it, I don’t know who can. Don’t you dare say Lebron James, either. It’s a record that will stand forever, much like Cal Ripken’s 2,632 straight game streak and Joe DiMaggio’s hit streak. These records are something that even performance enhancing drugs can’t touch.
It was a time where the #1 song on the Billboard Top 100 hit list was Elvis Presley’s “Good Luck Charm,” and Hershey’s Chocolate World was a good ten years from opening. An infant boy who will later be nicknamed “MJ” will be born a year later. Perhaps most importantly however, the Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain was as fierce and hostile as ever.
Chamberlain made history that second day of March. How a man standing at seven feet and one inch tall could score 100 points in a single game, the sports nation wanted to hear about it.
It was between the hometown Philadelphia Warriors and their rivals from up north, the New York Knickerbockers. A cold and slushy Friday night, neither team was very enthusiastic in playing a meaningless game with no impact on the final standings. Heck, the game wasn’t even on television! Thus the game was still played before a crowd of slightly more than 4,000 fans at the Hersheypark Arena, a place where the Warriors played only a few times a year.
From the opening tip, the Warriors were out in front pouring on bucket after bucket. The game could have been called after the first quarter where the Knicks were down 42-26. Chamberlain in only his fourth season as a pro racked up more than half his teams points with 23! In the second quarter, more points followed. Wilt “the Stilt” scored another 18. For all you Journalism majors out there, that’s 41. Still, he’s got to have a better second half performance to even flirt with the century mark. A fun fact: Kobe Bryant scored only 26 points before halftime on route to his 81 point performance against the Raptors last year.
The biggest question coming out of the first half is which player from the Knicks is getting posterized every time on D? Well, the luckiest man of the night was Phil Jordon. He was the Knicks regular center that year, but was sidelined with an injury. Darrall Imhoff (Yeah, I have no idea who he is either), a former second overall pick in the 1960 NBA Draft assumed Jordon’s duties. Ironically, Imhoff was traded that same year to the Pistons. Tough break, Darrall.
The second half was more entertaining than the first for obvious reasons. Players all around Wilt knew something was brewing. His teammates kept feeding him for dunk after dunk. Posters of Chamberlain dunking on Imhoff were being made and sold in the parking lot for half price. Chamberlain went perfect from the floor that quarter. Chamberlain made ten buckets that quarter and went perfect from the free throw stripe. Journalism majors: his total in three quarters is around the 69 mark. That’s funny, wasn’t Wilt famous for another number in his life? 20,000 if I’m not mistaken. Coincidence? I think not.
The fourth quarter of play was one to remember. Still more dunks, but this time some sky hooks and bank shots were thrown into the mix. A little more than five minutes remained and Wilt was eleven away from pandemonium. A lay-up and a twelve footer later, Wilt had 93. When Chamberlain reached 98, he played some D and stole passing only having his 100th point rim out. In the final minute, Chamberlain took a pass from one of his teammates and fittingly, dunked it home. After this happened, fans apparently rushed the court in jubilation. According to the audio tape that’s in Springfield at the Hall of Fame:
“It's good! He made it! That's 100! Oh, the fans are all over the floor now…!”
The final score was Philadelphia 169 and the Knicks, 147.
I wasn’t at this game and I am sure most of you weren’t either. It’s important to understand how unbreakable this record is. Kobe Bryant holds second place for most points in a game with 81, still 19 points away from tying it! The other week, it took not one but two players (Michael Redd and Ben Gordon) to even reach 100 point total. If Jordan couldn’t do it, I don’t know who can. Don’t you dare say Lebron James, either. It’s a record that will stand forever, much like Cal Ripken’s 2,632 straight game streak and Joe DiMaggio’s hit streak. These records are something that even performance enhancing drugs can’t touch.