Wilt Chamberlain’s Stats Don’t Seem Real Today

Wilt Chamberlain was a mythical figure. For good reason. Standing 7-foot-1 and weighing almost 300 pounds, he was one of the greatest players in NBA history and a pop culture icon.

Now, over 20 years after his death in 1999 and almost 50 years since the end of his playing career in 1973, we’re still trying to unravel the myths from the truth. What are the tall tales and what’s true? 

These are the facts about the Wilt Chamberlain stats, from his mind-blowing numbers to his larger-than-life persona outside of basketball. 

Wilt Chamberlain hasn’t played an NBA game since 1973 yet still owns 46 NBA records — meaning he still owns the NBA record book to some extent. 

Here are some of Wilt’s records that will probably never be broken: 

-Most career minutes per game (45.8)

-Most career rebounds per game (22.9)

-Most points per game in a season (50.4)

-Most points in a season (4,029)

-Most point in a single game (100)

-Most 50-point games in a single season (45)

-Most 40-point games in a single season (63)

-Most points in a single half (59)

-Most career regular-season 50-point games (118)

-Most career regular-season 40-point games (271)

-Most consecutive 50-point games (7)

-Most consecutive 40-point games (14)

-Most points per game for a rookie (37.6)

Wilt Chamberlain was born on Aug. 21, 1936, in Philadelphia to a working-class family. His mother, Olivia, was a stay-at-home-mom and his father, William, was a welder, custodian and general handyman. 

Wilt was so sick as a child with pneumonia that he missed an entire year of school, but when he recovered he was drawn to sports. Just not basketball.

Wilt loved track and field, and excelled in throws, jumps and sprints, but in a city where basketball was king, he was quickly drawn to the sport. At 10 years old, he was already 6-feet tall and was 6-foot-11 by the time he entered Overbrook High School. 

In the summer of 1953, famed Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach set up a one-on-one game between two young men working at Kutsher’s Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills — 1953 NCAA Finals Most Outstanding Player B.H. Born of the University of Kansas and Overbrook High School junior Wilt Chamberlain. 

Chamberlain won, 25-10, which shook Born so much he turned his back on an NBA career and quit basketball altogether. 

The hurt put on opposing high school players by Chamberlain, who was now 7-foot-1, was much worse. He averaged 37.4 points over three seasons  at Overbrook High and won two city championships. 

By Wilt Chamberlain’s senior season at Overbrook High, over 200 universities had offered the 7-foot-1 center scholarship offers. And much more. 

UCLA told Chamberlain if he came to school there, they’d put him in movies. The University of Pennsylvania reportedly offered him diamonds and an assistant coach position for his high school coach. 

None of it could sway Wilt away from what he wanted, which was to get away from the East Coast and to stay away from the South, where racial segregation still ruled. 

After meeting with legendary University of Kansas coach Phog Allen (as in Allen Fieldhouse), Chamberlain was sold on the Jayhawks and declared he was headed to the Midwest to play for Allen.