FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Wilton Norman Chamberlain (/ˈtʃeɪmbərlɪn/; August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the sport’s history. He played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Chamberlain played for the Kansas Jayhawks and the Harlem Globetrotters before joining the NBA, and he stood 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall.
Chamberlain holds numerous NBA regular season records in scoring, rebounding, and durability categories. He is the only player to score 100 points in a single NBA game, and average more than 40 and 50 points in a season. He won seven scoring, eleven rebounding, nine durability, and nine field goal percentage titles, and he led the league in assists once. Chamberlain is the only player in NBA history to average at least 30 points and 20 rebounds per game in a season, which he accomplished seven times. He is also the only player to average at least 30 points and 20 rebounds per game over the entire course of his NBA career. Although Chamberlain suffered a long string of NBA Finals losses during his career, he had a successful career, winning two NBA championships, earning four regular-season NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards, the NBA Rookie of the Year award, one NBA Finals MVP award, and one NBA All-Star Game MVP award, and he was selected to thirteen NBA All-Star Games and ten All-NBA Teams (seven First and three Second teams). Chamberlain was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, elected into the NBA 35th Anniversary Team in 1980, and was chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996. In October 2021, he was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
Chamberlain was known by several nicknames during his basketball playing career. He disliked the ones that called attention to his height, such as “Goliath” and “Wilt the Stilt“. A Philadelphia sportswriter coined the nicknames during Chamberlain’s high school days. He preferred “The Big Dipper”, which was inspired by his friends who saw him dip his head as he walked through doorways. After his professional basketball career ended, Chamberlain played volleyball in the short-lived International Volleyball Association (IVA), was president of the IVA, and is enshrined in the IVA Hall of Fame for his contributions. He was a successful businessman, authored several books, and appeared in the 1984 movie Conan the Destroyer. Chamberlain was also a lifelong bachelor and became notorious for his statement of having had sexual relations with as many as 20,000 women.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
What exactly is a “kosher” dill pickle?Kosher is from a Hebrew word meaning “right,” “proper,” or “fit.” It is usually applied to food, especially to meat that has been slaughtered and prepared according to the prescribed manner. Kosher salt is not treated with additives and is as close to pure solar salt as you can get. If you taste a kosher dill pickle, you’ll know it’s been prepared the best possible way.
Advice of the Day
A fault denied is twice committed.
Home Hint of the Day
Before you paint, ventilate. Keep a window or outside door open in the room you are painting to avoid breathing noxious fumes.
Word of the Day
Moonrise/MoonsetThe Moon’s rising above or descending below the horizon.
Puzzle of the Day
What letter causes a small word to make a loud noise?D makes in into din.
Born
- William Byrd (satirist) – 1674
- August Anheuser Busch Jr. (brewer) – 1899
- Rudolf Serkin (pianist) – 1903
- Marlin Perkins (zookeeper) – 1905
- Nelson Algren (novelist) – 1909
- Edmund Muskie (politician) – 1914
- Freddie Bartholomew (actor) – 1924
- Dianne Wiest (actress) – 1948
- Reba McEntire (country singer) – 1955
- Vince Vaughn (actor) – 1970
- Julia Stiles (actress) – 1981
- Lady Gaga (entertainer) – 1986
Died
- Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th U.S. president) – 1969
- Maria von Trapp (singer) – 1987
- Eugene Ionesco (playwright) – 1994
- Peter Ustinov (actor, playwright, novelist, & director) – 2004
- Art James (television game show host and announcer) – 2004
- Richard Griffiths (actor) – 2013
- James Noble (actor) – 2016
- Peggy Fortnum (illustrator) – 2016
Events
- Cat eating condemned by England’s Richard II– 1384
- The U.S. Senate voted to censure President Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the U.S.– 1834
- First world weightlifting championships held in London– 1891
- Emma Goldman gave a shocking speech (on contraception) to an audience in NYC. She was arrested and given a choice of paying a $100 fine or going to jail for 15 days. She chose jail– 1915
- Mary Pickford married Douglas Fairbanks– 1920
- U.S. and U.N. officials signed an agreement permitting the U.N. to issue its own postage stamps– 1951
- Tsunami struck Port Alberni, British Columbia– 1964
- The rock musical Hair opened at the Biltmore Theater in New York City– 1968
- Basketball’s Wilt Chamberlain played his last professional game. In 14 years, 1,045 games, he never fouled out of a game– 1973
- Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone, won the Academy Award for Best Picture– 1977
- Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in southeastern PA seriously malfunctioned, raising fears of a meltdown of the reactor’s core, causing the evacuation of thousands and creating widespread concern about the safety of such facilities– 1979
- El Chichon volcano in Mexico began series of eruptions, killing and injuring hundreds– 1982
- Mt. Kilauea, Hawaii, erupted– 1983
- Russian President Boris Yeltsin claimed victory after surviving attempts by the Russian Congress to depose him– 1993
- A major earthquake struck off the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island– 2005
- Around 6:15 a.m. EDT, a fireball was seen in the northeastern United States– 2019
Weather
- The Ottauquechee River reached its highest level since 1869 at Woodstock, Vermont– 1913
- The earliest ice out of Lake Winnipesaukee, N.H., on record– 1921
- Twenty-two tornadoes spotted in the Carolinas– 1984
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