Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game

• 1. The Historic Night

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  On the 2nd of March 1962, a cold and rainy Friday night, 4,124 spectators paid to enter Hershey Sports Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The arena was an old, drafty gym originally built for ice hockey, located 70 miles from Philadelphia. Only two photographers were present at the game, and no members of the New York press attended. Reporters were covering spring training for the New York Yankees and the expansion New York Mets in Florida instead. The NBA was still struggling in its 16th season, not yet recognized as a major sports league. It received low television ratings, and this specific game was not televised. The National Broadcasting Company considered not renewing the league's television contract. Warriors owner Eddie Gottlieb was infamous for exaggerating attendance numbers, but even he could not fill the arena's capacity of over 8,000 seats. The town of Hershey was built around a huge chocolate factory, and everything there became permeated with the smell of chocolate. Tom Meschery called the arena a god-forsaken place where people felt sick.

• 2. Chamberlains Scoring Surge

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  Wilt Chamberlain scored 13 points within the first few minutes of play, making his first five shots. By the end of the first quarter, he had already scored 23 points, making all nine of his free throws. At halftime, his point total stood at 41 while the Warriors led 79, 68. During the third quarter, he scored another 28 points to lift his team to a commanding 125, 106 lead. His own total reached 69, which was nine shy of his previous scoring record set earlier that season. With ten minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Chamberlain needed 25 points to reach 100. He scored his 79th point with 7:51 left on the clock, breaking his own record of 78 points. The crowd screamed for him to score more as he approached the century mark. Al Attles passed up an easy layup so that Chamberlain could score points 88 and 89. With less than a minute left, Chamberlain received a lob pass from York Larese and dunked for his 96th point. Forty-six seconds remained when he finally hit the basket to complete the century.

• 3. Tactical Chaos And Foul Strategy

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  The New York Knicks began intentionally fouling any Warrior except Chamberlain once six minutes remained in the game. They moved the ball slowly and used as much of the shot clock as possible to leave fewer opportunities for him to score. Dave Budd stated that resistance was futile because Chamberlain weighed 300 or 270 pounds. Philadelphia began quickly fouling New York with around four minutes left to reciprocate the intentional foul strategy. Coach Frank McGuire pulled out his entire starting five save Chamberlain and replaced them with bench players. The intention was to foul the Knicks, get the ball back after free throws, and give Chamberlain the ball. Each team spent the last minutes fouling each other until the final buzzer. The Warriors ended with 25 personal fouls, and the Knicks with 32. Imhoff and Willie Naulls both lost their eligibility with six fouls. The Knicks' third center, Dave Budd, later stated that you could not play conventionally against such a big man. He noted that the only thing you could attempt was to front him or beat him down the floor. The game became a farce where both sides deliberately sabotaged normal play.

• 4. Media Absence And Audio Legacy

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  No video footage of the game has been recovered since it occurred on the 2nd of March 1962. There are only audio recordings of the game's fourth quarter preserved today. A copy of the radio broadcast was uncovered in 1988 when Jim Trelease found a reel-to-reel tape he had recorded as a college student at the University of Massachusetts. WCAU's original game tape had been recorded over by one of its engineers, which was standard practice in those days. A Philadelphian had recorded part of Bill Campbell's coverage using a Dictaphone, but only captured the Warriors' possessions. The NBA merged the reel-to-reel with the Dictaphone tape to reconstruct the final period. In 2016, the extant fourth quarter audio recording was added to the National Recording Registry for its cultural and historical significance. For years, the belief existed that the final 46 seconds were not played after Chamberlain scored his 100th point due to celebration. However, recordings from the WCAU radio broadcast include announcer Bill Campbell resuming his play-by-play call after the century mark. German sports journalist Gunter Bork specified that the interruption lasted nine minutes before play continued.

• 5. Immediate Press And Public Reaction

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  In Philadelphia, there was little fanfare in The Philadelphia Inquirer or The Philadelphia Bulletin regarding the achievement. The New York Times ran the Associated Press story on page 14 while The New York Herald Tribune placed it on page 11. The New York Daily News ran the United Press International story on page 26. The New York Post gave prominent back-page coverage to Chamberlain's feat on Sunday. The New York Daily News wrote that basketball is not prospering because normal sized American youngsters cannot identify themselves with freakish stars. Warriors coach Frank McGuire initially thought the same thing would happen but stopped and thought about it when he saw the result. He said he could not believe it. Knicks player Richie Guerin felt the Warriors broke a code of honor by embarrassing an opponent. He estimated that if the game had played out normally, Chamberlain would have finished 15 to 20 points shy of 100. Boston Celtics guard Bob Cousy figured the game must have gone out of control just as when he had 29 assists against Minneapolis. Red Auerbach laughed and said Chamberlain was playing against nobody. Bill Russell smiled and said the Big Fella finally did it.

• 6. Enduring Records And Comparisons

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  The closest any player has gotten to 100 points was Kobe Bryant who scored 81 in a win over the Toronto Raptors on the 22nd of January 2006. Chamberlain accounted for 59% of his team's points compared to Bryant scoring 66% of the Lakers' points. David Thompson broke Chamberlain's record for points in a quarter by scoring 32 in the first quarter of his 73-point game. George Gervin broke that record seven hours later by scoring 33. Adrian Dantley tied the record of 28 free throws made in a regular season game on the 4th of January 1984. Twenty years after the Warriors and Knicks combined for 316 points, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 171, 166 in triple overtime on the 6th of March 1982. That record was broken more quickly when the Detroit Pistons defeated the Denver Nuggets 186, 184 also in triple overtime on the 13th of December 1983. For decades after his record was set, many NBA teams did not even average 100 points as fewer field goals per game were attempted. Oscar Robertson believes Wilt Chamberlain single-handedly saved the league because people heard about him averaging 50 points a night and wanted to see it happen. The ball Chamberlain used to score his famous basket was auctioned by Lelands Auction in 2000 for $551,844 before being relisted and sold for $67,791.