[This post started out as an encomium to the career of Hall-of-Famer, Richie Guerin. A few sentences and follow-up web searches into the post, I stumbled onto the article below. It comes from the March 1, 1978 edition of the Mount Vernon (NY) Argus, which I must admit is a first for me. Al Mari, the newspaper’s sports columnist, asked Guerin to remember the night then 16 years ago that Philadelphia’s Wilt Chamberlain went off for 100 points against Guerin’s New York Knicks.
Mari’s column distracted me so much that I decided to push aside my Guerin encomium. Instead, let’s remember Wilt’s big night, starting with Mari and Guerin’s remembrance of things 16 years past. After that, I’ve got the Philadelphia Daily News’ fantastic Jack Kiser queued up to offer his next-day coverage of Wilt’s record-breaking performance. But first, Guerin and Mari.]
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Right now, he is the world’s tallest volleyball player, and as time goes by, most of his scoring records will probably be broken. But on the night of March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain, playing in the second game of a doubleheader in Hershey, Pa., scored 100 points in an NBA game.
It has been accurately reported by a noted journalist that so outstanding was that feat that never in the 32-year history of the NBA have TWO players ever totaled so many points in a single game.
Dick McGuire, now an assistant coach with the New York Knicks, was in Hershey that night with the Detroit Pistons. His team played the first game and had to leave to catch a bus. “We watched the first half,” McGuire remembers. “He had a ton of points at the half [41]. We left, and I remember saying, ‘He’ll score a hundred at this rate.’”
And so he did, adding 28 in the third quarter and 31 in the fourth quarter.
It wasn’t hard for McGuire to take sitting on the bus. It was, however, not a Night to Remember for Richie Guerin, who was playing with the Knicks after his outstanding career at Iona College. Guerin led the Knicks with 39 points on that night. He was on his way to scoring 2,303 points in the 1961-62 season, still a Knick record.
“First of all,” Guerin said at Madison Square Garden the other night, “let me go on record as saying, the big guy earned every point. He had a lot of close-in shots and stuffs, sure, but he hit that fallaway jumper of his all night. We had all kinds of guys on him, but we also had a rookie (Cleveland Buckner, who wound up with 33 points himself) trying to guard him.”
For younger fans, let it be noted that at 7-1 and 265-pounds, big Wilt was labeled, “The Strongest Man in the World.” Rumor had it that Wilt the Stilt could do anything that he set his mind on, and one promoter even tried to drum up a Chamberlain-Muhammed Ali fight for the heavyweight title.
But back to the game, which the Philadelphia Warriors eventually won, 169-147.
“It was no laughing matter at the half,” Guerin recalled. “We were still in the game. We only trailed something like 79-68. We could have won that game. What bothered me was that later on I found out that the Warriors at halftime made up their minds not to take any shots and to keep feeding Wilt the ball. To make sure they had enough time, they’d foul us on almost every inbounds pass to stop the clock.
“Lord rest his soul, the ref, Willie Smith, let me get away with murder. When I found out what they were up to, I tried to foul out of the game. I must have wound up with 23 fouls on me that were never called.
“What’s also amazing is that Wilt hit 28 free throws. I went to the line myself about 20 times.” (Guerin was actually 13 for 17 from the foul line.)
It must have been quite a night watching Guerin rough up people. In case you’re still too young to remember, when Richie Guerin drove to the basket, Richie Guerin DROVE TO THE BASKET. His nights in the Don Bosco Tournament in Port Chester, NY, are still legendary, particularly the night he scored his team’s first 11 points as the McGuire All-Stars beat Snookie’s Sugar Bowl, winners of 33 straight games and featuring Long Island University’s Sherman White, who should have been one of the best pro ballplayers of all time but was ruined by the point-shaving scandal in the early 1950s.
Chamberlain’s feat is still considered untouchable, and among journalist, is considered to be the classic game of all time as far as “misrepresentation” is concerned. Since the game was in Hershey, one major wire service did not have a regular writer on hand but used a “stringer,” a person who is paid to call in a lead and a short summary of the game. The lead sent in after Chamberlain’s Herculean feat was:
“Wilt Chamberlain and Al Attles, combining for 117 points helped the Philadelphia Warriors defeat the New York Knicks, 169-147.”
Or some foolishness. Even Attles, now coach of the Golden State Warriors, was later to say in sarcasm. “I resented that game. I was 8-for-8 from the floor and never got any ink for my performance.”
Chamberlain had five games in which he scored more than 71 points. The only other player in NBA history to score more than 70 points in a single game is Elgin Baylor, now the coach of the New Orleans Jazz. He did it on November 15, 1960 against . . . Richie Guerin and the New York Knicks.
“Let me tell you about that game,” Guerin concluded. “Elgin did it in the Garden against us. Now there was a performance, let me tell you . . .”
Please Richie. And thanks, Richie.
[Here’s Jack Kiser of Philadelphia Daily News reporting some pre- and post-game thoughts on Wilt’s 100-point night. This article, as well as Kiser’s game report to follow, ran in the newspaper on March 3, 1962. Also, I added a paragraph from another article in the Daily News about the LaSalle game that same night in the Palestra. You’ll know why in a second. Enjoy!]
Long before the opening whistle sounded, you could tell that Wilt Chamberlain’s shooting eye was at its sharpest. The big Warrior center was playing one of those coin-operated shooting gallery machines that adorn the hall at Hershey Arena, matching shots with statistician Kenny Berman. It was one of those machines that operate on the electric-eye principle, with flying balls determining the score.
Wilt kept registering in the 6,000s, and a large crowd was gathered around. “Few people ever score 4,000 on this here machine,” an elderly arena guard grunted in amazement. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody even score over 65.”
Wilt kept popping away, hitting a 7,770 just as the third quarter of the preliminary game came to a halt. “Impossible,” gushed the guard.
They were saying the same thing two hours later when Wilt completed another kind of sharp-shooting. Veteran forward Paul Arizin summed up the team’s reaction to Wilt’s century caper like this: “It was incredible. I didn’t think anybody in this league would ever do it, and I don’t think they ever will again. We are all very happy for Wilt, and happy to be a part of it.”
“I could have set a league assist record if you hadn’t missed so many points,” Warrior guard Guy Rodgers joked with Chamberlain. Rodgers, who wound up with 20 assists, probably had more, but statistician Harvey Pollack couldn’t be blamed for missing some in his swirl of checking record books and trying to keep track of what was happening on the court.
Knick guard Richie Guerin was asked how he felt having a man score 100 points against his team. “Inadequate,” was the quick reply.
In Philadelphia over at the Palestra, LaSalle’s Bob McAteer poured 37 points into the basket as the Explorers upset NCAA-bound Western Kentucky, 88-84. While McAteer was having his great night, however, the ticker in 10-minute intervals relayed reports of Wilt Chamberlain’s great performance in Hershey. The report came like this . . . 81 . . . 89, with four minutes to go . . . then 100. While a wise guy asked, “Did they win?”, the 2,951 fans roared the loudest of the night as the news went out over the PA.
[And now, here is Kiser’s game report and eyewitness of an NBA record that may never be broken.]
Impossible? Sure it was impossible. But Wilt Chamberlain did it. One hundred points in one game.
One oh! Oh!
Writing the most fantastic chapter to an already unbelievable career, the 7-2 center made a complete shambles of the NBA record book here last night as the Warriors defeated New York, 169-147.
Chamberlain, the John Glenn of the basketball set, shattered no less than nine of his league records in his out-of-this-world performance. And not a one of them was tainted. No basket hanging, no “gimme” layups, no co-operation from the Knicks in any shape or form. Just the most devastating offensive show ever staged by a basketball player.
Chamberlain parlayed a 36-for-63 night from the floor with a 28-for-32 night from the foul line to crack the century barrier. And every point was earned the hard way.
The Knicks did their best to stop him, or at least slow him down. They played five men on him at times, not even attempting to cover anyone else in the last four minutes. They fouled Warrior guards as they were bringing the ball upcourt to keep them from hitting Wilt. And they tried to freeze the ball every chance they got during the final six minutes. None of the strategy worked.
True overanxiousness caused Wilt to miss some shots he’d normally make. But he also made some he wouldn’t have dared taken under ordinary circumstances. Long jumpers from 25-30 feet out with two and three men clinging onto his wiry, 260-pound frame. Power packed dunk shots when he had to bull through, around, and over a tight knot of defenders. Blazing speed that carried him downcourt for layups after he had launched the fastbreak with a rebound himself. He earned every point.
Chamberlain’s 100th point came with 46 seconds remaining when he outleaped two defenders to spare a lob pass from Joe Rucklick and slam it through the net. Then all Hades broke loose.
Hundreds of spectators, stampeded onto the court, slamming him on the back, shaking his hand, and yelling like they just scored the 100 points themselves. His teammates leapt up and down on the court, throwing clenched fists into the air and cheering. It took two minutes to clear the court and finish out the game.
Chamberlain, who hides his feelings better than the next guy, couldn’t mask his happiness. A wide smile creased his perspiration-covered face as he greeted his congratulators afterward.
“Man, oh man,” he gushed. “I honestly, never thought I’d ever score a hundred. Never in my wildest dreams. But it wasn’t all me. The rest of the team put as much of an effort into it as I did. They had to do the hard work. If they hadn’t wanted it as much as I did, then I’d never have come close.”
Did he think he’d ever top this figure?
“I’d hate to try it,” he admitted with a long sigh. “When that 100th point went in, I was just thinking, ‘Now I can stop running up and down this court like a fool.’”
The only fools around last night were the ones who didn’t think Wilt would score 100 points against the cream of the basketball crop. They numbered in the thousands, maybe millions.
Coach Frank McGuire had predicted back on December 8 that Wilt would score 100 someday “even if a whole team plays him.” And after Chamberlain had hit 100, McGuire admitted he never believed his prediction would come true.
“I made that statement in anger,” McGuire chuckled. “I was mad because Wilt had scored 78 with Los Angeles playing its entire team on him, and we’d lost the game. But really, score 100 points? Never. Heck, I can remember one of the greatest moments in my life came when my entire college team scored 100 points. That was something. But this—this is indescribable.”
Wilt’s night of nights didn’t start out like anything out of the ordinary. He’d ripped off 23 points in the first period on several occasions. He then picked up 18 more points in the second section to give him 41 at halftime.
Even Wilt wasn’t thinking about 100 points at this stage. “You know what I was thinking about?” he asked, then answered his own question. “I was thinking about the foul shot record. I’d hit 10 straight, which was a record for me, missed once, then hit three more in a row. That gave me 13, and I figured I had a shot at the record of 24. Right then, I’d have settled for 25.”
But he didn’t. Scoring nine points in the final two minutes of the third period, he reached the 69-point level as the final period began. His own 78-point mark was within reach, and his regulation game figure of 73 was sure to fall. But nobody dared believe he would reach 100. The tension began building up when he scored six quick points in the first two minutes of the fadeout quarter, giving him 75. One of the baskets was made by his wrist! He leapt for a rebound and misjudged the bounce. The ball slammed against his wrist and into the basket.
New York then began employing every trick available to slow him down. But the total kept mounting. He reached the 90-mark with but 2:28 left, then proceeded to hit two king-sized jumpers, two fouls, and a pair of dunks, firing every time he got his hands on the ball.
“At that stage,” Wilt grinned, “I was so anxious to fire the ball that I took two shots at the basket, and I had the ball only once. But I’m glad it’s over. When everybody’s pulling for you like that, then you don’t want to let them down. They were with me, and the team was with me, and that’s what made it great.
“I just don’t want somebody to come up to me tomorrow and ask me when I’m going to score 120. Scoring 100 once is enough for me.”
From Way Downtown 