Wilt Chamberlain becomes first NBA player ever to appear on U.S. postage stamp
Wilt Chamberlain becomes first NBA player ever to appear on U.S. postage stamp
By Dan Devine, Ball Dont Lie (Yahoo Sports) October 2, 2014
The U.S. Postal Service's Wilt Chamberlain stamps. (Images via USPS)
It's been a long time coming, and now the honor's here the legendary Wilt Chamberlain will appear on a commemorative postage stamp issued by the United States Postal Service, the first of its kind ever to feature an NBA player.
The movement to feature the Hall of Fame big man on a stamp began some six years ago. Donald Hunt of the Philadelphia Tribune started a campaign to earn the iconic Chamberlain, who died of congestive heart failure in October 1999, the same sort of recognition afforded baseball greats like Ted Williams, Larry Doby, Joe DiMaggio and Willie Stargell, as well as the pivotal African American figures included in the USPS' "Black Heritage" stamp collection, such as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Jackie Robinson, Oscar Micheaux and Texas congresswoman Barbara Jordan. Now, three years after confirmation that the idea to put the "Big Dipper" on a stamp was "under consideration," the Wilt stamp became reality, appearing in the USPS' Philatelic Catalog released Wednesday.
One of the two commemorative stamps features Chamberlain in the Philadelphia Warriors uniform in which he scored 100 points against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962, a single-game record that still stands to this day. The other depicts him the purple and gold of the Los Angeles Lakers, for whom he starred during the final five seasons of his illustrious career. In a fitting tribute to the 7-foot-1 Goliath, the stamps measure just over two inches tall each about a third taller than a typical commemorative stamp height of approximately 1.5 inches, according to the USPS.
The Chamberlain Forever stamps' official commemoration will come on Dec. 5 in Wilt's hometown of Philadelphia in a ceremony held during halftime of the Philadelphia 76ers' home game against Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder at Wells Fargo Center. The ceremony will feature "a special three-dimensional tribute video using the teams state-of-the-art court projection system," according to a Sixers statement shared by NBA.com's Steve Aschburner, and the team will "celebrate the life and legacy of the legendary Chamberlain with videos during breaks in play." They're going to need an awful lot of breaks in play to properly fete the 13-time All-Star, four-time Most Valuable Player and two-time champion, who still ranks fifth in NBA history in career points scored, sixth in total minutes played, and tops in total rebounds, more than four decades after his final game.
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I guess, considering it was his number wherever he played, and he was an all-star 13 times, that it is a 13 cent stamp.
At a Variety Club luncheon in Toronto I sat at a table and Wilt was at the next one - we were back to back. He was as tall as me (except that I was standing and he was sitting - LOL)
Well deserved honor. He was one of the best.
Back in the late 60's at a Sonics game, during half time, I went down to the court and actually walked a few feet out onto the court and stood beside him. I didn't even clear his shoulder. His arms were as long and as big as one of my legs.
Seeing me, he smiled and looked down at me. Of course he looked down on everyone.
Buzz, those are not 13 cent stamps. They are Forever stamps which are suitable for First-Class Postage no matter what the current rate may be.
Did he have Ebola?
Wilt Chamberlain is unquestionably the greatest NBA player ever. Beyond the 100pt game or the 50.4 per game average for an entire season, here are just some of his other almost unbelievable accomplishments.
Career rebounding average: 22.9/game
Played every minute of every game for an entire season and 45.8/minutes for his career. Actually averaged 48.5/MPG in 1961-1962 (there are only 48 minutes in a regulation game).
Only NBA center to lead the league in assists.
Set the NBA individual game rebounding record of 55 against arch-rival Bill Russell.
Never fouled out of a game in his entire 14-year career despite being physically abused by most of the opposing team vainly trying to contain him. Average only 2 fouls per game for career.
In addition to being the greatest basketball player, in college competed in the 440, shot put, broad jump, and high jump. In addition, he became an accomplished volleyball player after his basketball career.
Agreed Mike, I was living in LA when he played for the Lakers. What a player he was.
What kind of remarks are those?
She explained it on her Ebola article, and I agreed with her reason.
I grew up in the NY-NJ area and was a Lakers fan while all my friends were Knicks fans. This was during their best rivalry years. The posters I had on my wall of Wilt and Jerry West were looked upon with scorn by my friends.
In addition to his basketball prowess was his legendary strength. For a time he worked out with Arnold Schwartzenegger who testified that Wilt could bench press over 500lbs. Here are some examples of Wilt's great strength by his contempories:
As K.C. Jones once put it in describing Wilts power, "He stopped me dead in my tracks with his arm, hugged me and lifted me off the floor with my feet dangling," Jones said. "It scared the hell out of me. When I went to the free-throw line, my legs were still shaking. Wilt was the strongest guy and best athlete ever to play the game. [Source: Goliath's Wonderful Life,Hoop Magazine; May 1999; Chris Ekstrand]
Paul Silas gave an even more impressive impression of Wilts strength and power when he once said, "One time, when I was with Boston and he was with the Lakers, Happy Hairston and I were about to get in a scrape.All of a sudden, I felt an enormous vise around me. I was 6'7", 235 lbs., and Wilt had picked me up and turned me around. He said, 'We're not going to have that stuff.' I said, 'Yes sir.'
"The greatest play I've ever seen was one of the last games of the 1966-67 season and were playing Baltimore. We [Philadelphia] were going for the best record in NBA history. There was a play earlier in the game where Gus Johnson had dunked one over Wilt. Gus was a very strong player. I weighed 220 pounds, and with one hand Gus could push me out of the lane. The man was a physical specimen [6-foot-6, 230 pounds], all muscle. He loved to dunk and was a very colorful player. When he slammed it on Wilt, he really threw it down, and you could tell that Wilt didn't like it one bit. Later in the game, Gus was out on the fast break, and the only man between him and the basket was Wilt. He was going to dunk on Wilt--again. Gus cupped the ball and took off--he had a perfect angle for a slam. Wilt went up and with one hand he grabbed the ball--cleanly! Then he took the ball and shoved it right back into Gus, drilling Gus into the floor with the basketball. Gus was flattened and they carried him out. It turned out that Gus Johnson was the only player in NBA history to suffer a dislocated shoulder from a blocked shot." [Source: Billy Cunningham,Tall Tales(by Terry Pluto) p. 236]