Wilt Chamberlain Totally Explained

Everything about Wilt Chamberlain totally explained

Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain (August 21, 1936–October 12, 1999), nicknamed Wilt the Stilt, The Big Dipper, and Chairman of the Boards, was an American professional National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; and also played for the Harlem Globetrotters. The 7 foot 1 inch Chamberlain, who weighed 250 lb as a rookie before bulking up to 275 lb and eventually over 300 lb with the Lakers, played the center position and is widely considered one of the greatest and most dominant players in the history of the NBA.
Chamberlain holds numerous official NBA all-time records, setting records in many scoring, rebounding and durability categories. Among others, he's the only player in NBA history to average more than 40 and 50 points in a season or score 100 points in a single NBA game. He also won seven scoring, nine field goal percentage, and eleven rebounding titles, and once even led the league in assists. Although suffering a long string of professional losses, Chamberlain had a successful career, winning two NBA titles, earning four regular-season Most Valuable Player awards, one NBA Finals MVP award, and being selected to 13 All-Star Games and ten All-NBA First and Second teams. Chamberlain was subsequently enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, elected into the NBA's 35th Anniversary Team of 1980, and chosen as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History of 1996.

Early years

Wilton Norman Chamberlain was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into a family of nine children. As his biographer Robert Cherry observed, he was a frail child, nearly dying of pneumonia in his early years and missing a whole year of school as a result. In his early years, Chamberlain wasn't interested in basketball, because he thought it was "a game for sissies". Instead, he was an avid track and field athlete: as a youth, he high jumped 6 feet, 6 inches, ran the 440 yards in 49.0 seconds and the 880 yards in 1:58.3, put the shot 53 feet, 4 inches, and broad jumped 22 feet. But according to Chamberlain, "basketball was king in Philadelphia", so he eventually turned to this sport. Because Chamberlain was a very tall child, already measuring 6 feet at age 10 and 6 feet 11 inches when he entered Philadelphia's Overbrook High School, According to ESPN journalist Hal Bock, Chamberlain was "scary, flat-out frightening... before he came along, most basketball players were mortal-sized men. Chamberlain changed that.". It was also in this period of his life when his three life-long nicknames "Wilt the Stilt", "Goliath", and his favorite, "The Big Dipper", were allegedly born because he always had to dip his head before entering a room. In that game, West Catholic triple-teamed Chamberlain the entire game, and despite the center's 29 points, the Panthers lost 42–54.
   During summer vacations, Chamberlain worked as a bellhop in an affluent Jewish hotel named "Kutsher's". One day, Red Auerbach, the Jewish coach of the Boston Celtics, showed up. He spotted the talented teenager and had him play 1-on-1 against Kansas University standout and national champion, B. H. Born, elected the Most Valuable Player of the 1953 NCAA Finals. Chamberlain won 25–10; Born was so dejected that he gave up a promising NBA career and became a tractor engineer ("If there were high school kids that good, I figured I wasn't going to make it to the pros"), and Auerbach wanted Chamberlain to go to a New England university, so he could draft him as a territorial pick for the Celtics, but Chamberlain didn't react. The Panthers won the Public League a third time, beating West Philadelphia 78–60, and in the city championship game, they met Western Catholic once again. Scoring 35 points, Chamberlain led Overbrook to an easy 83–42 win.
   After his last Overbrook season, over 200 universities wanted to recruit the basketball prodigy. Cherry described that Chamberlain wanted a change and therefore not want to go to or near Philadelphia (which also eliminated New York), wasn't interested in New England, and snubbed the South because of segregation; this left the Midwest. When he found out nobody heckled him, he gave up his antipathy, and blacks were eventually treated better.
   At KU, Chamberlain became a player for the Kansas Jayhawks freshman team under future Hall-of-Fame coach Phog Allen, whom he admired, and also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc, where he was the president of his pledge class. Announced as "looking lighter than his 240 pounds, [ableto] reach 9'6" up in the air [flatfooted], and a [wingspanof] 7'2"", his debut was highly anticipated, and he delivered: in Chamberlain's debut game for the freshman squad, the freshman Jayhawks were pitted against the varsity Jayhawks, who were favored to win their conference that year. Chamberlain dominated his older college mates by scoring 52 points (16-35 from the field, 10-12 on free throws), grabbing 29 rebounds and registering four blocks.
   On December 3 1956, Chamberlain made his varsity debut. In his first varsity game, the center scored 52 points and grabbed 31 rebounds, breaking both all-time college records in a 87–69 win against the Northwestern team of future NBA team mate Joe Ruklick. His team mate Monte Johnson testified how athletic he was: "Wilt... had unbelievable endurance and speed... and was never tired. When he dunked, he was so fast that a lot of players got their fingers jammed [betweenChamberlain's hand and the rim]." Reportedly, Chamberlain also broke Johnny Kerr's toe with a slam dunk.
   In 1957, in the days before the current 65-team March Madness was introduced, 23 teams played for the NCAA title. The Midwest regional tourney was held in Dallas, Texas, which was segregated back then. In the first game, the Jayhawks played the all-white Southern Methodist team, and KU player John Parker later told: "The crowd was brutal. We were spat on, pelted with debris, and subjected to the vilest racial epiphets possible." Team mate Bob Billings commented: "It wasn't fun basketball... we were just out chasing people throwing the basketball back and forth."

Professional career

Harlem Globetrotters

After his frustrating junior year, Chamberlain wanted to become a professional player before finishing his senior year. However, at that time, the NBA didn't accept players who hadn't finished their last year of studies. Therefore, Chamberlain was prohibited from joining the NBA for a year, and decided to play for the Harlem Globetrotters in 1958 for a sum of $50,000. One particular Trotter skit involved Trotters captain Meadowlark Lemon collapsing to the ground, and instead of helping him up, Chamberlain threw him several feet high up in the air and caught him like a doll. "[Chamberlain] was the strongest athlete who ever lived", the 210 lbs. heavy Lemon recounted later. In later years, Chamberlain frequently joined the Trotters in the off-season and fondly recalled his time there, because he was no longer jeered at or asked to break records, but just one of several artists who loved to entertain the crowd. On March 9 2000, Chamberlain's number 13 was retired by the Trotters.
   In the 1959-60 NBA season, Chamberlain joined a Warriors squad which was coached by Neil Johnston and contained Hall-of-Fame guards Tom Gola and Paul Arizin, plus Ernie Beck and his old rival Guy Rodgers — remarkably, all five Warriors starters were Philadelphians. In his first NBA game against the New York Knicks, the rookie center scored 43 points and 28 rebounds. In his fourth game, Philadelphia met the reigning champions, the Boston Celtics of Hall-of-Fame coach Red Auerbach, whose offer Chamberlain had snubbed several years ago, and his old NCAA rival Bill Russell, who was now lauded as one of the best defensive pivots in the game.
   In his first season, Chamberlain averaged 37.6 points and 27 rebounds, convincingly breaking the previous regular-season records. He only needed 56 games to score point number 2,102, which broke the all-time regular season scoring record of Bob Pettit, who needed 72 games to score 2,101 points. Chamberlain won both the NBA Most Valuable Player and NBA Rookie of the Year awards in the same season — a feat equaled only by fellow Hall-of-Famer Wes Unseld in the 1968-69 NBA season — and broke eight NBA records.
   In the following next season, Chamberlain surpassed his rookie season statistics as he averaged 38.4 ppg and 27.2 rebounds per game. He became the first player to break the 3,000-point barrier and the first and still only player to break the 2,000-rebound barrier for a single season, grabbing 2,149 boards. Chamberlain also won his first field goal percentage title, and set the all-time record for rebounds in a single game with 55. Cherry noted that Chamberlain was "difficult" and didn't respect coach Neil Johnston, who was unable to handle the star center. In retrospect, Eddie Gottlieb remarked: "My mistake wasn't getting a stronghanded coach... [NeilJohnston] wasn't ready for big time."
   In his third Warriors season, the Warriors were coached by Frank McGuire, the coach that had masterminded Chamberlain's painful NCAA loss against the Tar Heels. In that year, the center set several all-time records which have never been threatened since. In the 1961-62 NBA season, he averaged 50.4 points and grabbed 25.7 rebounds per game
   On March 2 1962, Chamberlain delivered another remarkable performance and became the first player to score 100 points in a single NBA game, in the 169–147 victory of his Warriors against the New York Knicks. In addition to Chamberlain's regular season accomplishments, he scored 42 points in the NBA All-Star Game — still the all-time record — on 17-23 shooting and pulled down 24 rebounds.
   In the 1962 NBA Playoffs, the Warriors met the Boston Celtics again in the Eastern Division Finals, a team which Bob Cousy and Bill Russell called the greatest Celtics team of all time. Each team won their home games, so the series was split 3–3 after six games. In a closely contested Game 7, Chamberlain tied the score at 107 with 16 seconds to go, but then Celtics shooting guard Sam Jones sank a clutch shot which won Boston the game and the series. In later years, Chamberlain was criticized for averaging 50 points, but not winning the title. In his defense, Warriors coach Frank McGuire said "Wilt has been simply super-human", and pointed out that the Warriors lacked a consistent second scorer, a playmaker, and a second big man to take the pressure off Chamberlain.
   In the 1962-63 NBA season, Eddie Gottlieb sold the Warriors franchise for an amount of $850,000 to a group of businessmen led by Marty Simmons from San Francisco, and the team relocated to become the San Francisco Warriors under a new coach, Bob Feerick. However, this also meant that the team broke apart: Paul Arizin chose to retire rather than moving away from his family and his job at IBM in Philadelphia, and Tom Gola was homesick, requesting a trade to the lowly New York Knicks halfway through the season. With both secondary scorers gone, Chamberlain continued his array of statistical feats, scoring 44.8 points and grabbing 24.3 rebounds per game that year.
   In the 1963-64 NBA season, Chamberlain got yet another new coach, namely Alex Hannum, and was joined by a promising rookie center named Nate Thurmond, who would enter the Hall of Fame. Ex-soldier Hannum, who later entered the NBA Hall of Fame as a coach, was a crafty psychologist who emphasized defense and passing; most importantly, wasn't afraid to stand up to the dominant Chamberlain, who was known to freeze out coaches he didn't like. Backed up by valuable rookie Thurmond, Chamberlain had another good season with 36.9 ppg and 22.3 rpg, But as Cherry remarked, not only Chamberlain, but in particular Hannum deserved much credit because he'd basically had taken the bad 31–49 squad of last year plus Thurmond and made it into a NBA Finalist. In the summer of 1964, Chamberlain made the acquaintance of a tall, talented 17-year old teenager who played in the famous Rucker Park basketball arena in New York City. Soon, the young Lew Alcindor was allowed into his inner circle, and quickly idolized the ten year older NBA player. Unfortunately, Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as Alcindor would name himself later, would develop an intense personal antipathy.
   In the following 1964-65 NBA season, the Warriors ran into financial trouble. At the 1965 All-Star break, Chamberlain was traded back to Philadelphia to the Philadelphia 76ers, the new name of the relocated Syracuse Nationals. In return, the Warriors received Paul Neumann, Connie Dierking, Lee Shaffer (who opted to retire rather than report to the Warriors), and $150,000.

Philadelphia 76ers

After the trade, Chamberlain found himself in a promising Sixers team that included guards Hal Greer, a future Hall-of-Famer, and talented role players Larry Costello, Chet Walker and Lucious Jackson. Cherry remarks that there was a certain tension within the team: Greer was the formerly undisputed leader and wasn't willing to give up his authority, and Jackson, a talented center, was now forced to play power forward because Chamberlain blocked the center spot; however, as the season progressed, the three began to mesh better. Unfortunately, Chamberlain didn't care for the Sixer's coach, Dolph Schayes, because Schayes, according to him, had made several disrespectful remarks when they were rival players in the NBA. Indeed, the two teams split the first six games, and because of the better season record, the last game was held in the Celtics' Boston Garden. In that Game 7, both centers were marvelous: Chamberlain scored 30 points and 32 rebounds, and Russell logged 16 points, 27 rebounds and 8 assists. For the fifth time in seven years, Russell's team had deprived Chamberlain of the title. Chamberlain later commented that he could see in hindsight how the interview was instrumental in damaging his public image. However, off the court Chamberlain's commitment to the cause was doubted: as Chamberlain was a late sleeper, in addition lived in New York and preferred to commute to Philadelphia rather than live there, he was only available afternoon for training. Because Schayes didn't risk to anger his best player, he scheduled the daily workout at 4 pm; this angered the team, who preferred an early schedule to have the afternoon off, but Schayes just said: "There is no other way." Irv Kosloff, who now owned the Sixers alone after Richman's death, pleaded to him to move to Philadelphia during the season, but he was turned down. In Game 3, Chamberlain scored 31 points and 27 rebounds for an important road win, and the next coach Schayes planned to hold a joint team practice. However, Chamberlain said he was "too tired" to attend, and even refused Schayes' plea to at least show up and shoot a few foul shots with the team; in Game 4, Boston won 114–108. Cherry is highly critical of Chamberlain: while conceding he was the only Sixers player who performed in the series, he points out his unprofessional, egotistical behavior and being a bad example for his team mates. Fellow forward Billy Cunningham observed that "Hannum showed who was the boss" and "never backed down", and by doing this, won Chamberlain's respect.
As a result, Chamberlain was less dominant, taking only 14% of the teams shots (in his 50.4 ppg season 1961–62, it had been 35.3%), but extremely efficient: he averaged a career-low 24.1 points, but he led the league in rebounds (24.2), ended third in assists (7.8), had a record breaking .683 field goal accuracy, and played strong defense. In Game 2, the Sixers won 107–102 in overtime, and player-coach Russell grudgingly praised Chamberlain for intimidating the Celtics into taking low percentage shots from further outside. Chamberlain himself described the team as the best in NBA history. Although there's no written proof for or against, Ex-Sixers coach Dolph Schayes and Sixers lawyer Alan Levitt assumed Chamberlain was right; Winning 62 games, the Sixers easily took the first playoff berth of the 1968 NBA Playoffs. In the 1968 Eastern Division Semifinals, they were pitted against the New York Knicks. In a physically tough matchup, the Sixers lost sixth man Billy Cunningham, who broke his hand, and Chamberlain, Hal Greer and Luke Jackson were struggling with respectively, inflamed feet, bad knees and pulled hamstrings. Going ahead 3–2, the Sixers defeated the Knicks 115–97 in Game 6 after Chamberlain scored 25 points and 27 rebounds: he'd a successful series in which he led both teams in points (153), rebounds (145) and assists (38).
In the 1968 Eastern Division Finals, the Sixers yet again met the Boston Celtics, again with home court advantage, and this time as reigning champions. Despite the Sixers' injury woes, coach Hannum was confident to "take the Celtics in less than seven games": he pointed out the age of the Celtics, who were built around Bill Russell and guard Sam Jones, both 34. But then, national tragedy struck as Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4 1968. With eight of the ten starting players on Sixers and Celtics being African-American, both teams were in deep shock, and there were calls to cancel the series. Chamberlain then asked for a trade, and Sixers general manager Jack Ramsay traded him for Darrall Imhoff, Archie Clark and Jerry Chambers.

Los Angeles Lakers

On July 9 1968, Chamberlain was the centerpiece of a major trade between the 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers, who sent center Darrall Imhoff (the unfortunate ex-Knicks center who started against Chamberlain when latter scored 100 points), forward Jerry Chambers and guard Archie Clark to Philadelphia, making it the first time reigning NBA Most Valuable Player was traded the next season (the other is Moses Malone 1982). Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke gave Chamberlain an unprecedented contract, paying him $250,000 after taxes; in comparison, previous Laker top earner Jerry West was paid $100,000 before taxes.
   Chamberlain joined a squad which featured Hall-of-Fame forward Elgin Baylor and Hall-of-Fame guard Jerry West, along with backup center Mel Counts, forwards Keith Erickson and Tom Hawkins and talented but diminutive 6' guard Johnny Egan. The lack of a second guard next to West (and thus, the lack of speed and quickness) concerned coach Bill Van Breda Kolff; after losing Clark and Gail Goodrich, who joined the Phoenix Suns after the 1968 expansion draft, he said: "Egan gets murdered on defense because of his [lackof] size... but if I don't play him, we look like a bunch of trucks." In addition, Cherry observed that Chamberlain was neither a natural leader nor a loyal follower, which made him difficult to fit in. In Game 1, Reed masterminded a 124–112 win in which he scored 37 points on Chamberlain. In Game 2, Chamberlain scored 19 points, grabbed 24 rebounds and blocked Reed's shot in the final seconds, leading the Lakers to a 105–103 win. At halftime, the Knicks were already up by 27, and despite scoring 21 points, Chamberlain couldn't prevent his third consecutive painful Game 7 loss. The Lakers center himself was criticized for his inability to dominate his injured counterpart, but Cherry pointed out that Chamberlain's feat - coming back from career-threatening injury himself - was too quickly forgotten. In Game 1, Abdul-Jabbar outscored Chamberlain 32–22, and the Bucks won 106–85. In Game 2, the Bucks won again despite the Lakers center scoring 26 points, four more than his Milwaukee counterpart. Prior to Game 3, things became even worse for the Lakers when Keith Erickson, West's stand-in, had an appendectomy and was out for the season; with only rookie Jim McMillan easing the scoring pressure, Chamberlain churned out a 24-point-24-rebound effort in Game 4 to a Lakers win, but finally the Bucks soundly defeated the Lakers 116–98 at home. Although Chamberlain lost, he was lauded for holding his own against MVP Abdul-Jabbar, who wasn't only 10 years younger but still had two healthy knees.
   In the 1971-72 NBA season, the Lakers hired former Celtics star guard Bill Sharman as head coach. Sharman introduced morning shoot-arounds, in which the perennial latecomer Chamberlain regularly participated (in contrast to earlier years with Dolph Schayes) and transformed him into a defensive-minded, low-scoring post defender in the mold of his old rival Bill Russell. Furthermore, he told Chamberlain to use his rebounding and passing skills to quickly initiate fastbreaks to his teammates, forwards Happy Hairston and MacMillian, guards Goodrich and West, and bench players Flynn Robinson and LeRoy Ellis.
   While no longer being the main scorer, Chamberlain was named the new captain of the Lakers: after his Achilles tendon rupture, perennial captain Elgin Baylor had ended his career, leaving a void the center now filled. Initially, Sharman had wanted Chamberlain and West to share this duty, but West declined, stating that he was injury-prone and wanted to solely concentrate on the game. Chamberlain accepted his new roles and posted an all-time low 14.8 points, but also won the rebound crown with 19.2 rpg and led the league with a .649 field goal percentage. then went on to face the Milwaukee Bucks of young superstar center and regular-season MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar again. The matchup between Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar was hailed by LIFE magazine as the greatest matchup in all of sports. Chamberlain would help lead the Lakers past Jabbar and the Bucks in 6 games. Jerry West called it "the greatest ball-busting performance I've ever seen."
   In the 1972 NBA Finals, the Lakers again met the New York Knicks; the Knicks were shorthanded after losing Willis Reed to injury, and so, undersized 6'8" Jerry Lucas had the task to defend against the 7'1" Chamberlain. However, prolific outside shooter Lucas helped New York to win Game 1, hitting 9 of his 11 shots in the first half alone; in Game 2, which the Lakers won 106–92, Chamberlain put Lucas into foul trouble, and the Knicks lost defensive power forward Dave DeBusschere to injury. Chamberlain averaged 13.2 points and 18.6 rebounds, still enough to win the rebounding crown for the 11th time in his career. In addition, he shot with an all-time NBA record .727 accuracy from the field, bettering his own mark of .683 from the 1966–67 season — neither percentage has been topped by any other player. Chamberlain didn't yet know that this loss was the last professional game of his career.

San Diego Conquistadors

In 1973, the San Diego Conquistadors of the NBA rival league ABA signed Chamberlain as a player-coach for a $600,000 salary. However, the Lakers sued their former star and successfully prevented him from actually playing, because he still owed them the option year of his contract. and made money by appearing in ads for Drexel Burnham, Le Tigre Clothing and Foot Locker. As a testament to his importance, the IVA All-Star game was only televised because Chamberlain also played in it: he rose to the challenge and was named the game's MVP. When million-dollar contracts became common in the NBA, Chamberlain increasingly felt he'd been underpaid during his career. A result of this resentment was the 1997 book Who's Running the Asylum? Inside the Insane World of Sports Today (1997), in which he harshly criticized the NBA of the 1990s for being too disrespectful of players of the past.
Even far beyond his playing days, Chamberlain was a very fit person. In his mid-forties, he was able to humble a young Los Angeles Lakers rookie called Magic Johnson in practice, and even in the 1980s, he flirted with making a comeback in the NBA. In the 1980-81 NBA season, coach Larry Brown recalled that the 45-year old Chamberlain had received an offer by the Cleveland Cavaliers. When Chamberlain was 50, the New Jersey Nets had the same idea, and Chamberlain declined again. The 1972 NBA Finals MVP is holder of numerous official NBA all-time records, establishing himself as a scoring champion, all-time top rebounder and setting yardsticks in field goal accuracy. He was also responsible for several rule changes, including widening the lane as well as changes to rules regarding inbounding the ball and shooting free throws. Chamberlain's main weakness was free throw shooting, where he'd the second lowest career free throw percentage in NBA history, behind only Ben Wallace, and later acknowledged he was a "psycho case" in this matter. and voted second best center of all time by ESPN behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on March 6 2007. His on-court rivalry against Bill Russell is acknowledged as the greatest NBA rivalry of all time.

Personal life

Chamberlain was one of eleven children of Olivia and William Chamberlain, respectively a housekeeper and a janitor. He lived in a lower middle class family with two brothers and six sisters, losing two siblings who died shortly after birth. Lifelong friend Sonny Hill added: "White people... would say 'By golly, look how tall that nigger is'... Wilt couldn't hide himself... that left scars." But as fame and admiration came, he became the alpha male of later years, as Overbrook team mate Mel Brodsky reported: "He came into high school very humble. By his junior year he was cocky as hell, he knew he could do anything he wanted." Lakers coach Bill van Breda Kolff (a known critic) added that Chamberlain had been revered and pampered since he was 15: "I felt sorry for Wilt... he was bound to be spoilt and impressed with himself."
As a player, Sixers owner Jack Ramsay added that Chamberlain often felt maligned, because people only saw him as big (he hated his nickname "Wilt the Stilt"), and as his career progressed, increasingly as a loser. Chamberlain frequently felt like the head villain and said of himself: "Nobody roots for Goliath." As a Philadelphia player, he could afford renting a New York apartment and commuting to Philadelphia. In addition, he'd often stay out until late in the night and only wake up at noon, Chamberlain lived alone, relying on a great deal of automated gadgets, with two cats named Zip and Zap and several Great Dane dogs as company. In addition, Chamberlain drove a Ferrari, a Bentley, and engaged James Bond car designer Peter Bohanna to design the Chamberlain Searcher I, a $400,000 custom sports car. Jerry West called him a "complex... very nice person", and NBA rival Jack McMahon even said: "The best thing that happened to the NBA is that God made Wilt a nice person... he could all have killed us with his left hand." Celtics contemporary Bob Cousy even assumed that if Chamberlain had been less fixated on being popular, he'd have been meaner and able to win more titles.
During most of his NBA career, Chamberlain was good friends with Bill Russell. Chamberlain often invited Russell over to Thanksgiving, and at Russell's place, conversation mostly concerned Russell's electric trains. But as the championship count became increasingly lopsided, the relationship got strained, and turned hostile after Russell accused Chamberlain of "copping out" in the notorious Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals. In return, Abdul-Jabbar criticized him for being a Republican and supporting Richard Nixon (both seen by Jabbar as a betrayal of Black America) and living like a playboy. Swedish Olympic high jumper Annette Tannander, who met him when he was 40 and she 19, remembers him as a bona fide pick-up artist who was extremely confident yet respectful: "I think Wilt hit on everything that moved... [but] he never was bad or rude." In a 1999 interview shortly before his death, Chamberlain regretted not explaining the sexual climate at the time of his escapades, and warned other men who admired him for it, closing with the words: "Having a thousand different ladies is pretty cool, I've learned in my life I've found out that having one woman a thousand different times is much more satisfying." Shaw added: "Wilt never liked to admit a weakness... [but] you can't be married and be Superman... you can't appear invulnerable to your mate."

Death

Chamberlain had a history of heart trouble. In 1992, he was hospitalized for three days following an irregular heartbeat, and in 1999, his situation deteriorated rapidly. After undergoing dental surgery in that year, he lost 50 pounds, was in great pain and seemed unable to recover from the stress. On October 12, 1999, Chamberlain died in Bel-Air, California. Four days after Chamberlain's death, on October 16, 1999, a strong earthquake shook Southern California, causing people to joke that The Big Dipper, as he was called, must have arrived at The Biggest Dipper.

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