What Witt Chamberlain’s last days in life were like

Examining the career stats of NBA icon Wilt “the Stilt” Chamberlain He formerly set a record by scoring 100 points in a single game. Though Chamberlain was a superhero-like athlete, he was still only human. He passed away in 1999 in Los Angeles from a heart attack at the age of sixty-three. A truth that is amply illustrated by details from his last days on earth.

 

Over the course of his 14-year NBA career, Chamberlain set more than scoring records while playing for the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Golden State Warriors. This was despite the fact that he only won two NBA titles in 1967 and 1972. Among those achievements are the highest number of rebounds in a single game (55),

 

 

and, according to the NBA, the record for the most straight field goals in a row (18). According to the New York Daily News, there were even speculations in the early 1990s that Chamberlain, who left the league in 1973, may attempt to return at age 56. But by the late 1990s, Chamberlain’s health had drastically deteriorated from when he was at the top of his game (per Britannica).

 

 

Even with all of Chamberlain’s accomplishments on the court—he scored 30,000 points in total during his career—his personal life was not without controversy. According to Chamberlain’s 1992 autobiography, “A View from Above,” he had hundreds of sexual partners during his lifetime (source: New York Daily News). It was also mentioned that he wasn’t the best member of the team. Still, basketball greats like Bill Bradley attended Chamberlain’s funeral. The New York Daily News quotes Bradley, a former forward for the New York Knicks and US politician who faced Chamberlain, as saying that “Wilt was a competitor in the truest sense of the word.”

 

Authorities were called to Chamberlain’s home for a welfare check, as The New York Times reported in 1999, and when they arrived, they discovered him dead. The legendary athlete was acting strangely, according to longtime friend Linda Huey, who last visited him a few days before he passed away. Huey also mentioned that Chamberlain appeared to be in discomfort. Huey went on, “He was moving around and fidgety” (via The New York Times). “I knew there was a problem.”