01x02 - Episode 2

[bunniefuu]

David and Goliath,
this famous biblical story.

Goliath is the giant,
you know.

David, you know,

slayed him with a stone.

I ain't been to church
in a long time,

so my explanation
might be a little off.

But it might be on point,
I don't know.

But the point is,

the giant,
who looks unbeatable,

but somehow
David prevails, right?

When you think about
Russell and Chamberlain,

Russell had a lot more help.

So you can be the baddest
m*therf*cker in the world.

It's real hard
for one to beat five.

So who's David
and who's Goliath?

Billionaire
mortgage lender Mat Ishbia

is planning
to buy the Phoenix Suns.

The deal
expected to be completed

in the near future,
according to the report,

and could close
at an NBA record $4 billion.

Back in 1951,

Eddie Gottlieb paid $25,000

for the Philadelphia Warriors.

At the end of the 1962 season,

he had a golden opportunity.

He sold the team for $850,000,

then the most ever paid
for an NBA franchise.

[Wilt Chamberlain] Naturally,
I was the key to the deal.

I was damn near the whole
Philadelphia franchise.

I stood out literally
and figuratively

in an era when sports
were beginning to make

a tremendous impact
in society.

For better or for worse,

I had a strong influence

on how things played out
in the sports world.

The Warriors
had a 3,000% increase in value

after Wilt Chamberlain
played for them.

[Cherry] So at age 25,

Wilt Chamberlain found himself
moving to San Francisco.

[Wilt] San Francisco
is a sensational city,

a beautiful city,
a different town.

Sophisticated people,
lovely ladies,

a romantic town
fit for romanticists,

the best in food and drink
for a man of taste,

European charm
and California tradition,

but no place for basketball.

We played our games in a place
called the Cow Palace,

and that's just what it was.

The damn roof
leaked so badly

that when it rained,

I'd get half a dozen
drops of water in my eye

every time I looked up
for the center jump.

They have a few changes
with the team,

notably coach Frank McGuire
and Tom Gola,

who was a great
all-around player

staying behind basically
on the East Coast.

And then Paul Arizin,

another Hall of Fame
teammate of Wilt at the time

who had been around forever,
he retired.

My father, he didn't
really have much desire

to move to San Francisco.

The money
wasn't compelling enough

for him to extend his career.

The fact is, these
great athletes and players

weren't being paid enough money.

They all had to work
in the offseason.

[Announcer] Chamberlain
is the greatest scoring machine

the game has ever known.

Chamberlain still is scoring
at these incredible rates,

but the Warriors
really struggle.

The part where
people start to care

is like, okay, so you do
all those things,

but you're not winning.

Can you do those things and win?

They finished second
to last place in the West,

and this is the first time

Wilt's team
doesn't make the playoffs.

[Wilt] I never played before

for a team which lost
more games than it won,

and it was the most
miserable season of my career.

To have the expectation
for yourself

of winning a championship,

those losses
and those setbacks

probably felt
that much more disappointing.

They probably hurt more.

Goliath is not supposed to lose.

[Announcer] Meet
the most colorful comedy act

in present-day sport:
the Harlem Globetrotters,

idolized by 20 million
basketball fans in the USA.

Now matched against a team
of white athletes,

they show England
a trick or two.

The Globetrotters
were an all-Black team

founded by a man
named Abe Saperstein.

That summer, after
the San Francisco Warriors

had a losing season,

Wilt chose to join
the Globetrotters

in Western Europe
and play with them.

You know, when you're
a young Black kid

in America in the forties,

you loved Joe Louis

and the Harlem Globetrotters.

[Announcer]
But for really tricky work,

just watch Haynes,
the Harlem star,

going into
a kind of Stanley Matthews act

that delights the crowd
and drives the opposition daft.

I wanted to be Marques Haynes,

the greatest dribbler ever.

[Announcer]
Yes, that Harlem rhythm

has certainly got something.

As people know,

back in 1958,

after his junior year at Kansas,

Wilt decided he had
had his fill with college.

But he couldn't go
to the NBA yet

because the rules
at the time said

that you had to do
four years of college.

This is like
a decade before Spencer Haywood

helped get the rules changed,

and you could go straight into
the league if you were ready.

So Wilt Chamberlain,
in his senior year,

instead of letting
the university

and the NCAA more broadly

exploit his talent
and his services,

said, why would I
stay in college

when I can play for the greatest
basketball show on earth

at the time,
the Harlem Globetrotters?

Probably
the best time of my life?

The Harlem Globetrotters,

which I played for
for about 17 years on and off.

A little known fact

was that he would go play
for the Globetrotters

even after he played in the NBA.

Why did he do it?

He loved the experience.

[Announcer] Purists say they
make a mockery of the game.

They clown, they juggle,
they fool.

Number 50 is Goose Tatum,

the clown with
the longest arms in the sport.

Wilt Chamberlain wanted
to imitate Goose Tatum.

That means palming the ball,

fake passing, and laughing.

I first met Wilt in Italy

playing against him.

He'd be dribbling
behind the back.

He had all the trick stuff,
passing.

[Wilt] I was a young, naive,
unsophisticated boy

during my year
with the Globies,

but I fell in love with Europe,

and hardly a summer
would pass after that

without
my returning to Europe.

In time, I come to know
the best restaurants

and the best hotels.

I learned my way
around the cities

like Paris and Rome
and Milan and Copenhagen.

[Announcer]
Last year in Europe,

they played 73 games

in nine different countries,
and lost only one.

The fans didn't want to see
the Globetrotters lose,

so the script was

that the Globetrotters
would win.

I think he realized
that this is a good thing to do

to see the world
and didn't have to win.

no pressure,

and naturally,
everybody loved him.

I wouldn't be surprised

if Wilt
just enjoyed it so much

because of people
were always applauding him

for things
that he was able to do,

you know,
instead of the intensity

of trying to win a championship.

In 1964, Alex Hannum
takes over

as Wilt's coach
in San Francisco.

Yeah, Alex
was a very interesting guy.

Tough-nosed guy,
you know, military guy.

I can still hear him.

It's crazy
that I even remember this.

Stand on the sidelines

and stick his chest out
and going,

Hum-diddy-diddy.
You got him. We need him.

How about a loaf of bread
and a pound of meat

and all mustard you can eat?

And he'd come up with
crazy things like that,

but that's the way he was.

[Wilt] I really wasn't
all that excited

about playing for Alex at first.

When he coached at Syracuse,

he was always baiting me

and telling his players
to push me around

and yelling about me
to the referees.

He was my fourth coach
in five years,

and sportswriters
started blaming me

for the quick turnover.

That was preposterous,
of course.

I think that
his previous coaches,

to me, the idea was

that he would score
as much as he possibly could.

My idea was to spread
that wealth around a little bit.

He comes in
and he says, Wilt,

I want you to pass
a little bit more.

I want you to get the team
more involved.

He was asking Wilt Chamberlain,

one of the greatest
scorers ever,

to score a little less.

[Wilt] My last season
in Philadelphia,

we won 80% of the games

in which I scored
50 or more points.

I'm not sure my sh**ting less
will make us win more.

When I did not score
as well as usual,

we did not win.

Coaching Wilt Chamberlain
was certainly not easy.

It all comes down to how best
to win a championship.

Alex stood up to him.

You know, Alex
challenged him to a fight.

You can't help
but respect the guy

who's willing
to stand up to you

knowing full well that you
could break him in half.

Alex Hannum was trying
to impose his will on Wilt.

Hannum knew how far to push.

That was an essential element
to coaching him successfully.

[Wilt] If a coach could show me
the sense in something,

I was always willing
to try something different.

Alex knew basketball,
and he knew men.

If the man
doesn't want me to sh**t,

I won't sh**t.

[Announcer]
That's Rogers from Chamberlain.

Everything
really starts to change.

Double-teaming Wilt

is actually opening up pathways
for his teammates to score.

His assist numbers
start to go up.

Playing with
the Globetrotters, you know,

they're throwing it
behind their head,

and I'm sure
that helped his passing.

[Ryan] This is what I call the
second stage of Wilt's career,

the well-balanced,
middle of the road days

when he'd seen the virtue
of passing.

[Announcer]
A dunk by Nate Thurmond,

6-11 rookie for San Francisco.

That team also had a rookie
join them named Nate Thurmond,

one of the great defensive
players in league history.

[Wilt]
I was still scoring a lot,

but Alex had us moving more
and looking for the open man.

We were really playing
good team ball.

[Taylor]
This first year with Hannum,

they make it all the way
to the NBA Finals.

[Announcer] On the rebound,
Bill Russell scores,

[Taylor]
Only to lose to the Celtics.

And yet they improved
by a huge margin,

moving the needle
in a way

that shifts the entire
landscape of the league.

But Wilt
has these health issues

in the offseason.

The San Francisco owner
and their doctor

thought that Wilt
had a heart condition.

Wilt's personal physician
and friend of 40 years,

Dr. Stan Lorber,

he concluded
that it was pancreatitis.

The indestructible man

missed a lot of games
at the beginning of the season.

[Taylor]
The team struggles immensely.

The team isn't happy
because they're not winning

and they're paying Wilt
a whole bunch of money,

so they decide they gotta
trade the Big Dipper.

They decide, of all places,

to send Wilt Chamberlain
back to Philadelphia,

now the Philadelphia 76ers,

a team that was formerly
the Syracuse Nationals.

One reason why
they were willing to trade Wilt

is they had Nate Thurmond,

a top 10 all-time center,
in my opinion.

$150,000 and some players
for Wilt Chamberlain.

The players
really didn't matter.

It was the $150,000

that helped the Sixers
to secure their star.

He wasn't thrilled about it.

[Wilt] It's a hurting thing
to leave the city you love.

I guess it was the money.

I really don't know for sure,

but that must have been
why they did it.

I'm sorry some hold me
responsible for what happened,

well, as if I had anything
to do about the move.

We understand
the owners have to deal,

but it doesn't have
to be this bush.

They could
call the players in

and let them know
what's cooking.

I don't mean
ask the players' opinion,

but at least let them know.

Ike Richman
along with Irv Kosloff

were the new owners
of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Ike Richman
was Wilt Chamberlain's attorney

and I think advisor

and probably partner
in different business ventures.

And that's the reason

Wilt ended up
coming back to Philadelphia.

Ike Richman
was a wonderful, creative man.

Wilt's first game back
as a 76er,

Ike arranges for 1,500 children
to be in the stands

when they announce number 13,
Wilt Chamberlain.

[Announcer] Welcome back
Wilt Chamberlain!

[cheers and applause]

The kids go bananas.

Wilt is really moved by it
and tears up

and says later that
it was the most amazing thing

that ever happened to him
in his sporting career.

I know they were very close.

I think Wilt fully trusted him.

And Wilt, you know,
Wilt didn't trust everybody.

In fact, it'd be closer to say
he didn't trust anybody.

Ike Richman and his family,
in many ways,

were very similar to our family

and their relationship
with Wilt.

One year he came up
and my father yells out, Wilton!

And Wilt goes right back,
Milton!

It was priceless.

Wilt absolutely loved
my parents,

and they loved him as we did

over the next almost 50 years.

Wilt decided he wanted Jewish
lawyers and Jewish attorneys.

He chose a man
named Sy Goldberg,

Seymour Goldberg.

[Wilt] My attorney
and my accountant

and my doctor

are all Jewish
and all very dear friends.

I'd grown up in
an ethnic neighborhood,

Black, Jewish, and Italian,

and I'd never really seen
much discrimination as a kid.

The composition of the students
at Overbrook

was African American,
half Jewish American,

so we shared a sort of
camaraderie or fellowship.

Zelda Spoelstra,
she was in the NBA office.

She had worked for us
when she was younger,

and she was very close to Wilt.

[Wilt] I pick my friends
by their character,

not their color.

And I haven't found
that any one race

has a monopoly on good or evil.

I want good friends,
warm friends,

caring, loving, human friends,

and I don't think I have
to apologize to anyone for that.

[Announcer]
The Boston Celtics,

sh**ting for an unprecedented

seventh straight National
Basketball Association title,

meet the Philadelphia 76ers

in the Eastern Division
playoffs.

You can expect
another classic rebounding duel

between Boston's ace
Bill Russell

and Wilt Chamberlain
of Philadelphia.

Chamberlain is intense
in his desire to win.

The 76ers superstar

has yet to play
on a championship team.

The Sixers
look better with him,

and they get to the postseason.

They make a run
through the playoffs.

Who's waiting for them
but the Boston Celtics?

Wilt with the 76ers,

now we got a whole
new cast of characters.

It's Chet Walker,

Lucious Jackson,

Hal Greer.

This is a damn good ball club,

but they are
the clear underdogs still.

It was a tremendous series.

They take the Celtics
seven games.

[Taylor] And in game seven...

The Celtics are up five
in the final minute of the game,

so it seems like
this one is all over.

[whistle blows]

But they call a foul.

Wilt makes two free throws
to cut it to three.

And then on the next possession,
with only a few seconds left...

The Sixers are able
to get the ball back.

[Announcer]
It goes into Chamberlain.

Chamberlain turns
and stuffs the ball.

There are five seconds left.

Wilt dunks the ball
to cut the lead to one.

The score was 110-109.

The baskets
at the old Boston Garden

were uniquely attached.

There were
what they called guide wires.

There were long cable cords
tied up to the balcony.

Bill Russell takes the ball
out of bounds and throws it in.

Russell's inbounds pass

hit the guide wire
near the Celtic bench.

That's a violation.

The ball goes back
to Philadelphia

with a chance
to knock off the Celtics.

And there's timeout.

Classic Russell,
he takes the blame.

Says, who's
going to bail me out?

Setting up
one of the most famous plays

in NBA history.

Play resumes, and Hal Greer is
taking the ball out of bounds.

So the theory was
throw it to Chet Walker.

If he misses,
they have a very good chance

of an offensive rebound
with Wilt crashing the boards.

[Announcer] Johnny?

[2nd Announcer] Greer's
putting the ball into play.

He gets it out.
Havlicek steals it!

Over to Sam Jones.

Havlicek stole the ball!

It's all over!

It's all over! It's all over!

[Wilt] Sure,
we had to make the shot,

but there was no doubt
in our minds

that it would go in.

We were meant to win this one.

I could feel it in my bones.

I can't describe how I feel,

all empty and sick
to see it all end like this.

I'm beginning to think
that I'm snake bit

losing out to Boston
so many times.

As throughout his career,
Wilt was blamed for the loss.

The narrative about this game,

I think this is a good example

of this idea
called winning bias.

The field of study
is cognitive science.

When a team wins,
we start to look subconsciously

for all of the explanations
for why the team won.

With Russell, you focus on
the key block that he had

and the great rebound.

When a team loses,
we do the same thing.

Let's go back
over the course of the game

and say Wilt was at fault
for the goaltender.

Wilt was at fault
for missing his free throws.

It's based on
this idea of heuristics.

A heuristic is a term
for shortcut basically.

As humans,
the way our mind works,

we can't sit around
like some perfect supercomputer

and calculate all the options.

I'm gonna draw on some
handful of past experiences

that help us tell a story
that makes sense.

We're boiling down
the complexity

into these bite-sized
digestible pieces,

and it turns out that sometimes
the stories that we tell

may not be that accurate.

So in this case,
Havlicek steals the ball,

Russell gets off the hook.

You forget
that Russell threw the ball

into the basket stanchion,

and instead Russell wins
yet another game seven.

He wins another
elimination game.

Now with Wilt,
despite the fact

that at the end
of this particular game,

he scored four points

just to put them
in a position to win the game.

Even though that last play

had nothing to do
with Wilt Chamberlain,

you're adding more to the fire

for that narrative
that, you know,

he can't win the big one,

he can't win close games,
he's a choker.

So this narrative emerges,
right?

I guess the narrative
was selfish, individual guy

versus ultimate team player.

The idea to have the giant
to be beaten each time,

a lot of people loved that.

[Cherry] Wilt in his day
was so domineering

and such a force
in the game of basketball

that he was almost disliked
in some respect.

He was always on trial.

I like to use the expression,

you know,
no one loved Goliath.

People very easily
were able to root against Wilt

because of the media.

That's where
the Goliath came along.

Wilt was always Goliath,
and Bill Russell was David.

Wilt was bigger and taller
and stronger than everybody,

so why doesn't he
just completely dominate

and win the championship
every year?

Media people projected that
out to the public.

One of the things
about Bill Russell,

where he profited
from Chamberlain's size,

is Bill Russell
looked to be the underdog.

They were marketed,
you know, and unfairly so,

as, you know,
Russell being the good guy

and Wilt being the villain,

[Wilt] I feel like I've been
chased my whole life.

I've been cast as
the superstar you love to hate.

Bill Russell very famously
didn't sign autographs.

He did not care
if you liked him.

He didn't know you.
You don't know him.

He did not care
what you thought.

I think Wilt did care.

What they're doing is
they're setting in motion

a certain way of thinking
about basketball as a team game,

but featuring these prominent
individuals leading their teams.

[Bill Russell] I was defense
and he was offense,

And this was
the greatest competitive thing,

I think, in the history
of American sport.

They had two players
that were a marketer's dream.

Little did anybody know then

that this would become
the blueprint

that led the NBA
to unprecedented success.

[Announcer] The NBA
game of the week

brought to national
television audiences.

Back in 1964,

the NBA signed a national
television contract

with the ABC network.

The NBA was about to lose
its television contract,

its small television contract.

Here came the Dipper.

[Announcer] Bill Russell

jumping against
Wilt Chamberlain.

I must have heard it without
exaggeration 50,000 times

that I used to watch you
and Wilt on Sunday television,

and people make judgment

on which one
they thought was the best.

I'm not sure that even
someone like Michael Jordan

can be seen as historically
important as Wilt Chamberlain,

because by the time Jordan
came into the league,

the league was
already on sound footing.

When Wilt came into
the league, it wasn't.

So the league needed Wilt
in a way that Wilt understood.

In 1965,

Wilt signs a contract
with the 76ers for $100,000.

From the time I was,
like, four years old,

I always thought
there was a great need

to go out and work
and to make money.

[Barbara Lewis]
The milkman used to come

at 4:30 and 5:00
in the morning.

So Dip said,
I'm gonna start going down

and working for the milkman.

And I said, how you
gonna work for the milkman?

He said, watch me.

He would say,
my mother told me

that I could help you
deliver the milk,

which, of course,
my mother did not tell him.

That was his way
of making some change.

In the NBA,

where no player's making
the money he was making.

Wilt Chamberlain
was ahead of his time

not just athletically,

but also in terms
of how he handled his business.

Even when he didn't have
the option of free agency,

he could still take over
the levers of power

with the threat of retirement.

I'll just go do the decathlon
or I'll go play volleyball.

I'll join the Globetrotters
again.

[Wilt] Money, I had it,

I demanded it,
and I commanded it.

Yes, I was the father
of the big dollar.

I had lawyers and accountants
and business managers,

but I make my own deals

because I am
the best businessman I know.

At one point, Wilt signed
a series of one year deals

so that each season
they would reassess his value

to make sure
that he maximized his worth.

Breaking news.

LeBron James will not
pick up the option

on the final year of
his contract with the Cavaliers

and will become
an unrestricted free agent.

What LeBron was doing
with his one year deals

was showing everybody that you
have the value and the leverage,

and Wilt was doing that
50 years earlier.

There's a way
that Wilt Chamberlain

always gets seen
as individualistic,

that he wasn't out there

advocating for all the players
at the same time

the way an Oscar Robertson would

or the way
a Bill Russell would,

and that's true to some extent.

Wilt was very much
a solo artist.

But the impact of his efforts
still benefited everybody.

As soon as Wilt Chamberlain
got his $100,000 salary,

Bill Russell
said to the Celtics,

y'all got to pay me
more than that.

Wilt Chamberlain raised
the salaries of all of us.

Wilt had such an impact

on the salary structure
in the NBA,

we all were indebted
to what he was able to do

when he negotiated
for contracts.

But Wilt Chamberlain told
his teammates and his friends,

don't believe for a minute
that I'm getting paid 100,000.

I'm getting paid more.

They just don't want
everyone to know it.

Bill Russell was the champion,

but Wilt Chamberlain
was the draw.

He had that effect on people
on and off the court.

[Wilt] I've always believed

that one should sow
his wild oats

before settling down.

Apparently, by being
a little larger than most,

I've got more oats to sow.

I believe in fidelity
where marriage is concerned,

and my sexual appetite
has not come close

to allowing me
to think about settling down.

He did have a lot of girls.

They were models,

and a lot of them sent their
pictures and stuff like that.

He comes into
the locker room one day

and he said,
I see this gorgeous girl

in this green Corvette.

She drives by me

and she waves at me
like she knows me.

I got to get
to meet this lady.

And I know exactly who it is,

but I don't want
to say anything

because I don't want
to get cut, you know.

So after the game, Wilt walks
over to where we're standing,

and he, like, smiles at me
like I'm doing him a good deed.

I found out who this person was,

and I'm gonna
bring her to you, you know.

I said, Wilt, sorry,

but I want you to introduce you
to my wife Chris.

And he, like, goes, oh, okay.

If that's the way
it's gonna be, okay.

He was with a lot of women.

Just part of his life.

Fast forward 30 years...

It was still like that.

There's something compulsive

about so many
sexual experiences.

It's about like a very powerful,
immediate experience

that takes you
into another realm,

some kind of
altered state of mind.

And sex certainly does that,
especially sex with new people.

[Wilt] I've always believed
that lust

is a more natural part of us
than love,

and that one can spend
every waking moment

falling in and out of lust.

When he was on,
when he was having a great time,

you were
so blinded by the light.

He was just bigger than life.

He was something so amazing.

It was like
you were watching a supernova

or something, you know?

And then when he would
just slam the door shut,

it was like, oh, crash.

You would crash down.

You had to get used to it.
It was like a drug.

You had to go off cold turkey.

He would just not call.

There was this quote
that I read from him

that people don't understand

that it's so much easier

to sleep with
a thousand different women

than to spend a thousand nights
with one woman.

Because a thousand nights
with one woman

would require a depth
of familiarity, intimacy,

going deeper and deeper
into getting to know each other,

enjoying that,
knowing how to do that.

Which is why I think
he had so many relationships

that could only develop
this far.

A night, a few nights.

Great, with the great attitude,
respect, pleasure, all of that.

But there's nowhere
for it to go.

We had to stop being lovers

once we realized
that we loved each other.

He couldn't have sex
with somebody he loved.

They had to be just...
sexual objects.

That's who he was.

People don't believe that
I didn't sleep with him.

What other reason
would there be

to have this relationship
with Wilt Chamberlain?

He just touched me.

There was something
about the fact

that he was so interested

in being my friend
no matter what.

I'm a photographer.

I met Wilt
on a photography assignment

in 1977 in Vienna, Austria.

I was working on a film
called Holocaust.

I had been in the bar
with some of the producers

and some of the actors,

and I hear a voice saying to me,
you look like a little doll.

And I look up,
and it's Wilt Chamberlain.

And I said, everyone
looks like a little doll to you.

He came back to the table,
and everybody was excited.

He was really very smart,
and he amused everybody there.

Then I found him
in front of my door one night,

and that's when he made a move.

And I said, you know, Wilt,

you just have to forget
about that.

We can be friends.

He was really pushy,
you know.

Wilt, you know,
got what he wanted pretty much,

and I just yelled at him.

And everybody...in those days,

people, they thought
it was funny.

It really wasn't fun...

But anyway but besides that,
he shouldn't have done it.

Never did anything
like that again ever.

So he decided that it was okay

to keep me as his friend
because I told him the truth.

I think there was
something about that, too.

I mean, I was a woman
who was not...

I wasn't looking
for anything from him.

That helped the friendship.

So he continued to call me.

You know, this was
an extraordinary human being,

incredibly smart.

I found him very sweet.

He liked to tell me things,

talk to me, ask my opinion.

He knew I wasn't a bullshitter.

He could tell me anything,
and I could tell him anything.

He was just
a very complicated person.

When I met Wilt,
he was in Vienna

because he was coaching
a female volleyball team,

which I found
really interesting.

He was familiar with
all of these women athletes

way back in the seventies
when no one even knew them,

and he was going to their games.

I met Wilt in 1974
through Lynda Huey.

That summer,
they decided that Wilt

was going to
sponsor our track club.

He definitely
brought some attention

to women's track at that time.

You know, he created
his own women's track team

just because
he wanted to make sure

they had support financially,
you know,

had, you know, structure
and things like that.

He treated us like daughters.

He was very gentle
and very soft spoken.

I mean, he had a deep voice,
but he was very genuine.

His sister Barbara
was a terrific athlete.

He was doing
this in honor of her,

and we lucked out
and got to be a part of that.

[Lewis] Dip and I,
we both love to do track.

He would always try
to make me

the fastest on the girls team

and just take my hand.

Of course, he's taking
these giant steps

and just keep making me run
around the track all the time.

[Wilt] My sister Barbara
was a great athlete.

She was the fastest woman
around school,

but there was no place
for her to compete,

so she never developed
like she could have.

That's why
Wilt's Wonder Women was formed,

to give these women a chance.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee,
back in the Olympics,

he sponsored her.

She explained to me
that without Wilt

and the programs
he had set up for women,

she never would have become
the great star she was

in track and field.

[Wilt]
I want to make it clear

that I appreciate women's
unending campaign for respect.

I want to see women
have a fair chance

to demonstrate
their athletic talent

and to get the recognition
they deserve.

Maybe I sound like
a woman's libber.

In a way, I am.

Wilt supporting women's sports

doesn't mean that
he still wasn't a womanizer.

Two things can be true.

That does not mean
he was not a nice guy.

That does not mean
he did not love his family.

And I think that's where
it's hard to reconcile

who Wilt Chamberlain is
for women.

It was December of '65.

It was a Friday night in Boston.

The game was on television,

and I remember hearing
the score was actually 13-13,

and Wilt's number was number 13.

Ike Richman had a heart attack
and died on the spot.

It was terrible.

He used to get very excited
at the games.

I mean, he used to
really get worked up.

He used to feud
with the referees.

When you think about it,
it's not surprising

that he had
a heart attack at a game.

[Wilt]
We won the game for Ike,

but Philadelphia was never
the same for me again.

Few events in my life

have saddened me
as much as his death.

Wilt called me
a couple days later,

and he says, get dressed,
you're coming with me.

I said, where am I going?

He says we're going
to Ike's funeral.

And that was so sad.

Wilt was a very
caring person,

and, you know, there was irony

because my dad and Ike Richman

had been able to get
the players, you know,

with the ability
to win the championship,

but Ike never saw it.

In 1965,
I was drafted by Ike Richman

and the Philadelphia 76ers.

My first encounter
with Wilt Chamberlain

was at training camp.

And I'm looking over
the balcony,

looking out at the ocean,

and all of a sudden
this purple Bentley pulls up,

and this man unwinds
out of the car,

and I go, oh, my goodness.

To say it was intimidating
is an understatement.

I knew Wilt had an apartment
in New York,

and I eventually
got the opportunity

to drive Wilt to New York

because I'm originally
from Brooklyn.

And there I am
in his purple Bentley

where I can't touch the pedals.

I have to move the seat up
to touch.

This is the only car
I've ever been in my entire life

where I couldn't touch.

I'm 6-7,
and I could not touch the pedal.

I was traded
to the Philadelphia 76ers

from the Baltimore b*ll*ts.

I just made the NBA
All Rookie team,

and Ike Richman traded for me.

I grew up right in
the West Philadelphia area.

I was playing in
the middle school league there.

So in our community,

you would have professional
athletes coming to view you,

and Wilt came by
and saw me play.

A lot of the older
ball players mentored us.

You could go to his house.

At times, we would come
and have lunch there.

His parents were welcoming.
They were warm.

So it's very personal to me

about how Wilt has seen me
as a little boy

and I'm getting ready
to be a man to play with him.

He said, I expect a lot
out of you.

We need you.

You could be the catalyst
to make us reach another level,

Because now we have a team

where we have
five defensive players.

1967, Philadelphia,

Alex Hannum is back
for round two with Wilt.

My teammates were ecstatic

because they felt
that respect factor

between Wilt and Hannum
was very good.

Wilt did not live
in Philadelphia.

When Alex came,
there was no divas.

You will live in Philly.

And this time
he kind of ups the ante again.

He says, Wilt, how about
you score way less?

The global offense of
the team overall will be better.

When he gets the ball,

he's dishing it off
to teammates.

We would all be moving around
the guy that has the ball.

Wilt finally got
the pieces that fit in

that could eliminate
him having to score that much.

And then when the defense

doesn't pay
enough attention to him

and you play him
in single coverage,

his scoring efficiency spikes,

optimizing the offense.

Wilt has reached a point
in his life

where I don't have to go
out there and score 40,

or are you going to go out there
and score 30?

Well, in fact,
he scored 24 points a game.

That was taking full advantage
of what he had to offer

to a team playing that way.

There's no question.

[Taylor]
And this amazing thing happens.

Philadelphia ends up producing

the most efficient offense
in NBA history

up until that point.

They also win 68 games,

which is a record
for victories,

and just 13 losses.

Wilt just wanted one thing,
and that was to win.

Guess who's waiting for them
again in the playoffs?

It's the Boston Celtics,

who are now on championship
eight in a row

when they meet in 1967.

But this time,
with this quality offense,

Philadelphia
is just way too much,

and they basically
overwhelm the Celtics.

The first team
to really beat the Celtics

with Bill Russell on the court.

If you could see how he felt
after we dethroned them.

Finally I'm a winner.

People had signs,
Boston, you will die.

People were blowing cigar smoke
in Red Auerbach's face.

Beating San Francisco

was nowhere near as difficult
as beating Boston.

The Sixers played
the San Francisco Warriors,

led by Rick Barry.

We just tried to play
as good as we can,

play good team defense, and we
gave them a heck of a battle.

So here we have
the team Wilt left.

We acquitted ourselves
pretty well,

but when Wilton
was on a team

with some really great players,
he won a championship.

They're mobbing Chamberlain.

Hello, is he ever happy.

Wilt has finally
won the big one.

That one team
that he played on

with Billy Cunningham,

that team would have beaten
a number of the teams

that Bill Russell was on.

They were
a great basketball team.

That was his crowning moment.

[Wilt]
When I was a little boy,

I used to think of myself
as climbing a high wall.

People were helping me up,

but a lot of others
were holding me down.

Sometimes I'd wonder if
you'd make it all the way.

In 1967, I guess I did.

We had the better team,
so we won.

No, I am not surprised.

The better team always wins.

Gentlemen,
would you join me here?

Wilt, let me
have your right hand.

My right hand.

Your right hand.
Let's hold it up to this camera.

Now your right hand.

Man, this don't mean nothing.

David slew Goliath.

Well, why'd you throw...

Wilt was approached
by a group of businessmen

who wanted Wilt to fight
a guy named Muhammad Ali.

Bill Russell
and a few more players

are gonna be
my sparring partners

to get ready.

[Wilt] Fighting Muhammad Ali

would combine
the two kinds of challenges

I had always responded
to doing,

something everyone said
couldn't be done

and beating another man
at his game.

When they announced that
he was gonna fight Muhammad Ali,

and that was like,

first, I thought my father
would never stop laughing,

and he was not the type
that laughed a lot.

-Any predictions?
-One prediction.

Timber!

[laughter]

He thought it was crazy
to even think

about trying to fight
Muhammad Ali

or any other fighter.

You're not a fighter.

That's nice.
You'll get what you want.

And it was the fight
that never came to be.

[Wilt] At the last minute,
I decided not to do it.

I was like a groom
who wasn't sure

the night before his wedding.

I would have had
to give up basketball,

which I wasn't ready to do.

I've always been
the kind of person

who needs specific,
concrete goals and challenges.

What else was there to do?

So I decided I had to
lead the league in NBA assists.

Wilt is passing even more,

and some people
think maybe too much.

He leads the league
in total assists that year.

This prompted some critics
to say Wilt

just cared about stats
and not the team.

In interviewing and talking
with people of that era,

many of them felt

he was much too concerned
with the statistics.

But imagine
being talented enough,

deciding one year,

I think I'll lead the league
in assists

and then going out
and doing it.

Whether he was fixated

on leading the league
in assists or not,

I don't know even
how much that mattered,

because they still
finished first in the league.

They still win 62 games.

He could have gone too far
with the passing

and he could be
the MVP of the league

as he was again
for the third consecutive year

and put the team in a position
to win a championship.

Both of those things
can be true.

And once again, the Sixers

meet our old friend
the Boston Celtics.

In '68, two things happened:
I broke my wrist

against the Knickerbockers
in the series before that.

But most importantly
was before the game,

Martin Luther King
was assassinated.

Good evening.

The Reverend
Dr. Martin Luther King,

39 years old
and a Nobel Peace Prize winner

and the leader of the nonviolent
civil rights movement

in the United States

was assassinated
in Memphis tonight.

A sn*per's b*llet
cut down Dr. King

as he stood
on a hotel balcony in Memphis.

To say everyone was devastated
was an understatement.

We were just
walking around in a fog.

Russell knew
Martin Luther King very well.

He had been there
for the I Have A Dream speech.

So the two of them
are with their respective teams,

and they really felt like,
we shouldn't play.

It wouldn't be right to play.

So both teams separately
voted not to play.

But then what happened
was the Commissioner came in

and the mayors
from both cities

contacted Wilt and Russ

because they represented
their teams,

and said, listen,
turn on your television set.

There's rioting
across our country.

We really feel
if you play this game,

you'd give all these people
something else to think about

for this one evening.

And so both of them went back

and, you know,
talked with their teams.

The league wanted us to play,

but I was very much against it.

We really relied on
Russell and Chamberlain

to help make those decisions.

So both teams voted.

[MacMullan]
Wilt still voted not to play,

but his team as a whole
voted to play,

and he adhered to their wishes
and so the game was played.

That's the only thing
that I regret

is that I played.

From my personal standpoint,
it's difficult

because I was just
emotionally drained.

[Wilt] I knew Dr. King,

but not as well as I would
have liked to know him.

I respected the man

and I believed
in what he believed in.

I've been thinking about it

ever since I heard
about what happened.

Numb like, you know?

[MacMullan]
In an unprecedented move,

the NBA paused its season
after that game

so Wilt and Russ

could walk to
the Ebenezer Church in Atlanta

along with
Martin Luther King's family.

Wilt and Russell
were the first guys

that really had the juice

to be able to say
to the people that ran this NBA,

hey, this is important to us.

We need to respect the legacy
of Martin Luther King

by doing this.

That was really
the first hint

of playoff empowerment

all the way back then
in the sixties.

Play resumes
and they were up three to one

against the Celtics
in the series.

No team at that point
had come back from three one,

but you don't have
Billy Cunningham

for the entire series.

The Celtics come back,
they force a 7th game.

The Celtics win the game.

The Philly team is lambasted
for blowing it and losing.

Wilt got heavily criticized.

I fell into it,

and probably one of the
biggest regrets in my career,

dumbest things
I ever said in my life

is when I called him a loser
one time in a book.

And that was not deserving.

It was the team that failed,

because this is a team game.

Nothing got attached to Greer.

Nothing got attached
to Wali.

Nothing got attached to Chet.

It all got attached to Wilt.

Because in this game seven,

Wilt only ends up taking
two shots in the fourth quarter.

[Wilt] After the game,
not one writer came up to me

and said, how come the ball
didn't come to you?

Not one.

But all of them did come
and ask me

how come you didn't sh**t more?

In this series,
we don't have a lot of footage.

We don't know why
Wilt only took two shots.

He could have been
passing too much,

but maybe they're
getting open shots.

Without knowing anything more,

maybe that story
sticks with Wilt

because it had been
in so many people's minds

for such a long time.

The whole thing fell apart.

Alex Hannum was gone
from a potential dynasty

or at least something
that would compete

nose to nose every year
against the Celtics.

It just dissipated.

It was just like that.

[Wilt] But I had more
important things that the 76ers

to think about
that summer of 1968.

For the first time in my life,
I got involved in politics,

real politics
at the highest level.

Wilt, one thing that
I've been concerned about

is what's happening

to the young people
of this country generally.

You know,
there's a lot of unrest

among young people,
all people,

and particularly the young
people in the Black community.

Give me an idea
as to what they really want.

What is it that we can do
to give them more hope?

Actually, I feel as though

that there
are many young Negroes

that are in a position

to go into business
for themselves,

and they're definitely
qualified.

What they need is some help,

some loans that maybe
will stimulate their interest.

If you go looking forward

after Martin Luther King's
assassination,

all of a sudden
it wasn't just Bill Russell

talking about the civil rights
of Black Americans.

I think Wilt realized
I have some power here.

I can make a difference.
I can have a voice in this.

When you think about
the Republican Party now

and you hear
that Wilt Chamberlain

was a Republican,

that sounds different

than to have heard that
during the 1960s.

For a long time,
Black people who could vote

favored the Republican Party

because Abraham Lincoln,
a Republican,

was credited
with freeing the sl*ves.

The Democratic Party

was the Southern
segregationist party.

Wilt was a worldly person

that would always gather people
to talk about community.

It's not given enough credit
to how he was an activist.

Wilt believed
that if Black people

could get the right access
to capital

and invest in our communities

and have government support
for those investments,

that we could thrive.

One of the things
that Richard Nixon was pushing

was Black capitalism.

[Nixon] Not only
have you been very successful

in the field of sports,

but you also have been
successful in a business career.

Now, do you think a lot
of these young Negroes

are gonna be able to make it
if they get this chance?

If given a chance,
I think that they're ready

to go out there and start
their own businesses, you know,

and be bosses in their own
business, so to speak.

He would say, well, if you met
Richard Nixon, you'd like him.

He's a good guy.

I said,
I don't know about that.

Richard Nixon comes along

and engages in what he calls
the Southern Strategy,

which is basically,
we are going to go after

what had previously been
white Southern Democrats

who support segregation.

We're going
to recruit the racists.

[Wilt] Does that mean
he exploited me? Sure.

Richard and Republicans
exploited me to get Black votes,

and I exploited them
to provide Black input.

Looking back on it,
I suspect

I was also subconsciously
influenced to back Richard

by several things
he and I had in common.

Throughout his political career,
he'd been called a loser,

the guy who could never
win the big one.

Me, too.

When you lose, you're forced
to confront yourself

as you really are

way down deep inside.

You gain insight
and perspective on yourself.

That a guy who always wins

just never gets.