A Night in Hershey, PA

Have you ever felt like you could do no wrong? You know, those days you wake up in the morning, the sun is shining, you just have all the natural energy in the world and for one day, everything goes your way? In the sporting world, this feeling is widely referred to as “in the zone.” Collegiate and professional athletes far and wide, past and present have been asked to describe that feeling. How do you get to that point? How does it feel? How long can you sustain it? So let’s just list some of the moments we would describe as being “in the zone.”

Gale Sayers scores 6 TDs in a single football game for the Chicago Bears.

Bill Walton hits 21 of 22 shots in the NCAA title game for UCLA.

Rick Wise hit 2 homeruns and pitched a no-hitter in the same game for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Michael Jordan hits 6-three pointers and 35 points in the 1^st half of an NBA Finals game for the Chicago Bulls.

Shawn Green hits 4 homeruns and goes 6 for 6 at the plate with 6 runs scored for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

All of these feats plus many more could easily be described as being in the zone. However, as dominant as they seem, they all fall short to a night in Hershey, PA. In fact, this Friday, March 2^nd, will mark the 50^th anniversary of the greatest single game feat in sports history. Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single NBA game. Let me type that again, 100 points… by one player… in one game… a regulation game… against an NBA team (the New York Knicks). You couldn’t write that in a movie or book. In fact, it’s hardly fathomable to write out the game stats, or accumulate them in a video game: 36 of 63 field goals made, 28 of 32 free throws made. A perfect all around number, 100. We have all heard the reasons why it is great or why it is a little overrated. So let’s list some of the pros and cons from that historic night.

Cons:

Who did they really play? Yes, they played the Knicks but no one was as big as Chamberlain and the NBA in its early stages had hardly been integrated at that point.

What exactly is Hersheypark Arena? That arena was not the normal site for Philadelphia Warrior home games. The gym was “a god-forsaken place” as one teammate had put it. The rims were said to be very forgiving allowing for shots to rattle in a lot easier.

Who else took shots that night? As early as halftime, many teammates were quoted as saying they wanted him to get to 100. 

The rules were a little different. The key was not widened to its today measurements until 1964, two season after Chamberlain scored 100, allowing him to stand around the basket without any 3 second violations.

Pros:

Wilt was bigger but not by much. The “Big Dipper” at that point of his career stood at 7’0” and about 260 lbs. The Knicks starting center that night, Darrall Imhoff stood 6’10” and 220 lbs. We have all seen Shaquille O’Neal match up against guys nowhere near his size and weight.

Other guys did score. In fact, the other four starters for the Warriors all scored in double figures. Three of those starters made at least seven shots that night.

He was due to score 100 eventually. In Wilt’s three games before the 100, he scored 60 points in all of them. Darrall Imhoff matched up against The Stilt a few days later and received a standing ovation for holding him to a mere 58 points. In that 1961-62 season, Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points per game.

100 is still 100. I hear Lakers fans and even the sports media say that Kobe Bryant’s 81 point game (2^nd highest) is just as amazing as and more difficult than Wilt’s 100. My response? Go to a bar and run up $100 bar tab and give the bartender $81. It’s not the same. Plus, Kobe had the benefit of the 3-point line. Not to mention, Kobe and others of this era’s players get the advantages of state of the art equipment and arenas, along with 1^st class air travel (not on trains) and modern medicine.

Any way you slice it, no NBA player is going to break this record. I highly doubt anyone gets past Kobe’s 81. And when you match it up against the other single game feats in the other sports list above and the others not listed that may come to mind, those feats, while certainly astonishing, can be equaled or bettered. I can see Adrian Peterson or Arian Foster going wild for a 6 TD game. Shawn Green set a record for those 6 runs scored but fourteen others have hit 4 homeruns in a game. Even other feats like the called shot homerun by the Babe or Gretzky’s 5 goals in a game to give him 50 in 39 games. Tough to do but those will be reached before Wilt’s 100. It is the perfect number and the perfect statistic for one of the most dominant athletes in all of sports. Wilt Chamberlain could do it all and pretty much did it all in his career. He scored at will. He is the all-time leading rebounder in NBA history. He was on 2 NBA championship teams. He even led the league in assists for a season. You can make a case that Wilt was the greatest NBA player in history. There’s one thing for sure, WCAU radio announcer Bill Campbell’s call will live on. “The most amazing scoring feat of all time! 100 points for Wilt Chamberlain!” For one night, he was the greatest ever.