Wilt Chamberlain is known by sports fans as one of the most dominant basketball players of all time. For people less familiar with the sport and basketball specifically, the name Wilt Chamberlain might sound familiar due to his much-publicized personal life. What many people don’t realize is that before basketball became the focus of his life, the first sport that Wilt loved was track and field.
Chamberlain was born on August 21, 1936 and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he had eight brothers and sisters who all came from the same parents, father William and mother Olivia. As a young man growing up in eastern Pennsylvania, Wilt stated that his first reaction to the game of basketball was that he considered it “a game of sissies”. The sport that the young Wilt Chamberlain was most passionate about was track and field.
Before reaching high school age, the odd-athlete Wilt Chamberlain was reported to have jumped 6’6″, a mark that would win most high school meets. Understandably, he could reach 22 feet tall. For comparison’s sake, not nearly all high school track athletes can Reaching 22 feet in a running long jump, the wit is said to have reached that length from a steady standing jump position.Perhaps his widespread jumping talents would have been expected given what the public now knows of his success on the basketball court, but it was the track and field prowess that Shown by Wilt was not limited to jumping events.
With his long strides and powerful running style, Chamberlain was a super middle-distance runner whose ten times in 49 seconds in the 440-yard dash (once around a standard course) and under two minutes in the 880-yard dash (twice around the standard course) were records Exceptional even for collegiate athletes. Chamberlain excelled in every aspect of track and field including running, jumping, and throwing. He reportedly threw a bullet over 53 feet in his youth.
Chamberlain matured very quickly and continued to grow at a rapid pace. At the age of 10, the guy was 6′ and when he started high school he was an impressive 6’11”. As a 7’2″ college freshman playing basketball at the University of Kansas (commonly referred to as KU) he could reach a weight of Chamberlain who weighs 240 lbs to 9’6″ in the air standing flat (no toes).
Wilt took up his first love of track and field at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas while also playing basketball there. The 7’2″ Goliath ran the 11-second 100-yard dash and also threw the 56-foot putt. Despite competing and excelling in both the sprint and throw his best events, the jumping events were no surprise as Chamberlain triple jumped more than 50 feet and successfully won the Big 8 Conference high jump competition three years in a row. In the world of track and field, he’s an extremely rare athlete who can compete at the highest level in the shortest sprints, all jumps, and throwing events. This dynamic set of talents is so rare in fact that Wilt may be the only man ever to possess such a unique skill set. .