Wilt Chamberlain was an American basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who has an estimated net worth of $10 million. He was born Wilton Norman Chamberlain on August 21, 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His first love was track and field, but he was more talented in basketball.
With his unusual height,Chamberlain became a basketball legend while playing center position. He attended Overbrook High School and led his team to a 56-3 record in three varsity seasons while going undefeated in the final two years to win the city championships. He then went to the University of Kansas, where he led the Jayhawks to the 1957 NCAA finals. He left school to join the Harlem Globetrotters and he briefly toured the country with the team.
Wilt became the most recruited player in the country, eventually becoming one of the most successful and dominant players in the history of the NBA. He started out as a territorial pick for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, and turned pro in 1959 when he joined the Philadelphia Warriors, now the Golden State Warriors, in the NBA. He became both the Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player (MVP) while setting eight league season records.
Chamberlain spend fourteen dominating seasons with four different teams including the Harlem Globetrotters, Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers before he retired from the NBA in 1973. During his 15 years of active career, he won two championships – one with the 76ers in 1967 and one with the Lakers in 1972.
He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial 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 in 1996.
During his last years, Wilt Chamberlain spent his life in Los Angeles working on writing, and penned three books. These contained his personal experiences, as well as his views about the state of professional basketball in the 90s. He died at the age of 63, on October 12, 1999, while living alone as a bachelor in his LA home.