Wilt Chamberlain set the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association (NBA) by scoring 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a 169–147 win over the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962, at Hershey Sports Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. It is widely considered one of the greatest records in basketball history. Chamberlain set five other league records that game, including most free throws made, despite being regarded as a poor free throw shooter; that record has since been tied by Adrian Dantley and later, surpassed by Bam Adebayo. The teams broke the record for most combined points in a game (316).
That season, Chamberlain averaged a single-season record 50.4 points per game, and he broke the NBA single-game scoring record (71) earlier in the season in December with 78 points. The third-year center had already set season scoring records in his first two seasons. During the fourth quarter, the Knicks began fouling other players to keep the ball away from Chamberlain, and they also became deliberate on offense to reduce the number of possessions for Philadelphia. The Warriors countered by committing fouls of their own to get the ball back.
The game was not televised, and no video footage of the game has been recovered; there are only audio recordings of the game's fourth quarter, which was added for preservation in the United States' National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2016. The NBA was not yet recognized as a major sports league, and struggled to compete against college basketball. The attendance at the game was approximately half of capacity, and no members of the New York press were present.
Prologue A and center,Cherry 2004, p. xviii. Chamberlain was in his third season in the NBA, having set season scoring records in each of his first two seasons with 37.6 and then 38.4 points per game.Cherry 2004, pp. 97, 99 Frank McGuire, the Warriors' new coach, started the season vowing to get the ball to Chamberlain "two-thirds of the time." Sports Illustrated wrote that McGuire's "eventual effect may be to measurably change the character of professional basketball from the brawling, hustling, cigar-in-the-face and eye-on-the-till game it has been for decades to the major league sport which it longs and deserves to be." He was determined to play Chamberlain every minute of every game; the center had missed only eight minutes and 33 seconds that season due to disqualification in a game from technical fouls.Pomerantz 2005, pp. 81, 119 In three earlier games that week, Chamberlain had scored 67, 65, and 61 points respectively,Pomerantz 2005, p. 20 giving him an already-record 15 times scoring 60 or more points in his career. He was closing in on 4,000 points for the season, needing 237 more; no other player had ever scored 3,000 points at that point. On December 8, 1961, in a triple overtime game versus the Los Angeles Lakers, he set a new NBA record by scoring 78 points, breaking the record of 71 previously set by Elgin Baylor. Legendary Laker broadcaster Chick Hearn often told the story that after the game, he asked Baylor if it bothered him that Chamberlain had an extra 15 minutes to break the record. According to Hearn, Baylor said he was not concerned because "someday that guy is going to score 100".Curry, Chuck. (2001, October 24). "A Tribute to Wilt Chamberlain ", NBA.com. Rival center Bill Russell predicted, "[Chamberlain] has the size, strength, and stamina to score one hundred some night."Pomerantz 2005, p. 158 In a high school game in 1955, Chamberlain had scored 90 points in a 123–21 victory. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, "Chamberlain might have hit 100 if he had played the entire 32 minutes."Pomerantz 2005, pp. 159–160
Before Chamberlain, the most dominant big man in the NBA had been George Mikan. In November 1950, the Fort Wayne Pistons held the ball for minutes at a time without shooting to limit the impact of the Minneapolis Lakers' Mikan. The Pistons attempted 13 shots in the game, and won 19–18.Pomerantz 2005, pp. 31–32 NBA President Maurice Podoloff said, "In our game, with the number of stars we have, we of necessity run up big scores."Pomerantz 2005, p. 33 In the , teams averaged just over 80 points per game. The NBA introduced the 24-second shot clock in 1954, and league scoring and attendance increased. By the , teams were averaging 119 points each game.Pomerantz 2005, pp. 33–34 Chamberlain that season was one of 37 black players in the league, the NBA having started the integration of blacks in 1950.Pomerantz 2005, pp. 52–53, 186 With their emergence, the NBA game was stylistically being played faster and above the rim. Many of the league's great players were black, and blacks believed they were limited by a league quota of four black players per team.Pomerantz 2005, pp. 53, 123 Critics suggested that basketball was becoming uninteresting with taller players dominating.Pomerantz 2005, pp. 57–58, 112–113, 122 Warriors teammate Joe Ruklick thought that "the attitude [among white players in the NBA] was, in my opinion, '[Chamberlain] is a freak who will come and go. There will never be a black guy doing this again.'"Pomerantz 2005, p. 205 Chamberlain, nicknamed Dipper, was revolutionizing the sport with his slam dunks, nicknamed the Dipper Dunk.Cherry 2004, pp. 22–23 Traditionalists considered dunking poor sportsmanship, and their occurrence was rare. As the league's second-tallest player,Swede Halbrook of the Syracuse Nationals was Chamberlain began dunking more regularly. He was still more of a finesse player, preferring fadeaway shots and finger rolls. He rarely dunked forcefully. Teammate Paul Arizin believed Chamberlain did not want to be perceived as great merely by being tall.Pomerantz 2005, pp. 20, 36–37, 57
There was little advance excitement about the pending Warriors-Knicks game that Friday. Only five games remained in the regular season, with the Warriors (46–29) in second place—eleven games behind the Boston Celtics—and the Knicks in last place.Pomerantz 2005, p. 25 Chamberlain had spent the night before the game in New York City,Despite playing for Philadelphia, Chamberlain lived in Manhattan; he commuted to Philadelphia each day for the team's activities. partying all night with a female companion before dropping her off at her home at 6am. With no sleep and suffering from a hangover, he boarded the train to Philadelphia at 8am, met several friends at the Philadelphia train station, and had a long lunch with them, thus almost missing the team bus to Hershey. The other players were similarly bored. Warriors player York Larese said, "The biggest thrill in my life was to see that. There was nothing exciting about the Knicks playing the Warriors in Hershey. Chocolate was more exciting." The game was played at Hershey Sports Arena, an old, drafty gym originally built for ice hockey. The league occasionally played games in remote towns to attract new fans. This was the Warriors' third "home" game of the season in Hershey, which was from Philadelphia.Pomerantz 2005, pp. 11, 24, 74–75Cherry 2004, p. 109 The Warriors' Tom Meschery called the arena a "god-forsaken place... The town of Hershey was built around a huge chocolate factory; everything there became permeated with the smell of chocolate. It was practically impossible to stay indoors; people felt sick. I was just dreaming to leave the place as fast as I could."
On a cold, rainy Friday night, only 4,124 spectators paid to see the game, primarily to see players from the Philadelphia Eagles play an exhibition basketball game against their colleagues from the Baltimore Colts before the NBA game started. The arena's capacity was over 8,000, and Warriors owner Eddie Gottlieb was infamous for exaggerating attendance numbers. The Warriors' home attendance had dropped from 7,000 in Chamberlain's rookie season to less than 5,000 in this, his third, season.Pomerantz 2005, p. 77 College basketball had started offering doubleheaders during the Great Depression to provide customers value for their money. Fans had grown accustomed to watching two games, so doubleheaders in the NBA became common.Pomerantz 2005, p. 108
The NBA was still struggling in its 16th season, not yet a major sports league and less established than college basketball. The league was hardly national, with only one team, the Los Angeles Lakers, west of St. Louis. The NBA received low television ratings, and this game was not televised.Pomerantz 2005, pp. 10–11 The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) considered not renewing the league's television contract. No members of the New York press were present, as reporters were in Florida covering spring training for the New York Yankees and the expansion New York Mets.Pomerantz 2005, p. 107 With few in the media present, the Warriors' publicist was tasked this night with being the stringer for the Associated Press (AP), United Press International (UPI), and The Philadelphia Inquirer.Pomerantz 2005, pp. 117–118 Only two photographers were at the game.Pomerantz 2005, p. 11
The Knicks were shorthanded, with their starting center, Phil Jordon, out with an illness,Pomerantz 2005, p. 113 officially reported as influenza but it was widely suspected he was simply hung over. Jordon, in an early-season game, had played Chamberlain even, scoring 33 points to the Warriors center's 34.Pomerantz 2005, p. 142 The Knicks instead started , , second-year player Darrall Imhoff, a strong defensive player in college who led the California Golden Bears to the NCAA championship in 1959 and won a gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics.Pomerantz 2005, pp. xiii, 102, 106 New York also had , , backup center Cleveland Buckner, a better shooter than defender, and whom Chamberlain had overpowered for an NBA record 28 points in one quarter two days earlier.Pomerantz 2005, pp. xiii, 56–57, 111
Game report
First three quarters According to McGuire, the game did not start with any game plan to get Chamberlain 100 points.Pluto 2000, p.220 After a few minutes, the Warriors led 19–3, and their star center had already scored 13 points and made his first five shots.Pomerantz 2005, p. 37 At the end of the first quarter, the Knicks trailed 42–26, and in his typical style, Chamberlain had already scored 23 points, making all nine of his free throws.Pomerantz 2005, p.40 Free throws were the weakest part of his game: he made barely more than half in his first two seasons. He had started shooting free throws underhanded that season per McGuire's suggestion.Pomerantz 2005, pp. 62, 81 Chamberlain at that point was thinking more about a free throw shooting record than scoring a lot of points; the NBA record was 24 free throws made in a game. Imhoff was soon benched because of foul trouble. The Charlotte Observer; Elder, Jeff; (January 18, 2007) Page 1E "Truth about Wilt scoring 100 points." Retrieved on April 14, 2007. After one foul, he snapped at the referee, "Well, why don't you just give the guy a hundred now and we'll all go home!"Pomerantz 2005, p.38 Neither referee had ever been a lead official before, and Imhoff privately wished a stronger lead was working the game.Pomerantz 2005, pp.37–8 By halftime, the Warriors had lost some of their edge, but still led 79–68. Chamberlain's point total stood at 41. The Warriors felt little excitement, as he had scored 60 or more points on 15 previous occasions. "I often came into the locker room with 30 or 35 points, therefore, 41 points was not a big deal", Chamberlain later explained. During halftime, the Warriors' Guy Rodgers said, "Let's get the ball to Dip. Let's see how many he can get."Pomerantz 2005, p. 96 McGuire agreed.