![]() That label came despite his enormous talent and treasure trove of seemingly unimaginable records, which included scoring 100 points in a game and averaging 50 points over the course of a season – seized on by critics as a sign of his emphasis on personal accomplishments as opposed to team victories.Ĭhamberlain invested wisely during his NBA career, amassing wealth while living a life as big as he was. The interviewees also include friends and family, including his sister Barbara Lewis, who recall how Chamberlain grew up being gawked at because of his height before attending college in Kansas, where a championship-game loss began the hard-to-shake meme that he was a “loser” in crunch time. Wilt Chamberlain during his playing days with the Philadelphia 76ers, here against the LA Lakers, with Jerry West (right) looking on. “We all were indebted to what he was able to do when he negotiated for contracts,” former teammate Billy Cunningham says, although Chamberlain’s then-groundbreaking $100,000 salary in 1965 looks like a relative pittance held up against what NBA stars earn today. Kevin Garnett – a star from a later period, and an executive producer on the project – refers to the colorful center as “the first rock ‘n’ roll superstar in basketball,” paving the way for stars determining their fate by insisting on getting paid what he was worth and asking to be traded multiple times before free agency. Jerry West, who played with Chamberlain on the Lakers, calls him, “One of the most misunderstood people I’ve ever seen.” Perhaps foremost, the project serves as an excellent companion to the recent Netflix documentary “Bill Russell: Legend,” providing additional insight into the battle of titans that defined basketball during their era, with Russell cast as the championship-winning good guy and Chamberlain as the selfish foil, who, given his 7-foot-plus frame, was fond of telling people, “No one roots for Goliath.”Īs with the Russell documentary, directors Rob Ford and Christopher Dillon talk to the right people, including teammates and opponents. In its most buzzworthy device, the docuseries using an AI program to assemble Chamberlain’s narration drawing from interviews and his autobiography, which possesses a somewhat stiff quality but generally gets the job done. ![]() But the three-part Showtime documentary proves most notable for portraying the sensitive soul underneath the NBA great’s brash exterior, as well as his trailblazing on behalf of athletes having a say in their careers and future. ![]() This is when his father revealed to him that he could tell he "had made it.To anyone whose first thought hearing Wilt Chamberlain’s name is the number of women he claimed to have slept with, rest assured, “Goliath” has you covered. One time, a fan even approached Chamberlain high atop a mountain in Switzerland for an autograph. He also remembers driving his convertible stingray, and fans would follow him through the hills. He recalls being chased around supermarkets by adoring women. Kildare, a medical drama based upon a young intern and his relationship with his mentor soared, Chamberlain was loving life. Still, something wasn't quite right with Chamberlain. He said that it felt like a "wonderful medicine." We can imagine. He loved the fame and adoration of the public because his self-esteem was still very low. Suddenly, Richard Chamberlain had reached Golden Boy status in the 1960s. Chamberlain's fan base grew exponentially and he was praised by critics everywhere. He was cast in a few productions, but it wouldn't be until 1961 that his big break would come. Hollywood was calling, and so Chamberlain answered it. ![]() A Big Break Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images ![]()
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