Customer Reviews

Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era

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I loved this book! Initially I thought -- no way would I read a book on Wilt and basketball history. Then, I stumbled across a two page preview in Parade Magazine and thought-this guy can write! Pomerantz' interesting storytelling immediately captivated me. The most compelling for me, a non basketball afficianiado, is how he took me right into the heart of the historical, cultural and race sensibilities through sports in the fifties and 60's and through this truly unparalleled player, Wilt. Add to this, now I have some sports legend history at my fingertips for conversations.

I was born and raised in Hershey, Pa., and worked as an usher at the Hershey Arena all through high school. I saw every sporting event in that remarkable little town throughout my life. But I missed that game. I was away at college, Wake Forest University, and missed the greatest night in the history of my hometown.
Obviously, the story of this game, this player (the Warriors trained in Hershey as did the Eagles) and this town is very personal for me.
Gary Pomerantz did an eloquent job of capturing the times, the player, the game and the town. He grasps the sensitivity of the social issues of the time (remember JFK's New Frontier was in full bloom) and the hearts and the minds of the people who lived. He describes with brilliance this innocent period and the bigger than life presence of Wilt Chamberlain, who dominated it and bent it to his will.
This is a book of history, of sport and the civil rights movement and of a man who captured all of our imaginations until the day he left us.

Ernie Accorsi
General Manager
New York Giants

What a lost treasure. I just finished reading Wilt, 1962. What great insight into a lost era of the NBA. Growing up, Wilt was one of my favoite players. I thought I knew everything about him and his history. Boy! Was I wrong. Wilt. 1962 gives great insight into not only " The 1st big fella", but also what the NBA was like back in the early days. The writer, Gary Pomerantz, does a great job of putting you right there in those old damp, dusty arenas, on the bus trips and the nightlife that surrounded the Big Dipper in his hey day. It was a fast read and highly recommended reading for any sports or history fan.

ls.
chicago

I admit I had reservations about ordering "Wilt, 1962." I enjoyed and Pomerantz's other books--"Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn" and "Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds"--but I had no interest in professional basketball. None. But my admiration of Pomerantz's other works overcame my initial hesitations and I bought it. I'm glad I did because "Wilt, 1962" is about much more than a historic night in sports. It brings to life a time period in recent American history that we wouldn't recognize today. I finished it in a day!

Two things made "Wilt, 1962 compelling--Pomerantz's skill as a researcher and his talent as a writer. In his previous books Pomerantz mastered the details of everything from the residential patterns of segregated Atlanta to the "peen-ing" of the blades of airplane propeller and he brings the same "total immerson" style to "Wilt, 1962" with startling results. He learned how some NBA players defended the Big Dipper by receiving an elbow in the back. Pomerantz, however, is more than a master details--he is also a talented writer. Pomerantz weaves his telling details in a way that resurrects an NBA that needed exhibition games by NFL players to draw a couple thousand fans, to describe the Harlem nightclub scene that was in its twilight and, most importantly, to bring Wilt, a man who'e life and memory are now shadows and stereotypes, to life.

Mr. Pomerantz has written a cultural snapshot of America by focusing on a single NBA game in 1962. Back when the NBA was a very distant third to baseball and football on the national scene, he has extensively researched the "away" game between the Knicks and the Warriors in Hersey, Pa. There was no televison coverage and the only preservation of the 100 point performance of Wilt was a ham radio operator who started his recording late in the game.

"Wilt,1962" is an examination of race in the days of unoffical quotas, of sportsmanship where the Knicks felt that the Warriors were running up the score, and of team versus individual stardom. By the fourth quarter, the two teams were engaged in intense physical combat and intentionally fouling each other: the Knicks in an attempt to kept Wilt from scoring (he was a horrible foul shooter who had the night of his life by going 28 for 32 from the line) and by the Warriors who were trying to help Wilt when the Knicks started to play "stall ball." Wilt made his 100th point in the final minute of play as the Warriors won, 169-147.

This is not a full biography of Wilt but a story of an era captured within a single game. "Wilt, 1962" is similiar in tone to Frank Fitzpatrick's study of the 1965 NCAA title game between the all-black team from Texas El Paso and the all-white squad from Kentucky in "And The Walls Came Tumbling Down" (2000). It is readable as a history lesson disguised as a sports story.

This is far more than a sports book on perhaps the single greatest sports achievement ever, it is a compelling look at the era itself. Gary does a wonderful job re-creating the evening and illuminating the racial overtones, the struggling NBA which was a far cry from the wealthy and glitzy league of today, and the fact that this historic game was not televised and only a few thousand fans were in attendance in Hershey, PA, which was not even the home court for either team.

The book meanders through the game one quarter at a time. Often reflecting back and providing the backdrop on Chamberlain, and the other players, and even provides glimpses into the lives of many of the fans who were there to witness the historic night. At times the book was perhaps a bit too nostalgic, and some of the time spent on various people not really related to the game were a bit superfluous.

It is really hard imagine several key issues depicted here. First the racial situation encountered by the players is difficult to read and not feel emotionally angered at the treatment many of the minority players experienced. The fact that a player could actually score 100 points in a single game is beyond remarkable. In today's NBA most teams do not score 100 points. Consider that Wilt Chamberlain averaged over 50 points a game for the entire season, and these are records which will never be broken.

The book is engaging, and well written. Although perhaps too broad in its scope, it does create the backdrop for the historic night well. Even if you are only a casual fan of the game, the historical and sociological content alone is worth the read.

Wilt Chamberlain was a true athletic phenomenon, as special to his sport as Babe Ruth had been to his 40 years earlier, and author Gary Pomerantz, who started his professional career as a sportswriter, does an excellent job of showing why Chamberlain was so important to the NBA.

But Pomerantz does much more than that. He takes the reader on a tour of Chamberlain's multi-layered life, showing how he rose above, literally and figuratively, the prejudice of the time. When he played at Kansas, restaurants were racially segregated - but not for Wilt. He dated many women, and wasn't particular whether they were black, tan or white. The NBA had informal quotas but with Chamberlain's dominance, the quotas became irrelevant and fell away.

Pomerantz uses the framework of the game itself, an otherwise obscure event between the Philadelphia Warriors in Hershey, Pa. that wasn't even covered by the New York press, to weave in his social messages.

One of the most evocative passages describes Wilt striding through the Harlem nightclub he had a small part of, "Big Wilt's Small Paradise," among the black icons of the time and the white patrons, comfortable in both worlds but somehow apart from both as well.

The book captures beautifully an era when life and basketball were so much different than they are today, and I recommend it highly.

Glenn Dickey
(...)

Outside of Babe Ruth, I can't think of a more interesting American athlete than basketball star Wilt Chamberlain. Anything about him is usually a fascinating read, and this account of the night he scored 100 points in one game (still a record) is terrific.

You can't write an entire book on one 48-minute contest so the author gives us interesting profiles of some of the other players and coaches who played in this particular game and in the NBA in general. We also get some fascinating accounts of what the fans did in Hershey, Pa., this night when the Sixers and Knicks played on a "neutral" court. The account of what happened to the ball used to score the 100th point, alone, is fascinating reading. We also get a feel of pro basketball and the American culture during the year 1962, just before race relations exploded in the '60s.

It all adds up - as Chamberlain's points did in this historic game - to a great read. One doesn't have to be a follower of Wilt to enjoy this book written by Gary Pomerantz. It's good stuff!

THIS IS ABOUT THE NIGHT WILT CHAMBERLAIN SCORED 100 POINTS IN AN NBA GAME. I FOUND MOST OF THIS BOOK TO BE GOOD BUT AT TIMES IT HAD ALOT OF THINGS THAT WERE JUST PLAIN BORING. THE AUTHOR TRIES VERY HARD TO GIVE US THE NOSTALGIA AND ATMOSPHERE OF 1962, BUT I FOUND THE DETAIL TO THE GAME TO BE LACKING. I REALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT MUCH ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP OF GOTTLIEB AND ZINKOFF. SEEMS IT WAS USED TO FILL SOME PAGES. WHEN THE BOOK STICKS TO GAME ACTION AND DETAILS THE BOOK EXCELS. BUT THE ONLY REAL DETAIL OCCURS IN THE 4TH QUARTER. I ALSO LIKED THE INTERVIEWS WITH VARIOUS PLAYERS AND COACHES WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS GAME. ALSO LIKED THE STORY OF THE STOLEN BASKETBALL AND THE LATER YEARS OF WILT'S LIFE. OVERALL THIS IS A GOOD READ AND I RECOMMEND FOR ALL NOSTALGIC BASKETBALL FANS. ALSO A BOX SCORE OF THE GAME WOULD HAVE BEEN A NICE TOUCH.

In the early 1960s - light years before the era of 24 hour cable sports coverage - most pro basketball games might as well have been played on the Moon due to the lack of national media interest and with "home" games being played at neutral sites for bigger gates.

That was the case for the 1962 Philadelphia Warriors, a franchise on the brink of being sold, though it featured a hometown legend, Wilt Chamberlin, and had a history of legendary high-school and college teams.

On March 2 in Hershey, Pa., Wilt accomplished the impossible; scoring 100 points versus the New York Knickerbockers. The arena - with a capacity of 8,000 - was about half-full, the game was not televised and there were no New York sportswriters in attendance. Author Gary M. Pomerantz breaths life into the grainy photos from the event through interviews of referees, players, fans, reporters and team officials.

Though the book breaks the game down into four quarters, it is not simply a history of that night. The early 1960s was a bridge for many black athletes to articulate about the rampant racism in society and sports. Pomerantz aptly writes about Wilt the individual - who was very vocal about the racial quotas on NBA clubs - and businessman as much as Wilt the athlete.

And Pomerantz outlines the biggest controvery from the game; who got possession of the basketball.

It is a record that may never be broken, but there was more to that evening than the game on the court. Wilt, 1962, again shows how sports mirrors society and even the greatest feats on a field of play cannot escape the reflection in black & white.