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Wilt Chamberlain was born in Philadelphia to a family of nine. After becoming a young star track and field athlete, Chamberlain shifted focus to basketball upon entering high school. At nearly 7 feet, Chamberlain established himself as one of the most dominant high school players ever. Over 200 universities pursued the center, however Chamberlain chose University of Kansas and began his college career on the freshman Jayhawk team in 1955. Even though freshmen were not allowed to play varsity during Chamberlain’s era, he lead his young squad with 52 points and 29 rebounds to start the season in an exhibition versus the Kansas varsity team, who were, in fact, favored to win their conference. In 1956-57 playing varsity, Chamberlain led his Jayhawk varsity squad to the NCAA finals versus North Carolina. In an attempt to control Chamberlain’s dominance, North Carolina would triple team him throughout the night and go on to win the championship in triple overtime. Despite losing, Chamberlain’s skills were evident enough to earn him the Final Four MVP. The double and triple teams continued the following year for Chamberlain and frustrations built up. In his junior year Kansas did not even reach the NCAA tournament. Even though he averaged strong numbers of 29.9 points and 18.3 rebounds in his two years as a Jayhawk, Chamberlain decided he would rather be paid to be double and triple teamed every night. He left before finishing his senior year and because the NBA would not accept players who had not finished their studies, Chamberlain became a Harlem Gobetrotter for the huge sum of $50,000. Chamberlain made his NBA debut in 1959 for the Philadelphia Warriors winning the NBA Rookie of the Year and NBA MVP in that first year.
