Jan. 14, 1965 - Wilt Chamberlain (pictured at last night’s All-Star game) will return to Philadelphia as the newest member of the 76ers, but coach Dolph Schayes may have to keep his arms open for one more day before he can embrace the high-scoring star.
Chamberlain quietly slipped out of St. Louis, the site of last night’s All-Star game, and headed for San Francisco this morning to “clear up some things.”
Schayes hopes Chamberlain will be in a 76ers uniform tomorrow night when the 76ers take on the Celtics in Boston. But to Wilt, it’s first things first.
Chamberlain checked out of his hotel and ducked into a taxi which whisked him to the St. Louis-Lambert Airport. Chamberlain, carrying his All-Star gifts under his arms, didn’t say a word. HIs only comment after the announcement of the trade shortly after midnight was: “I haven’t been told about a thing. I have nothing to say. I’m going home. I have a lot of things to clear up.”
The San Francisco Warriors traded Chamberlain to the 76ers late last night for Connie Dierking, Paul Neumann, and an undisclosed amount of cash. In addition, the 76ers will give the Warriors rights to Lee Shaffer, who had refused to sign his 76er contract and has been out of NBA competition this season.
Chamberlain played many an NBA home game in Philly from 1959 to the close of the 1961-62 season with the Philadelphia Warriors before they moved to San Francisco.
76ers owners Irv Kosloff and Isaac Richman said in St. Louis they were confident Chamberlain “is happy to be returning to Philadelphia.”
“I feel great about it all,” said Kosloff. “We know Wilt, and we know he is a Philadelphian first. With Chamberlain, we feel we have personnel equal to the Celtics, and we are hoping that we can go all the way with Wilt to the playoffs.
“Wilt will now be surrounded by the best personnel with which he has ever played. We have the best backcourt men in the league in Larry Costello and Hal Greer.”
A 7-1, 275-pound colossus of the court, Chamberlain is the greatest scoring star in the history of college or pro basketball. He is currently leading the NBA’s scorers with 1,480 points and an average of 38.9 per game.
The NBA’s scoring champion every season he has played the circuit, Chamberlain set an all-time mark by averaging 50.4 points per game during the 1961-62 season.
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