@gbontempi7905

2 months ago

As someone who actually saw Wilt play I want to add my observations. I was a young kid in the early 60s and saw Wilt in person playing for the San Francisco Warriors at the Cow Palace. Wilt was so much bigger and stronger and skilled no one else had a chance to defeat much less dominate him. Later, we all came to know him as a highly intelligent man with an amazing personality who was humble and funny. He was a great athlete and excelled at many sports and came to be a dominant volleball player after his NBA years. The world lost Wilt all too soon at age 63 in 1999. You know, we often lose these big guys too early and we just need to appreciate them while they are around. Wilt never truly got all the respect he deserved because of a lot of negative talk and put-downs by some of his opponents, like the management, players, and press who were supporters of the Celtics dynasties. If he were playing today or even in previous eras, (including MJs) he would still dominate and shut everyone down. Wilt never played on teams with the coaching and talent like the Celtics until the end of his career with the Lakers. Wilt would have admitted he was not the same player he was ten years earlier but opponents always had to account for his place on the floor because he was very hard to move or shoot over.
Wow, he was just great.
RIP Wilt, you were an American original.

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