On This Night 58 Years Ago, I Was At The Palestra, While Wilt Chamberlain Was Scoring 100 Points – In Hershey.
I was almost 12, and was kind of a fan of all the Big 5 clubs, but my devotion to the college teams paled in comparison with my enthusiasm for the Warriors, or to state it more correctly, my obsession with their leading scorer, our All-Intergalactic Star, Wilt Chamberlain. With only seven games left in the 1961-62 season, he was averaging more than 50 points per game.
As luck would have it, on that Friday night of March 2, 1962, I was sitting in the Palestra watching a terrific double header, while the “Big Guy” was making history in Hershey.
From The Daily Pennsylvanian, student tickets for that night’s double header, $1 each
In West Philly, The “opener” featured 15-8 Penn vs. a 17-5 Cornell team. The two schools were tied for second place in the Ivy League at 9-3 each. The Quakers were lead by John [Edgar] Wideman (who went on to become a hugely successful fiction writer).
John Wideman, Penn’s leading scorer.
In the “nightcap,” the 14-8 La Salle Explorers would be welcoming the 16-6 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, who had already clinched an NCAA Tournament birth by winning the Ohio Valley Conference. With an upset win over Western Kentucky, the Explorers might have had a shot for a bid to the NIT.
A Meaningless Game In Hershey
The Warriors, as was their fashion, were in the playoffs, but trailed the Boston Celtics, who by that point had an 8.5 game Eastern Division lead, and had clinched first place. That night, Philly would be facing the last place Knicks who had “clinched” not making the playoffs, but were 4-4 for the season against “The Tribe.”
By this time, word had leaked out that this was the Warriors last season in Philadelphia. In the Fall of 1962, the team would be moving to San Francisco. Philadelphia Daily News reporter Jack Kiser noted in his pre-game write-up, “Tonight’s game will be Hershey’s last glimpse of the Redmen in the flesh.” Kiser referred to the Hershey Arena as the Warriors “home away from home.” This would be the 16th and last appearance for the Warriors in Hershey.
The Penn-Cornell game was a thriller. The Quakers beat Cornell in double overtime, 93-90. Penn stormed back from a 13-point deficit, led by Sid Amira who came off the bench to score 27 points. All but two of his points were in the second half.
La Salle also won, and everybody at the Palestra thought that their star Bob McAteer was having a really big game. After all, he wound up with 37 points!
But as McAteer was leading the Explorers to their come-from-behind win, a buzz started to go around the Palestra – “Wilt’s having a big night in Hershey.”
And just as La Salle had taken the lead against Western Kentucky, the P.A. announcer gave the score of the Warriors game – Knicks 147 (he said the Knicks score first), Warriors 169 – Wilt Chamberlain, 100 points!!!!! And the Palestra crowd went berserk.
The next morning, the Inquirer decided that the financial arrangements for Sonny Liston’s upcoming challenge to Floyd Patterson’s Heavyweight Title, were more important than one of the most epic performances by any athlete in the history of sports.
Bill Shefski covered the Palestra doubleheader for the Daily News. He was sufficiently self-aware to realize that the two exciting college games were not exactly the big story even at the venue where they occurred.
But the best part of Shefski’s article is his lead – so dated that it becomes more and more priceless over time.
“If Samuel Morse hadn’t been an inventor, Penn and La Salle might have had half a chance to savor the taste of sweet victories at the Palestra last night.”