Wilt Chamberlain

He was Basketball's unstoppable force, the most awesome offensive force the game has ever seen. Asked to name the greatest payers ever to play basketball, most fans would put Wilt Chamberlain at or near the top of the list.

Dominating the game as few players in any sport ever have, Chamberlain seemed capable of scoring and rebounding at will, despite the double- and triple- teams and constant fouling tactics that opposing teams used to try to shut him down. He was the only NBA player to score 4,000 points in a season. He set NBA single-game records for most points (100), most consecutive field goals (18) and most rebounds (55). Perhaps his most mind-boggling stats are the 50.4 points per game he averaged during the 1961-62 season and the 48.5 minutes per game he averaged that same year. He retied as the all-time leader in career points with 31,419, later surpassed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and Michael Jordan, and led the NBA in scoring seven years in a row. He is tops in rebounds with 23,924 and was the league's top rebounder in 11 of his 14 seasons.

But the most outstanding figures are his scoring records; most games with 50+ points (118), most consecutive games with 40+ points (14), most consecutive games with 30+ points (65), mot consecutive games with 20+ points (126).

On March 2, 1962, Chamberlain set a record that may stand forever. In a game against the New York Knicks he scored 100 points in four quarters to help the Warriors win the game, 169-147.

A track and field star in high school and college, Chamberlain stood 7-1 and was listed at 275 pounds, though he filled out and eventually played at over 300 pounds. Despite his size and strength, Chamberlain was not an enforcer or a revenge seeker. He knew how to control his body and his emotions and rarely got into altercations. One indication of this was the astonishing statistic that not once in his 14-year career, in more than 1,200 regular and postseason games, did he foul out.

During his career, his dominance precipitated many rule changes, including, widening the lane, instituting offensive goaltending and revising rules governing in-bounding the ball and shooting free throws (Chamberlain would leap with the ball from behind the foul line to deposit the ball in the basket).

In 1978, his first year of eligibility, Chamberlain was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 1996-97 he was selected to the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.

On October 12, 1999, Chamberlain passed away at the age of 63 due to heart failure.