Rock Chalk, Jayhawk.

This is something I wrote four years ago. In the light of Kansas' recent championship, I thought about posting it here.

By the time I was cosmically aware of sports, Wilt Chamberlain had hung up his Chuck Taylors. As usual, the Boston Celtics were king with Dave Cowens and John Havlicek. I rooted for the Philadelphia 76ers with a rabid passion only a young boy could muster. Why not when the Doc took to the air like no other and as a result captured the hearts of fans everywhere? By affinity I liked Wilt because he once led the Sixers to the NBA's best record. They too won a championship before he jumped ship to the Los Angeles Lakers. Of course, I didn't root for him then. I don't like the West.

I thought it too bad that he ran into Russ once to often. Any other time, he would have won more titles. That must have been how guys like Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, Patrick Ewing, Dominique Wilkins, and Brad Daugherty felt decades later when a bald headed Tar Heel ruled the Association.

Nevertheless, here it is. Thanks, Wilt!

40 years after Wilton Norman Chamberlain left Lawrence, Kansas.
40 years after a loss that haunted him until his dying day.
40 years after he last uttered that time-honored cheer that Jayhawks teams would scream in unison after breaking the huddle.
He was back. And he thundered that one last time to the 16,000 screaming Kansas fans who had packed the Allen Fieldhouse.

“Rock chalk, Jayhawk!”

Wearing his old crimson and blue letterman jacket (that still remarkably fit him after all these years), the 7’1 Big Dipper saw his old #13, that he had worn with Kansas (and later on with the Globetrotters, the Warriors, the 76ers, and the Lakers) raised to the rafters.

Wilt never thought it would come to this. Not after a painful triple-overtime loss 54-53 to the Frank Maguire’s undefeated UNC Tar Heels (Ironically, Maguire would later be his first professional coach with the Warriors) in the NCAA title game in March 23, 1957. After the game, Chamberlain walked the streets of Lawrence, Kansas City until the wee hours of dawn, the light drizzle hiding the tears that were streaming down his cheeks. He avoided people, afraid that he’d be hated for losing the title game (this game changed college basketball forever putting the game into America’s national consciousness) when he was clearly the game’s biggest offensive force. The galling loss haunted him all the way to the following season, that soon after its completion, he departed to play for the Harlem Globetrotters foregoing his senior year.

He avoided all treatises to return to Kansas, fearful that a hostile crowd would greet him. It didn’t help that the tag as the player who couldn’t win the big games clearly ate at him (although he did win two NBA titles: one with the Sixers and one with the Lakers). It took the 100th year anniversary of Kansas basketball for him to return but he did with much trepidation. In the tunnel that Jayhawks players use to enter and exit, the Big Dipper, nervous about the reception that Kansas fans would give him perspired heavily. Then the chants cascaded up and down the rocking Allen Fieldhouse, “Wilt! Wilt! Wilt!”

Choked with emotion, fighting back the tears, a nervous and shy Big Dipper took to floor one he had not strode onto in 40 years. And still he tried to explain: "A little over 40 years ago, I lost my toughest battle in sports in losing to the North Carolina Tar Heels. ... It was a devastating thing to me because I thought I let the University of Kansas down and my teammates down. But when I come back here today and realize not the simple loss of a game, but how many people have shown such appreciation and warmth, I'm humbled and deeply honored. ... I'm a Jayhawk and I know now why there is so much tradition here and why so many wonderful things have come from here, and I am now very much a part of it by being there and very proud of it. ... Rock chalk, Jayhawk.”

But there was no need for explanations, Jayhawk fans loved him nevertheless. And the love fest continued for nearly four hours.

Wilt later described that day as “the greatest moment in his life.” He left 40 years ago feeling unloved and disconsolate. He came back 40 years later, grateful and relieved.

Less than a year later, Wilt Chamberlain died of a heart attack.

The following have their numbers retired by Kansas:

Those who played in the modern age of hoops:
#13 Wilt Chamberlain
#4 Nick Collison
#0 Drew Gooden
#25 Danny Manning
#34 Paul Pierce
#45 Raef LaFrentz
#15 Jo Jo White
#11 Jacque Vaughn

other players in the NBA:
Kirk Hinrich
Greg Ostertag
Scott Pollard