Gary Pomerantz
Appearances
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
You go back to the 1960s and there were still a lot of questions about the Kennedy assassination.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Well, that's the joy of it to me. That's what the attorneys call discovery. You go and immerse yourself, full immersion. And I would travel far and wide to find these people. And it becomes an obsession. What about that? I called Bill Campbell so many times. The last time I called him, I said, Bill, it's Gary Pomerantz. And he said, not again. And that's just, Bill, one more thing.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
One more question. Two more questions.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Well, Wilt's got 69 points going into the fourth quarter, right? And so he still needs 31 points. You know, that's a lot of points. Right.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
And he just scored 28 points in the third quarter. And the Knicks are just going through the motions. It's a 10, 15, 20-point lead the Warriors have.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Did Neil Armstrong really touch the moon or was he in a studio somewhere in the United States? So it was that kind of a time. And now, you know, we're unfortunately a bit of a historically illiterate country. If there's no video, then it didn't happen. Well, we know the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, but there's no video of that. We know about Lincoln at Gettysburg. There's no video of that.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Well, Joe was the Kennedy liberal from Northwestern.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
He was Wilt's backup. Now think about it. When you're the backup to a player who never comes out of the game, you don't play very much. But he observed a lot, and he was a very...
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
keen observer joe also was into conspiracy theories and joe said wait a minute why did this tape just appear 28 years later and joe said he questioned whether bill campbell had had recreated it right i don't think campbell was there but you know what that's so what are you saying if i get a tape what are you saying about the tape i think you get the last few minutes that's all i think i think it's only the last quarter
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Bill Campbell was there. Bill Campbell and I spoke, and he talked about dreading going to Hershey, you know, for game 75 of an 80-game season.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
It's a long drive, and it sure would be nice to be playing at home in Philadelphia.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
But he remembered vividly the game and the details.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
This is played in an arena that's built for a hockey, the hockey team, the Hershey Bears. There's not, during this game, a big screen where it says, number 13, big fella. How many shots attempted, made, free throws attempted, made, assists, et cetera. There's just a cold, metallic, boxy scoreboard up in the netherland of this place that says, you know, Philadelphia, New York.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Even the people who are watching the game don't have context.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Do we, though?
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Are we sure about that? We're pretty sure Lincoln was at Gettysburg, yeah. And so, you know, for sports fans, you've got to lock in on how different the NBA was then and how different sports media was then. When Kobe scores 81, 15 minutes later online, you can buy a DVD of his performance. So that's what we're used to. That's the immediacy of today with technology. It wasn't so then.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Daryl was a second-year player, 6'10", left-handed, and he was primarily a defender. At times, a rough defender, he would become known as the axe for axing shooters' arms.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
And one of the things that was so interesting, he was then working in Eugene, Oregon at the U.S. Basketball Academy, a training ground. And we walked by an open court and I said, Daryl, could you come here for a second? I stood in the middle of the lane. I said, show me how you defended Wilt that night. Wilt, Imhoff said, would arch his back. And it was like a tree.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
And Daryl's behind him down low. He said it was like a tree was going to fall down on me. I said, so what would you do? And he said, I did this. And he took the point of his elbow and put it in my rhomboids right between the shoulder blades. And Daryl could still inflict some pain all these years later.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
But he said he would position himself behind Wilt when Wilt's down on the offensive left side, down by where we would now see the block. The block didn't exist then. And he would put his knee into Wilt's, the back of his thigh to collapse his leg. He would put his foot inside of Wilt's left foot to keep him from turning in. Darryl played only 20 minutes and fouled out.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
He was in and out of the game, so he played some in the second half. Six fouls covering Wilt. The tallest, next tallest player the Knicks had was 6'8 rookie Cleveland Buckner. 6'8", they said 210 pounds. Uh-uh. He's probably 185, 190. He was a stick. He scored 33 points that night, too, I might add. It was a career night for him. What a night to have a career night.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Seven and a half minutes are left when he scores. And Harvey Pollack, the statistician, he passes over a sheet of paper to the PA announcer, the great Dave Zinkoff. Zinkoff then announces, Wilt Chamberlain has just set a new record for most points in a game. He has 79 points, breaking his 78 points scored in a three-overtime game earlier that season.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
And while he's announcing that, Wilt makes shooting underhanded, two more free throws to go to 80 and 81.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Granny style. He looked ridiculous doing it because he's so big. He would squat down low. His knees would flare out. He looked like an adult trying to sit in a kindergartner's chair.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
He just thought they loved Wilt. And, you know, that at one point they called a foul against Imhoff that Imhoff did not think was a foul.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
And the game took on, you know, Darrell would call it a farce. It was a farce.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Yeah. I mean, there was always questions of how could he have done this? How could anybody score 100 points? Kobe's 81 is second best, and that's not even close. There's something, too, about the number 100, the symbolism of 100. It's a century. It's a perfect score on a test. If Wilton scored 102 or 97, we wouldn't embrace it. or question it even, as we do.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
With seven and a half minutes to play and everybody realizing now what the stakes were, The Knicks started not quite stalling, but sort of. A couple extra passes, then they start running a weave down court, taking the ball in 94 feet from the basket. The Warriors start committing fouls of the Knicks to get the ball back quicker, to get the ball to Will.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
If somebody walked into the arena and they see the Warriors fouling and the Knicks stalling, they're going to think the Knicks are ahead by 20, not the Warriors. That's where it breaks down.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Whether or not it became a farce is a serious question. You know, when the structure of the game breaks down and the team that's 20 points behind is stalling, something's weird, something's strange.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Well, there's a guard named York Larisi. And he's leading the fast break. And so he doesn't see Wilt behind him, but he hears the big fella, the mighty Huff and Puff. He feels the vibration of the floor when Chamberlain's moving. And so he just, as he's going straight at the basket, he doesn't distribute left or right. He just sort of throws the ball up.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
And so I decided, all these decades later, I gotta find out what happened here. This is one of the most famous and famously unknown stories in sports history. The deeper I went, it became like Ellis in Wonderland, Curiouser and Curiouser.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
and continues on underneath the basket, past the baseline, and out of play, at which point he looks back and sees Wilt, the mighty dipper, grabbing the ball, fully extended, my arms leaving the screen, and then slams it in one movement.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Well, Wilt would have three attempts at the 100-point basket. And in fact, one of them came after he scored on that slam dunk to hit 98. He started to run down court and quickly turned around and stole the ball. And missed it from around the free throw line. Then he'd get two more attempts. And there's 50 seconds left, and now the Warriors have the ball.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
And Guy Rogers, who would have 20 assists on this night, a wonderful passer, he throws the ball down court, length of the court, to Wilt, who jumps, catches it, because the next tallest Nick is five inches short.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
And Ted Luckenbill, a rookie, comes in, gets the rebound, gets it to Wilt again.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
He misses. Luckenbill again.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
An adrenalized moment for the fans and for Wilt until he gets to the locker room and sees the statuette. He's sitting next to Al Adels. And he's shaking his head, and Adels says, what's the matter, big fella? He said, I can't believe I took 63 shots, 21 of them in the fourth quarter. And Adels said, that's okay. You made 36 of them. That's all right.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
The criticism against Wilt is not his athleticism. It's always that he cared more about himself and his own statistics rather than the greater good of the team. And this night, he thought, for many years, reflected that criticism. in a big way.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Harvey Pollack was a legend in Philadelphia basketball. He was an employee of the Philadelphia Warriors, then the Philadelphia 76ers, for six decades. And at the time this game is being played, he's known as the octopus because he would send out a Christmas card every year with the octopus, each arm representing another thing he did. On this night, when Wilt scores 100th,
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Harvey is the statistician. He is a publicist who's got to arrange any interviews. He's writing the game story for the Philadelphia Inquirer who didn't care enough about it to send anybody. He's writing for AP and he's writing for United Press. That's a lot of work. And in fact, when he finished writing, the scorekeeping and added stuff up, he thought, oh my, what if Will ends up with 98 points?
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Well, you know, one of the things you hear on the radio is I think three times the final score is 169 to 150. Yeah, I was going to mention this. Yeah.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
And no one could reconcile that for me. I think it was just sort of this slapdash nature of the whole night. And this was one more aspect of it. Oh, yeah, the Knicks. Well, it doesn't matter what the Knicks got. You know, all that matters is what Will got.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Pollock looks around and says, Heff to Jim Heffernan, the sports writer of the Philadelphia Bulletin, let me borrow a sheet of paper. And he takes out what was a magic marker. I don't think they had Sharpies in 1962. I may be wrong on that. And he writes 1-0-0. And it's the backstory to this classic photo.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
And that might be the best picture in basketball history because of what it represents and who it represents. It's the dipper on his night. Remember, this is a time when the NBA, even its statistics in the way stats were kept, They didn't count blocked shots. Somebody said, how many shots did Will block? I don't know. I don't know. We just have the numbers that they kept.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Did the Knicks score 147 or 150? I don't know. I don't know. But to me, it was about getting to the essence of this story. There are some questions. Whether or not it happened is not a question.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Or in the words of Gary Pomerantz... And, you know, the baseball great Ted Williams used to say his dream was that when he walked down the street, people would point at him and say, there goes the greatest hitter in baseball history. Wilt came to realize that people would point at him as he walked down the street and say, there goes the guy who scored 100 points in a game. And he came to like it.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Wilt was a luminous star at that time. He's just 25 years old. He's got a nightclub in Harlem called Big Wilt Smalls Paradise. Smalls Paradise dates the Halcyon days of the Harlem Renaissance. And Wilt walked through that place like he owned all of Harlem, like he owned all of New York. Redd Foxx, Etta James, Cannonball Adderley. Wilt's the greeter, the tallest greeter in NBA history.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Wilt had a Goliath syndrome. He was 7'1", 260 pounds. Dolph Shays of the Syracuse Nationals said his body was the most perfect instrument made by God to play basketball. You know, another writer likened Wilt's body to the first sight of the New York skyline. I mean, think about this. 7'1", 260 pounds. His back triangulates down to a 31-inch dancer's waist. The guy was cut.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
The guy could run the floor like a train. Everything about him was magnificent.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
You know, he wasn't Frankie Valli. He wasn't very good, but they did cut a record of it.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
You know, he had a racehorse named Spooky Cadet and never won. He had an Asian motif apartment off Central Park West in New York. And then, of course, there was Will telling stories about his womanizing.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
What's the fact checking on that like? Well, the fact checking is difficult to do as a matter of fact. But I interviewed one of the 20,000, a woman named Linda Huey, who became a great friend of Wilt's at the end of his life. She said, Wilt, why did you say 20,000? And Wilt's response was to wink and say, what's an extra zero between friends?
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
I got this sense as I was working on this book, excavating this 100-point game, there's a comic book superhero quality to Wilt, his life, his numbers. I interviewed, ultimately, 56 people who were there. Fifteen of them players, the broadcaster, the statistician, the shot clock operator, a number of fans.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Look, Pablo, when you go back into this time, you're going back into a time when the NBA was a lounge act. It was a league in search of itself. The crowds weren't very big. The joke used to be that the PA announcer would introduce the players in the starting lineup and then would introduce each fan. It was nine teams in the league, only one team west of St. Louis.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
That would be the Lakers, who'd moved out a year before to the west. And the league was trying to grow new fans. And that's why they played in outlying areas that had sizable arenas. The Lakers played a game in Portland. They played a game in Seattle. The Celtics played in Providence. And the Philadelphia Warriors played three games that year in Hershey. This was the third of those games.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
My intuitive reaction was, here we go again. My second reaction was something approximating an eye roll. You know, it's a conspiratorial time.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
PTFO - Wilt Chamberlain and the Conspiracy Factory: We Unearthed the True Story of the 100-Point Game
Well, you have to realize, back then, TV stations didn't save tapes. They were saving money, and they were re-taping over these tapes. That's why they disappear with television. That's why they disappear some with radio. It was a game 75 in an 80-game season.