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Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era QUOTES

Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era QUOTES

1 " I'm just as aware of the injustices done to the black man as anyone," the Dipper would explain years after. "I just don't believe that you help things by running around, saying how evil Whitey is. I figure I done my share - the restaurants I integrated in Kansas, the busloads of black kids I used to take to summer camp from Harlem, the contributions I make, in my name and money, to various black causes and programs. Just because I don't call a press conference every time I do something like that doesn't mean I am insensitive to the black man's plight. "

― Gary M. Pomerantz , Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era

2 " There's a code of honor in sports, Guerin believed. You do not deliberately embarrass your opponent or set records outside the normal flow of the game. The Warriors were breaking a code. "

― Gary M. Pomerantz , Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era

3 " [The game of basketball] impressed me as a glut of scoring, with few patterns of attack, and almost no defense anymore. The players, in a sense, had gotten better than the game, and the game became uninteresting. Moreover, it attracted exhibitionists who seemed more intent on amazing a crowd with aimless prestidigitation than with advancing their team by giving a sound performance. A quote from John McPhee from _A Sense of Where You Are_ "

― Gary M. Pomerantz , Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era

4 " [Al] Attles said, How many of you want to play in a game where a guy on your team scores one hundred points? Fewer than ten percent of the players raised their hands. ... Attles posed a different question: "Okay, how many of you want to play in a game where a guy on your team YOU score one hundred points? About ninety percent raised a hand."Wait a minute, something is wrong," Attles said. ... Attles zeroed in on the larger point, "The single most important thing that you play for in a team sport - there's only one reason you play - to try to win. You need to do whatever is necessary to win. If you win, that means you ALL share in it. "

― Gary M. Pomerantz , Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era

5 " Since Mikan, and before, basketball big men had been called pituitary freaks or glandular goons, but in some of the new criticism there was racial coding, as well. There were suggestions that the new NBA stars didn't appreciate or understand the game, its patterns, and its pure intangible qualities. The new stars were showboats, stars only because of physical advantages, which were unearned and unfair. ,,, The Dipper and others were changing the speed and geometry of the game. "

― Gary M. Pomerantz , Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era