Wilt Chamberlain once lifted over 600lbs in an act of kindness after he had retired from playing in the NBA
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Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O’Neal are often credited as being two of the most dominant players in the history of the NBA. The former of course, played in the league when it wasn’t as physical or talented as it was during Shaq’s heyday.
This shouldn’t be used to take away from Wilt’s greatness however it isn’t his fault that he played in era where players had to find secondary jobs over the summer to provide for themselves. Chamberlain took full advantage of his obvious physical gifts and toyed with the rest of the league.
One of the most underrated aspects of his game was the strength he used to get what he wanted on the offensive end of the floor. After all, it is heavily rumored that Wilt had a bench press PR of 500lbs. What makes this even more insane is that that might not have been his PR.
Wilt Chamberlain lifted 600lbs worth of items while helping 2 deliverymen
The further we are removed from Chamberlain’s time, the easier it gets for fans to confuse his stories with that of fiction due to just how ridiculous some of them are. In one such instance, he would casually go on to lift 600lbs of weight in a singular act of kindness.
Following a meeting with the New York Knicks’ front office where they talked about a potential comeback for ‘The Big Dipper’, he would run into two deliverymen in the elevator. The two were lugging around a dolly with an egregious amount of weight on top of it. So much so that the elevator stopped a couple inches below floor level.
After witnessing them sweat it out over trying to carry the dolly over those few inches, Wilt Chamberlain decided to step in. He ever so casually lifted the dolly with zero assistance and placed it at floor level. ‘Thank yous’ and ‘You’re welcomes’ were exchanged and the 2x NBA champion went about his day.
When the deliverymen were asked about how much the dolly and the weight on top of it weighed, they said that it was close to 600 pounds.
Wilt Chamberlain was a human anomaly
Wilt was a multi-sport athlete in its purest form. His 100-yard dash saw him clock a 10.9, he hurled a shot put ball 56 feet away, and as mentioned above, could bench press up to 500lbs. Though, this number could change considering the fact that he lifted that 600lbs dolly quite handily.
Perhaps most impressive was the fact that Wilt Chamberlain reportedly had a 48-inch vertical. This essentially meant he could touch the top of the backboard with ease.
Perhaps it was incredibly unfair to drop him into the NBA in 1959.
