Wilt's Gym Dandy

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  On Oct. 23, 2007, Roxborough's athletic director, Terrell Burnett, who's also the basketball coach,
called to see whether Overbrook megastar Wilt Chamberlain had posted his 90-point performance
(still the city record for males; Linda Page scored 100 for Dobbins in '81) AT Roxborough in 1955.
He explained that the school's old basement gym had become a library later on, and that it was now
being refurbished. When workers pulled up the rug, they discovered the old wood floor, complete
with faded paint to mark the old court. I called ex-Frankford coach Vince Miller, Wilt's 'Brook
teammate and long-time best friend, and he said that yes, the game had been played AT Roxborough.
(By the way, Wilt also scored 71 and 74 points in other games vs. Roxborough). En route to an
interview at Chestnut Hill Academy, I made a quick stop at Roxborough and Terrell took me down to
the room. Work was going on around us. Terrell said the plan is to again carpet the renovated room.
But he thinks a better idea would be to restore the floor because of its place in history. We agree!!
Anyway, look below for the Daily News story concerning that game and click here to see some pics
of the room itself. The court was quite short. For those who are familiar with it, it's about the length
of E&S' court.
 -- Ted 

Click HERE for pictures of that old gym as it looked in October 2007.      

By the way, the number mentioned for Tom Gola in this story turned out to be bogus.
It must have counted his freshman/JV points as well. His varsity total was 1,391. Wilt's
final total was 2,206. It was always listed at 2,252, but 46 of those were scored in games
against the alumni.