Chamberlain let Frankie tug on his mustache: Carol Ann Morgan interview.
football’s Roosevelt Grier, smoking a cigarette: Tom Gola interview.
“I got a room twice this size…”: Pluto, Tall Tales, 334–335.
“[McGuire’s] challenge is to develop further…”: Cave, “McGuire Raises a Standard,” 30.
The driver kept turning over his right shoulder: Joe Ruklick and Ken Berman interviews.
“White bread, rye bread…”: Philip Roth, Portnoy’s Complaint (New York: Vintage, 1994), 56.
nickname, The Destroyer, grew from a collision: Al Attles interview.
“We’re passing over Toledo, Ohio”: Ibid.
“I’ve got a phone in my ass”: Ted Luckenbill interview.
Dipper guzzled a bottle of 7-Up: Jeff Millman and Larry Jacobs interviews.
“Two-Hand, Underhand Loop Shot”: John Christgau, The Origins of the Jump Shot: Eight Men Who Shook The World Of Basketball (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999), 12–13.
still looking at his open palm: Joe Ruklick interview.
“Don’t pay attention to his breathing”: Red Auerbach interview.
they never had a meaningful discussion: Paul Arizin interview.
a lifelong aversion to flowers: Ibid.
“Meschery was a guy who looked slightly…”: Stan Hochman interview.
“Tired of his guff”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (March 8, 1962).
lived in the old home of the mad monk Rasputin: Tom Meschery interview.
“You must be joking, Vladimir Nikolaevich”: Alexander Kerensky, Russia and History’s Turning Point (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1965), 345.
Lvov bribed his way out: Tom Meschery interview.
young Tom on his mother’s back: Ibid.
a loaded pistol, two swords, and a photograph: Ibid.
“There are the real drinkers…”: Paul Arizin interview.
He might even sing Bobby Darin’s version: Joe Ruklick interview.
“Wilt did everything in grandiose proportions”: Los Angeles Times (March 2, 1987).
“You ever stop to take a leak?”: Joe Ruklick interview.
“he had a lot more money…”: Tom Meschery interview.
“they could beat the New York Yankees!”: Joe Ruklick interview.
“Nobody leaves until only one man…”: Ibid. Also see: Chamberlain and Shaw, Wilt, 134–38.
Gola, blushing, insisted it was a venial sin: Joe Ruklick interview.
“This is not a book in the ordinary sense…”: Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer (New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1961), 2.
“Perhaps it wasn’t so pleasant to smell…”: Ibid., 48.
“Your mother would kill you…”: Joe Ruklick interview.
“Joe, you sit at the end of the bench…”: Ibid.
“Yeah. We screw your wife!”: Frank Radovich interview.
“He is the best that has ever been”: “The 7-Foot Man,” Newsweek (December 17, 1956): 96.
“Chamberlain’s great performance came under…”: Ibid.
“It’s just ridiculous”: Ibid.
his white Warrior teammates speaking more freely: Joe Ruklick interview.
“A bonus check, Mogul?”: Ibid.
“to vote your honest opinion”: Ibid.
He strung their leashes: Ibid.
“Yeah, I saw that movie”: Ibid.
“You’re not in college anymore”: Ted Luckenbill interview.
“Why did you do that?”: York Larese interview.
“Frank’s boy”: Ibid.
people didn’t think he had an education, or any intelligence: York Larese interview.
many whites thought he couldn’t write or even talk: Wilt Chamberlain and Bob Ottum, “I’m Punchy from Basketball, Baby, and Tired of Being a Villain,” Sports Illustrated (April 12, 1965): 32–33.
“What’s he sayin’, Dip?”: Joe Ruklick interview.
Dutch country inn that was a favorite of Gotty’s: Ken Berman interview.
CHAPTER 8: HALFTIME
“the only p.a. announcer I’ve ever known…”: Philadelphia Inquirer (December 26, 1985).
a box of New Phillies Cheroots cigars: Dave Zinkoff, “Zink at the Mike,” The Wigwam: Philadelphia Warriors vs. New York Knicks; Philadelphia Eagles vs. Baltimore Colts, Game Program (Hershey, PA, March 2, 1962. Published by the Philadelphia Warriors): 14. (Personal files of Ron Pollack.)
“I won!”: Arnie Skaar interview.
certified on the page in blue ink by the Zink’s handwritten: George Dirkes interview.
“You asked to look at it”: Jim Johnston, Paul Wice, and George Dirkes interviews.
“You two guys figure it out”: George Dirkes interview.
The Zink offered Dirkes and Skaar: Ibid.
“Let’s keep getting the ball to Dip”: Joe Ruklick interview.
“I’m glad you didn’t back down from…”: Ibid.
teammates a look of quiet resignation: Willie Naulls interview.
Sweetcakes. That’s what Bill Russell called: Bill Russell as told to William McSweeny, Go Up for Glory (New York: Coward-McCann, Inc., 1965), 100–01.
“Willie Naulls was a guy I wanted to be like”: Ray “Chink” Scott interview.
“suave, smooth, experienced and well under control”: Leonard Koppett, “Great Future Awaits Walt Bellamy,” Knickerbockers vs. Chicago, Game Program (Madison Square Garden, January 23, 1962): 3. (Personal collection of Dave Budd.)
“Willie, if you ever get traded, can I have…”: Sam Stith interview.
inviting Naulls to his home: Willie Naulls interview.
took Naulls to hear the Temptations and other Motown: Ibid.
Dipper had invited him to drive back to New York: Ibid.
“looked at what your parents gave you versus…”: Ibid.
referred to as Willie the Black Whale: Ibid.
Shooters always think they are about to make ten: Ibid.
his heart set on popcorn and pinball: Kerry Ryman interview.
CHAPTER 9: IMHOFF, GUERIN, AND THE KNICKS
“You’re all I’ve got tonight”: New York Times (March 2, 1987).
surfing in southern California, wearing white duck pants: Darrall Imhoff interview.
at $12,500 per: Ibid.
“If you want the ball…”: Ibid.
“Get that sucker away from me!”: Rod Hundley interview.
“Hey, Richie, I don’t want any part…”: Ibid.
“C’mon, Richie! I’ll give you whatever…”: Bob Cousy interview.
Richie will get you front row seats: Donnie Butcher interview.
Richie could throw down a few at Clete Boyer’s: Ibid.
He spent nearly two hours a day: Sid Gray, “Richie Guerin—Always Trying to Improve,” Knickerbockers vs. Syracuse, Game Program (Madison Square Garden, December 1, 1961) 3. (Personal collection of Dave Budd.)
“I’ll punch your head off”: Pete D’Ambrosio interview.
“Gimme twenty, rook”: Johnny Green and Darrall Imhoff interviews.
gamblers were upset the Knicks: Darrall Imhoff interview.
“Darrall, there’s something we need to talk…”: Ibid.
“I never yet have had a player…”: Ibid.
“is throw a rock at you”: Pete Newell interview.
introduced him to the jazz music of Dave Brubeck: Willie Naulls and Darrall Imhoff interviews.
Budd mistakenly used the tightly bristled hairbrush: Dave Budd interview.
“His potential is such that every team…”: Leonard Koppett, “Knicks’ Future Bound to Be Better,” Knickerbockers vs. Syracuse, Game Program (Madison Square Garden, February 27, 1962): 3. (Personal collection of Dave Budd.)
“Nothing indicates sufficient strengthening…”: New York Post (October 17, 1961).
real value for their money: three hours of entertainment: Leonard Koppett interview.
gathered at an Eighth Avenue tavern called the Everglades: Pluto, Tall Tales,
51.
couldn’t secure a sponsor: Les Keiter interview.
“No, but a lot of people set records against us”: Sam Stith interview.
“freakish” or “praying mantis types”: New York Daily News (March 4, 1962).
“I have strong reservations…”: Jerry Izenberg interview.
The Post had a liberal Jewish readership: Leonard Koppett interview.
“Yeah, Johnny Green is only six-foot-five…”: Jerry Izenberg interview.
“You’ve been around longer than I have”: Sam Stith interview.
Green so enraged, pulled him from Guerin: Johnny Green, Darrall Imhoff, and Sam Stith interviews.
“You’re not playing cards with us tonight?”: Ibid.
Maris sought a raise from $29,000: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (February 26, 1962) and Los Angeles Times (February 27, 1962).
“What’s doin’, Rog?”: Leonard Koppett interview.
Imhoff saw the crash site where workers searched: Darrall Imhoff interview.
more than $60,000 floated: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (March 2, 1962).
Phil Jordon had been thrown out of that game: Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (February 26, 1962).
local Spokane Kiwanis Club had granted his widowed: Jim McGregor interview. See also: Jim McGregor, and Ron Rapoport, Called for Travelling: The Incredible Life Story of One of the Best-Known Basketball Personalities in the World (New York: Macmillan Publishing, Co, Inc., 1978), 5.
his teammates wouldn’t see him again until: Ken Sears, Donnie Butcher interviews.
“If I don’t play, I don’t care”: Donnie Butcher interview.
“The last two months of the National Basketball…”: Bob Cousy with John Underwood, “Cousy Asks: Basketball—Or Vaudeville?” Sports Illustrated (March 19, 1962): 20–21.
He brought a case of beer with him: Sam Stith interview.
“Richie, how ya doin’?”: Ibid.
He asked Butcher to get Pepto-Bismol: Donnie Butcher interview.
“Butch, tell them I can’t go”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 10: THIRD QUARTER
“Run, jump, beat the ball down…”: Willie Naulls interview.
Chamberlain’s refusal to whip the ball down: Red Auerbach interview.
They met him in force above the free-throw line: Dave Budd, Johnny Green, Donnie Butcher, and Darrall Imhoff interviews.
Donovan bit his lip, a nervous tic: Sam Stith interview.
repeatedly slid pieces of paper to him, game facts: Toby Deluca interview.
Chamberlain’s points, written in black ink, crossed: Ibid.
one of the Lakers had broken through it: Tom Gola interview.
clowns used red, varnished springboards: Kerry Ryman interview.
needed to hang from the rim after each dunk: Ibid.
cranking out news releases each time a new park: Harvey Pollack interview.
his trusted Olivetti, a ditto machine: Ibid.
“Wilt fade-away, 14 feet…”: Ron Pollack interview.
“Please detail for us every field goal…”: Harvey Pollack interview.
“Wilt, whose number do you want…”: Vince Miller and Harvey Pollack interviews.
The Harrisburg Patriot would dictate: Harry Goff interview.
“Mr. Strom informed me that Chamberlain…”: Norman Drucker telegram to Maurice Podoloff, January 3, 1962. (Personal files of Norm Drucker.)
Ted Husing broadcast the remarkable five-set Davis: Bill Campbell interview.
details about the curtains, the chair, and the table: Ibid.
“This is Bill Campbell speaking…”: This quote is from the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. It can be heard online at www.angelfire.com/tv2/philapioneers/campbell.html.
“What did you have to say that for?”: Ibid.
“You’ll never know what it looked like…”: Tom Callahan interview.
“You better get out of his way otherwise”: Al Attles interview.
“It was as if he were an enlarged version…”: Joe Ruklick interview.
“My own feeling for basketball had faded…”: John McPhee, A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton (New York: Farrar, Straus&Giroux, 1978), 6–7.
big men had been called pituitary freaks: Bob Kurland interview.
“Baseball’s time is seamless and invisible…”: Nicholas Dawidoff, ed., Baseball: A Literary Anthology (New York: The Library of America, 2002), 1.
“Well, who put the half-dollar up there?”: Cal Ramsey interview.
slammed with such force the ball bounced over: Bob McCollough, Fred Crawford, and Cal Ramsey interviews.
“To the anti-basketball skeptic, Chamberlain’s massive…”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (January 16, 1962).
“some goon stands under the basket and taps…”: Philadelphia Inquirer (March 2, 1962).
“I respect Russell and he’s my friend”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (December 9, 1961).
his most confident shooters suffered nightmares: Pete Newell interview.
“Tell Wilt when he shoots that fall-away…”: Ibid.
for fear he’d get hit by eggs or coins: Norm Drucker interview.
“I assume you’re not paying any attention…”: Bill Russell and Taylor Branch, Second Wind: The Memoirs of an Opinionated Man (New York: Random House, 1979), 158–59.
“The best way to help integration is to live…”: “How Do You Stop Him?” Time (January 25, 1963): 40–41.
“Is this the way you build up basketball?”: Philadelphia Daily News (January 26, 1962).
“I’d like to see Russell play Wilt all alone”: Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (January 16, 1962).
“You stay right here”: Paul Vathis interview.
CHAPTER 11: RYMAN OF CHOCOLATE TOWN
as a young girl often saw Mr. Hershey: Lucille Poorman Ryman interview.
“His ambition, generosity and success…”: Lucille Poorman (Ryman), “Our Founder,” poem written in 1945. Lucille Poorman Ryman’s personal files.
a proposed split of the corporation stock: Hershey News (February 15, 1962).
women’s bowling team, the Chocolettes, bound: Hershey News (March 15, 1962).
set up by his mother in a chaise longue: Lucille Poorman Ryman interview.
“We Like Ike, We Love Mamie!”: Hershey Community Archives. “Eisenhower Birthday Party, October 13, 1953.” Microfilm 85M54, No. 81-A57. This includes event coverage from the following newspapers: Harrisburg Sunday Patriot-News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Columbia (PA) News, York (PA) Dispatch, Pottsville (PA) Republican, Reading (PA) Eagle, Lebanon (PA) Daily News. Hershey Community Archives, Hershey, PA.
“You’re growing up like a rich kid…”: Kerry Ryman and Reuel Ryman interviews.
membership cost his parents three dollars: Ibid.
lifted little Larry Wagner, a boy known as the Flea: Larry Wagner interview.
for brands of cocoa beans: Java, Granada: Joel Glenn Brenner, The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars (New York: Broadway Books, 2000), 105.
“I am trying to build here…”: Carter Nicholson, “Hershey—The Friend of Orphan Boys,” Success (October 1927): 118.
he found, and fired, the supervisor: Oral History interview with Austin C. Geiling Jr. 1991. Accession: 910H30. Hershey Community Archives Oral History Collection, Hershey, PA, Tape 1, Side 1, transcript pp. 2–3 and 15.
He was known to hire private detectives: Brenner, The Emperors of Chocolate, 116.
“If this turns out to be a hangout…”: Ernie Accorsi Jr. interview.
sold his caramel business for $1 million: Brenner, The Emperors of Chocolate, 105.
the first spade dug into the valley’s: Ibid., 105.
followed in 1907 by Hershey’s Kisses: Ibid., 113.
complained of “da chockle shtink”: Roy Bongartz, “The Chocolate Camelot,” American Heritage (June 1973): 5.
handshake from Hershey and $100: Dan Siev
erling interview.
Henry A. Wallace dedicated its ornate theater: Brent Hancock interview.
afterwards fans unknowingly jostled him: Ibid.
mixed onions and carrots into his chocolate: Ibid.
“Listen, you dumb Wop…”: Ernie Accorsi Jr. interview. Accorsi, Joseph Nardi’s grandson, related this entire anecdote, oft told within his family.
“Hey, fellas, it sounds really good!”: Reuel Ryman interview.
“Yoo-hoo, Loo-seal?”: Lucille Poorman Ryman and Kerry Ryman interviews.
“We raised a little hell, but…”: Kerry Ryman interview.
a tourist saw this, screeched his car: Kerry Ryman, Dave Damore, and Michael Larkin interviews.
earlier had chauffeured for Ryman’s maternal grandfather: Kerry Ryman interview.
he saw El Cid in the Hershey Theater eleven: Tim Brown interview.
“You supposed to be the indestructible…”: Ibid.
“kind of an unwritten rule”: Clarence Peaks interview.
“Star performer for the Warriors, Wilt ‘the Stilt’…”: Hershey News (March 1, 1962).
they played “Kick Hockey” near the concession: Kerry Ryman interview.
Bugs Damore had jumped and landed: Michael Larkin interview.
CHAPTER 12: STIRRINGS
Lucille Ryman had watched the president: Lucille Poorman Ryman interview.
“Were we to stand still while the Soviets…”: Philadelphia Inquirer (March 3, 1962).
Hammond organ with the Charlie Morrison Trio: Reuel Ryman interview.
“Hey, where are the Knicks tonight?”: Jerry Izenberg interview.
amounted to rubbing it in, an honor code broken: The Sporting Life, ESPN Radio, March 2, 2002. Host Chuck Wilson, on the fortieth anniversary of the hundred-point game, interviewed Richie Guerin. “It was what was considered to be unprofessional,” Guerin said. “You know there is a certain code in sports where you don’t rub it in.”
Jurgensen, in near awe, marveled at Chamberlain’s: Sonny Jurgensen interview.
Wilt was a dominant force and he was in his own zone: Tim Brown interview.
“Usually tall guys are sort of clumsy”: Gino Marchetti interview.
thinking about beer, Marchetti and Pellington left: Ibid.
the Sandman sat on a bench at courtside: Dave Damore interview.
“If I had your money, Wilton…”: Pete D’Ambrosio interview.
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