Michael Vitez: Wilt Chamberlain, mountain-climbing adventures, and a fanciful footrace

I received such a response to my column last week on Wilt Chamberlain, I have decided to include a few comments from readers.

I should also note that the 76ers will host a tribute on March 2 on the 50th anniversary of Wilt's 100-point game.

Readers smacked me down hard, as they should have, in response to my question about who was the more esteemed Overbrook High graduate - Wilt or Will Smith.

"Michael - Will Smith in the same story as Wilt??? Seriously," from Fred Lavner.

"Not even close!! Wilt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" wrote Thomas Garland.

"Some of the remarkable things Wilt did on the court are no longer mentioned," e-mailed Milton Trachtenburg. "One of the extreme ones was the night he dunked a foul and they changed the rule on the spot. Yes, [he] took off from a standing position at the foul line and dunked it!"

"I was lucky enough to know Wilt a little," wrote Jay Meyers, who wore a rubber band on his wrist, just like Wilt, into his 20s. "My first encounter was in the first year of the Spectrum when he recognized me after a game one night as the kid holding a 'Wilt For President' sign and stopped his car to say hello and gave me a quick ride to my car in his Maserati . . .

"He used to say 'nobody likes Goliath' but one white kid from Levittown grew up idolizing Goliath."

And this from Jim McCrea:

"I grew up in West Philly. My mom and dad tried their hand at a small ice cream store in 1949-51 . . .

"When I was 6 or 7 this tall skinny sensitive Black kid would come on his way home.

"Kids mistreated him something awful, as kids will do. Calling him 'Wilt the Stilt' was an insult and it bothered him a great deal.

"One day he asked if he could draw my picture. I sat up on one of the soda fountain stools and Wilt Chamberlain drew my face and gave it to me. You can add artist to his unbelievable list of accomplishments. Now if I had kept that picture, it would be worth more than my 401k or what's left of it."

Cecil Mosenson coached Wilt at Overbrook. Mosenson was only 22, and Wilt tested him - one day wearing golf cap, scarf, and dark glasses during pregame warm-ups. The coach benched him.

Another time, Mosenson threw Wilt off the team for horsing around. The principal just about fainted - Wilt was already world famous - but Wilt came back the next day and asked Mosenson to teach him a hook shot.

"That was his way of apologizing," the coach said.