I didn't know that one, but before he hurt his knees he was the fastest player end-to-end in the league. Some of his college track and field feats: High Jump: 6'6 Long Jump: 22 feet 100 yard dash: 10.9 seconds 440 yards: 49 seconds 880 yards: 1:58.3 Shot put: 53 feet Wilt was probably one of the most amazing physical specimens and athletes ever: size, strength, speed basically unmatched by anyone.
Here's a couple Wilt stories I had never heard before, courtesy of a professional volleyball player who knew Wilt from his second career: From Pat Powers, 1984 Olympic Volleyball Gold Medalist, 10/14/99 - A lot has been written about Wilt the last several days here in So Cal. He is receiving more attention now than he has for the last fifteen years--he would have preferred it this way, Wilt was never one for the spotlight off the court. One day big Wilty (a notorious card cheater) was playing a game off VB down at Muscle Beach in Santa Monica. To say Wilty was competitve in all sports would be a minor understatement. An argument broke out over the correct score and Wilty was not giving ground to anybody on the court. One of the players, Amon Lucky, made the mistake of stepping under the net to further the point, when Wilty picked him up and threw him over the net!!! Now understand the "Amer" weighs something on the order of 225lbs, so the rumor is Wilty "taped"him on the throw over. needless to say Wilty won the argument, and if memory serves me correct, the game. Wilty was one of the strongest guys I have ever seen. I once was sitting on the steel fence at Rosecrans taking in the Rosecrans open with Wilt and several cohorts back in the late 70's. A player from Muscle Beach was standing beneath us and told us he was going to walk around so he could come join us up on the rail. Wilty told him there was "no no reason to walk," and reached down and picked him up by one arm and hoisted him over the bar. Mike weighed ~240lbs!!! I have been around some athletes in my day. But nobody and I mean nobody was stronger than Wilty. He was a man's man!!! I haven't seen him in recent years, but I am sure everybody who hung with the big guy at Sorrento, Muscle and State Beach will miss him..... --------------------- By the way, the net Wilt threw the guy over is 8 feet off of the ground.
That's typical Shaq humor... I, for one, will miss The Big Aristotle when he calls it a day...there will never be another Shaq again, he's one of the most unique personalities in league history, and the guy who helped with the league transition after the Jordan era ended. The NBA owes him much.
he's DONE stick a fork in him. Ive waited soooo long for the day I could say that about O'Neal. all he's got left is his mouth.
Shaq is washed up. The dude use to be the baddest but his athletic ability is maybe half (at best) of what it use to be. If he's trying to say he's the baddest because of this previous ability then Hakeem and Bill Russell might have an argument about that...but as of now, he's a has been that's collecting a check on previous accomplishments. The shaq daddy will put up the same numbers as someone getting paid 1/4 of what he is now a days, which is why the Heat won't sniff a championship for years to come.
Completely OT: but does anyone else remember this commercial while we're on the topic of Shaq? (with Hakeem) <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JnyWar8uOTI&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JnyWar8uOTI&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
I hope you're kidding. His antics may be entertaining, but make no mistake about it, Shaq is pretty useless at this pt in his career.
That's kind of the point. You've had to wait so long to say Shaq is done. The dude is the most dominant ever, well, maybe Wilt, but those are the only 2 in that category. I don't care what you say, he was able to win a championship on 2 different teams, not to mention the 3-peat. Yeah he had great support, but so do 99% of the people who win titles. Plus he's so arrogant it's funny. His interviews are the best. BTW did anyone hear Amare's interview (while playing Sonics, I believe) ? The person asked him why the played so bad in the first half or something and he replied: "Well yeah in the first half we turned the ball over pretty, uh ... pretty much" HAHA. That was the funniest thing in a while.
I was watching part of the Suns/Heat game earlier, and Shaq had a decent game, but you can tell his best days are past him, because in his prime he would've wipe a team like the Suns off the planet by himself.
Watched part of the Suns/Heat game. Shaq still is very effective around the basket once he gets the ball, but he is MUCH SLOWER than he was in his prime so it's much harder to get the ball to him now.
