Credit: Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann
In the first twenty games of the 1957 season, Chamberlain, whose hands measured 11 ½ inches from thumb to pinkie, deflected 127 shots. As a sophomore he was named Most Outstanding Player of the 1957 NCAA tournament - even though his Jayhawks lost the title game to North Carolina. Chamberlain left Kansas after his junior year to turn pro, but NBA rules prohibited him from jointing the league until his class had graduated, so in 1958-59, he barnstormed the country as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters before joining the Philadelphia Warriors in the fall of 1959. In his first NBA game - against the Knicks - he scored 43 points, and went on to be named both Rookie of the Year and league MVP.
