Much criticism has been leveled at commentators who write of celebrity sports figures but limit their praise to those of the gridiron, the diamond, the links, or the ring. But why, the critics ask with irritation, are there no praises for those of the hoops and the court, which is the one sport definitely invented in the United States of America?
Sports in America
The Gridiron
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The Diamond
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The Links
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The Ring
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So as an artist's response to just criticism, here is a tribute to Wilton Norman Chamberlain. Without detracting from other notable players it can be argued that it was in fact Wilt who was the one player most responsible for moving basketball from being a sport of polite interest to a business that practically controls the world's economy. Excluding a brief time with the Harlem Globetrotters, Wilt spent fourteen years in the National Basketball Association (NBA), finally retiring in 1973.
Like professional football, basketball was not widely popular until the 1960's and Wilt's 7'1" presence on the court - tall even now - was sure to make the game newsworthy. Today basketball is #2 in popularity behind football while baseball, once "America's Pastime" now slips in at #3.
Wilt's statistics stand up well today even after more than half a century. He averaged over 30.07 points per game - #2 behind Michael Jordan's 30.12 - and still holds the record for most consecutive games with more than 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 points. Wilt also holds the record for most total rebounds in a career.1
Footnote
A rebound is when a player grabs the ball after a missed basket (a "field goal") or a free throw. Naturally getting the ball for your team is a big plus.
But most famously Wilt is the only player to date to score 100 points in a single game. That was on March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, when the Philadelphia Warriors defeated the New York Knicks, 169-147.
Basketball is often cited as the one sport that 1) is solely an American invention and 2) was invented by only one person and 3) is someone who2 we know. Basketball, we read, was invented by James Naismith in 1891 while working at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts. The idea was to create an exciting competitive sport that would give the participants plenty of exercise and could be played indoors as well as out.
Footnote
Of course pedantry mandates the word should be "whom" as it is the object of the verb "know". However, a little mature reflection reveals that the colloquial usage has equal validity and given that it is more commonly used should be considered correct.
The argument for using who is that it is not the object of a verb, but instead is the subject of a noun clause, "who invented the game of basketball", in the sentence "We know who invented the game of basketball." The whole sentence is then abbreviated as we know who by dropping the last five words. Then for emphasis, we invert the order and put who first. So we can legitimately say who we know.
If this analysis isn't correct, it oughta be.
The original hoops were actually peach baskets. James hung them 10 feet above the playing area and when a ball landed in the basket someone had to climb up a ladder and toss it down to the players. Finally someone had the bright idea of cutting a hole in the basket.
Then around 1893, James devised the modern hoop - a metal ring with a net to make sure the ball fell directly underneath the basket. Today's "basket" is essentially that what James wrought.
James, as Canadians like to point out, was born in 1861 in Almonte, Ontario, and a popular informational reference states he actually developed the game before he moved to the US. But still, as Canada is part of the Americas, basketball can still be considered an American sport. Of course, United Staters point out the game wasn't completely invented until James codified the game's rules only after moving to Massachusetts. Later he went on to coach at the University of Kansas - Wilt's alma mater by the way - in both basketball and track and field.
Of course, the sports cognoscenti will nod sagely and say that no game is truly invented by one person. The Aztecs and Maya in Mexico and Central America played a ball game called ullamaliztli. The object of the game was to send a rubber ball through some stone hoops set above the playing field.
However, you couldn't use your hands and the hoops were oriented vertically, not horizontally. So fans of fútbol in Mexico, Fußball in Germany, calcio in Italy, and football in England point out the game is really the forerunner of what Americans call soccer. Still with the hoop placed above the players, there was enough similarity with basketball that at least some credit should be given to the Meso-Americans for contributing to the modern sport. In any case, in the early 20th Century basketball became and remains popular in Mexico.
Naturally basketball as in all sports has it's own brand of humor. So to toss a few Bits of Basketball Buffoonery into the Hilarious Hoops of Humor we have:
What do football fans call an empty basketball arena?
A capacity crowd.
What does a beatnik basketball coach say when he's recruiting a team?
"Give me five!"
How many basketball players does it take to change a light bulb?
Five. One to do the work while the other four stand dancing around.
And finally there's:
Why should we address "Wilt the Stilt" more formally as "Wilton the Stilton"?
In basketball Wilt Chamberlain was always the Big Cheese.
References and Further Reading
Wilt Chamberlain, Kenneth Rudeen, HarperCollins, 1970.
Wilt Chamberlain, George Sullivan, Grosset and Dunlap, 1966.
"How Many NBA Records Does Wilt Chamberlain Hold?" Keith Jenkins, ESPN, March 19, 2026.
"How Is Basketball Unique Among American Sports?", Margaret Lipman, Wise Geek, May 16, 2024.