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History of trouble Agent says Chamberlain died of congestive heart failure
Posted: Wednesday October 13, 1999 09:40 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Wilt Chamberlain seemed the epitome of fitness. Even after his Hall of Fame basketball career ended, he turned to volleyball and marathons. But for years he also endured heart problems -- and they eventually killed him, Sy Goldberg, Chamberlain's agent and longtime friend, said Wednesday. "He had congestive heart failure," Goldberg said the day after Chamberlain died at age 63. "He had deteriorated relatively quickly over the last month or so." Chamberlain had lost 30 or 40 pounds over the past few weeks as doctors drained his legs of fluid that had accumulated because of his heart trouble, Goldberg said after speaking with Chamberlain's cardiologist, Dr. Anthony Reid. Chamberlain was hospitalized seven years ago with an irregular heartbeat and was said to have complained of an arrhythmia since he was in his early 20s. "Most likely, with a man of his age group dying suddenly, it would be from blockage in the blood vessels, causing an irregular heartbeat, regardless of his past medical history," said Dr. Michele Hamilton, associate clinical professor of cardiology at UCLA. Funeral services for Chamberlain are scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. at City of Angels Church of Religious Science in Los Angeles. Seating for the public will be limited. Chamberlain's sister, Barbara Lewis, said her brother had undergone dental surgery last week and looked worse than she had ever seen him. "The cardiac situation was the main thing," Goldberg said. Reports that Chamberlain had a heart problem surfaced in the early 1960s, but he denied them. Then he was hospitalized for three days in 1992 for the mild arrhythmia. Even those closest to Chamberlain didn't know how bad the problem was. "We knew it had been a little trouble for him, but we weren't aware that it could be serious. We did hear something about it a few years back," Chamberlain's sister, Selina Gross, said from her Philadelphia home. "Maybe all the playing and activity caused some wear on his heart. But he took care of himself and went to the doctor." Known as "Wilt the Stilt" and "The Big Dipper," Chamberlain was perhaps the most dominant player in NBA history. He spent 14 years in the league, with the Philadelphia (later San Francisco) Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers. On March 2, 1962, Chamberlain scored a record 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks. He also grabbed a record 55 rebounds against the Boston Celtics on Nov. 24, 1960. He scored 31,419 points, a record broken by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1984, and grabbed a record 23,924 rebounds. Chamberlain went to the NBA playoffs 13 times, but won just two championship rings -- in 1966-67 with the 76ers and in 1971-72 with the Lakers.
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