November 24, 1960: Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors grabs 55 rebounds, setting an NBA record that still stands. He also scored 34 points. And it wasn't against a "slow white guy" or a "plumber," as LeBron James' worshipers say of Wilt's competition today: It was against Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics, the other serious contender for the title of the best player in the sport at the time. The entire Celtic team had 59 rebounds. Russell had 19 of them, which would be a great total by today's standards.
But the Celtics won, 132-129, at the Philadelphia Civic Center. Wilt set lots of records, but Russell (almost) always had the better team. That's why Wilt was prouder of this record than the 100 points he scored against the New York Knicks in a 1962 game: Because it was against the Celtics, particularly with Russell guarding him.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar surpassed Wilt's record for career points of 31,419 in 1984, but Wilt's record of 23,924 career rebounds has never been seriously challenged. And it won't be: The days of great rebounders ended with Wilt's career in 1973. Russell is 2nd with 21,620. The only player active in the 2021-22 season who was in the Top 10, and even that at 10th place, was Dwight Howard with 14,627.
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November 24, 1960 was a Thursday, a Thanksgiving Day. There were 2 other NBA games played. The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Cincinnati Royals, 108-100 at the Cincinnati Gardens. Elgin Baylor had 33 points and 19 rebounds for the Lakers. Jack Twyman scored 35 and Oscar Robertson 30 for the Royals.
And the St. Louis Hawks beat the Syracuse Nationals, 132-97 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Bob Pettit had 31 points and 19 rebounds for the Hawks.
Baseball was out of season. In the NFL, the Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers, 23-10 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. The ballpark was renamed Tiger Stadium the next year.
In the brand-new American Football League, which embraced a pass-happy, high-scoring approach, the New York Titans beat the Dallas Texans, 41-35 at the Polo Grounds. In 1963, both teams changed their names: The Titans became the New York Jets, and the Texans moved, becoming the Kansas City Chiefs. In 1999, the original AFL team that had been the Houston Oilers, now playing in Tennessee, became the Tennessee Titans.
These college football games were played:
* The University of Pennsylvania beat Cornell, 18-7 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
* The University of Richmond beat the College of William & Mary, 19-0 at City Stadium in Richmond, Virginia.
* Virginia Tech beat the Virginia Military Institute, 13-12 at Victory Stadium in Roanoke, Virginia.
* Wichita State beat West Texas State (now named West Texas A&M), 31-14 at Veterans Field in Wichita, Kansas.
* Texas beat Texas A&M, 21-14 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.
* And the University of Denver beat Colorado State, 21-12 at DU Stadium in Denver.
The NHL was then based in Canada, where Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 2nd Monday in October, not the 4th Thursday in November. But the entire "Original Six" was in action that day:
* The New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 5-3 at the Boston Garden.
* The Detroit Red Wings, despite playing on the same day as the Detroit Lions, sold out the Olympia Stadium, and beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1.
* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1 at the Chicago Stadium.
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