Philadelphia declare “Wilt Chamberlain Day” ahead of the release of the legend’s new docuseries “Goliath”

This past Thursday was declared “Wilt Chamberlain Day” in Philadelphia, in honor of the late great basketball legend who produced a Hall of Fame career and changed the sport forever. The announcement came during the premiere of the new Showtime docuseries called “Goliath”.

The show shares the story of a young Wilt growing up in West Philly and how he paved his way to the top of basketball stardom, putting up numbers that are still unbeaten to this day. Yes, we are talking about his famous 100-point performance back in 1962 with the Philadelphia club that used to be called the Warriors.

New footage of his record-breaking exhibition has finally surfaced, as you can see it for yourself in the following tweet:

Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points 🔥🔥 https://t.co/s0DtVJdHHO pic.twitter.com/CVQJroEfGq

— McClung Muse (@MacMcClung_Muse) July 9, 2023

It was City Representative Sheila Hess who had the distinction to proclaim July 13 as a day to remember Chamberlain ahead of the premiere.

“He changed the way the game is played,” she claimed. “He broke records and racial barriers and challenged the unwritten rule for all athletes. But Wilt, he was more than all that… He gave back to the community where he’s from. And to this day, Philadelphia still benefits from his generosity with the Wilt Chamberlain Memorial Fund.”

Michelle Smith, a cousin of Chamberlain’s, hopes the documentary will truly show the real Wilt, aside from all the myths behind his rock-star attitude and all the assumption that came with it.

“He lived his life the best he could and tried to do some things that would make the world better,” she expressed.

And that is precisely the intention behind the series, to examine closely his impact on the sport and address all those misconception about his life. After watching the documentary, his nephew Olin Chamberlain said that he enjoyed to learn more about his off-court life, which showed him as a business man and a good friend.

“He was building a Chamberlain vehicle,” Olin shared. “My parents moved to California, we moved to a place called Chamberlain Villa. So he bought an apartment building, he was investing in real estate, you know, before people were really thinking about it like we’re thinking about it today.

“Basketball wasn’t his whole life, which people may believe that it was.”

The production used AI technology to reproduce Chamberlain’s voice and allow him narrate his own story

As the legend passed away from congestive heart failure in 1999, producer Jacob Mosler explained the reasons behind using AI technology to recreate Wilt’s voice for the docuseries.

“They took the voice of a recording of Wilt’s words being read and then converted it into Wilt’s voice,” he said. “So in ones and zeroes, it’s Wilt’s voice, and Wilt is posthumously narrating his own documentary, so we’re extremely proud of that. When we played it for the family, it was waterfalls, tears.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLNw7UCy1V4

“We are honored to team up with this group of talented filmmakers to bring the underexamined story of Wilt Chamberlain’s complex life to the masses,” said Stephen Espinoza, the president of Showtime Sports.

“Everybody knows Wilt for his legendary accomplishments on the basketball court – scoring 100 points in a game, averaging 50 points and 25 rebounds in a season – but there’s so much more to him than his stats. He was far ahead of his time in so many ways that will last infinitely longer than the numbers on a scoreboard,” he added.

The docuseries is available on Paramount+ this Friday for Showtime subscribers, and will air live on Sunday at 10pm.