On December 22, 1960, the NBA’s Philadelphia Warriors played an inter-squad game at Cheltenham High School before a crowd of 1,400 fans at the brand-new Wyncote gymnasium.

According to local historian Chuck Langerman, the Whites beat the Blues 108-88 behind 26 points from NBA icon Wilt Chamberlain, arguably the greatest basketball player of all-time.

That game was the second time Chamberlain played in Cheltenham. In 1954, Philadelphia’s Overbrook High, including the seven-foot legend, came to the high school’s former Elkins Park location for a scrimmage in a packed bandbox gym.

According to SportsCasting.com, Cheltenham High alum Frank Mann remembers the night well:

Larry Mann recalled a scrimmage between his school, Cheltenham High School, and Overbrook. He remembered getting warned not to use the nickname.

“During the warmups, I talked to Wilt,” Mann said, per Cherry. “My coach had warned me, ‘Don’t call him anything except Wilt or Dipper. Don’t call him Stilt.’”

According to Cheltenham High alum David Richman, his father, Ike Richman, founded the Philadelphia 76ers and moved Chamberlain into their Elkins Park home during the 1965 NBA season. He wrote a book about his memories of Chamberlain in Elkins Park.

Pictured below is Chamberlain in 1945 with his fourth-grade class at Brooks Elementary School in West Philadelphia. Wilt was nine years old at the time.

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Photos courtesy of Wikipedia Commons