Wilt Chamberlain's height

[DEEP3CL]

Wilt said in autobiography that he had himself measured laying down to get his true height because gravity he felt compressed your height standing up. His listed playing height was 7'0" but his measurement laying down was 7'1 1/16"..........etc 7'2".

[XuDa]

Facts from the book "The Rivalry" by John Taylor, page 277:

* Wilt himself said all his career that he was 7-1 1/16.
* The player's doors in Detroit were 7-3. When Wilt passed through w/shoes, he had to duck.
* Team mate Mel Counts, a seven footer, was dwarved by Wilt.
* In 1980, Wilt (44 years old) was measured at 7-0 1/2 barefoot.

Yup, that's where I got my numbers from, too. That's a really good book; I got it for Christmas.

Honestly, before reading that book, I thought Wilt to be about 7'2 or 7'3 as well, simply because he seems so much taller and longer than 7-footers playing today. Just watching them play, I would think Wilt was longer and taller than Shaq. I do think still think Wilt's reach would be longer than Shaq's, but I think they are roughly the same height now...maybe Wilt is a half inch taller. Still, with listings today, he'd probably be listed at 7'2.

Wilt was actually measured at 7'1 with a 7'2 wingspan in college. His arms may not be that much shorter than O'Neals but his much narrower shoulders ensure that he has a shorter wingspan overall.

[Jordan23Forever]

Wilt had well over a 7'2" wingspan, dude.

[stephanieg]

Are you serious? If you watched him play there is no way you would think he's 7'0 and there is also no way that Bill Russell was 6'9 like the mainstream fans think, Russell looks like a legit 6'11 player. And it doesn't matter if everyone else was short or tall, Wilt looks like he's 7'2 or 7'3 period.

[Last Guardian]

Dwight is clearly much taller than Bron here

They seem to be arranged in order height for everyone except Bosh and Howard. Unless, Boshs hair just makes him look taller. Actually if you look at the top of their foreheads, Howard does look just a smidge taller. And Bosh at pre-draft is 6'11.5 in shoes, so it looks like Howard did grow a bit.

Edit: This picture also proves how exaggerated Lebrons weight is. He sure doesn't look 274 next to 266 Boozer.......

[bringinhinkie]

awesome picture

[og15]

Dwight is clearly much taller than Bron here

They seem to be arranged in order height for everyone except Bosh and Howard. Unless, Boshs hair just makes him look taller. Actually if you look at the top of their foreheads, Howard does look just a smidge taller. And Bosh at pre-draft is 6'11.5 in shoes, so it looks like Howard did grow a bit.

Edit: This picture also proves how exaggerated Lebrons weight is. He sure doesn't look 274 next to 266 Boozer.......

Wade is also taller than Kidd in the picture, but is put behind him.

[Eyeballs]

I hate that picture, it's so goofy. Especially the big dumb curtain and the orthopedic shoes K is wearing.

Worst album cover ever.

[D.Brasco]

[attilathehun513]

Wilt said the only time he was the shortest person in a room was an elevator ride in a hotel in Springfield MA. He said Sam Bowie and Ralph Sampson stepped inside the elevator. Both are 7'4".

Again there was no measuring beyond 7ft and he was barefoot. I have a pick of Shawn Bradley doing the same exact thing but he has the rim instead.

I am not so sure about Ralph Sampson being a legit 7 ft 4 barefoot. He doesn't look that massive (maybe it was because he's disproportionately lanky). Mark Eaton was a legit 7,4" barefoot (he even looked bigger than that), and he could almost the rim standing flat footed as seen in this vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAEoMsHHfa4
Here's MJ dunking on him...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhdMHcI2 ... L&index=90
He looked more massive than 7,4" in that vid...

[tombo125]

All ive got to say is that judging someones height in a picture is really funny to me unless its somehow a very scientific way of doing in.

[NO-KG-AI]

Dwight should be closer to 6'10 without shoes than 6'9. In that bad picture, he still look like an inch taller than BronBron. The team USA picture is more accurate, Bosh look taller though, which is about right, don't know why they put Dwight first. Probably because of the Nike/Adidas thing.

Bosh was 6'10.25 without shoes, I think Dwight was 6'9 and Bron was 6'7.25

Not that any of it really matters, because Dwight's standing reach is outrageous, his height doesn't mean squat

[Jersey Generals]

And Andre the Giant was a legit seven footer, too. Hm, I would say Wilt is 7'1.5 or a tiny bit shorter than that.

[Luv those Knicks]

As people have said, there is a shoe inflation with player heights now.

The most dominant center right now (Dwight Howard) measured in at 6'9" at the predraft measurements (huge wingspan though).

There's a good chance Dwight grew since then. He could easily be 6'10 or 6'10 1/2 w/o shoes now.


And this one isn't very scientific, but Wilt was said to be as 7'1 at 17.

Shaq's predraft measurement was 7'1 with a 7'7 swingspan.

http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre-dra ... s=0&sort=5

[Luv those Knicks]

Dwight grew at least an inch since pre-draft.
I think Wilt was approaching 7'3" in his prime.

There's a pic of him and LeBron and they look the same size.



He's probably grown a bit since HS, but not much.

That's a long distance shot, and the photographer seems to be sitting so there's an angle. Because lebron is closer to the photographer it makes him look taller. It's a terrible photo for judging heights while most of the other photos have been OK.

[astrallite]

This and the Garnett picture makes me think Russell was probably along the lines of 6'9½ barefoot, 6'11 in shoes.

Also if wilt was a little over 7'1 lying down, he's clearly shorter than that standing up. The equivalent to measuring yourself lying down would be standing up on one leg with your knee extended. You are easily an inch taller than standing flat on two feet. For example, I'm 6'0½ standing straight, and I'm 6'2 standing on one leg, knee extended. When I lie down I get a similar measurement.

This of course brings up another point. With very little effort a guy can look taller than he is by leaning on one leg and extending it, so a lineup photo can be deceiving, seeing it takes very little effort to "cheat."

Even if Wilt is a scrub today, how bad could he be? Even Pau Gasol is good enough for 20-10 today. Unless you think Wilt is worse than Pau Gasol.

[Habibi]

I heard he's 6 inches... in girth.

[astrallite]

I heard he's 6 inches... in girth.

That would be 1.9 inch diameter? Not quite a linear increase.

[hype_2004]

In 1980, people measured his true height for the first time since high school. He was measured at about 7 feet, 1/2 inches.

In reality, he'd probably measure in at 7'2 or so today.

you add 1.25 inch then he becomes 7'1.75, rounded it comes down to 7'2.

[attilathehun513]

Dwight should be closer to 6'10 without shoes than 6'9. In that bad picture, he still look like an inch taller than BronBron. The team USA picture is more accurate, Bosh look taller though, which is about right, don't know why they put Dwight first. Probably because of the Nike/Adidas thing.

Bosh was 6'10.25 without shoes, I think Dwight was 6'9 and Bron was 6'7.25

Not that any of it really matters, because Dwight's standing reach is outrageous, his height doesn't mean squat

Dwight Howard's 9,3 3/4" at only 6,9 ish could likely be an exaggeration (like many other outrageous standing reach measurements, he could have been standing slightly on his tippy toes when the measurer wasn't looking) . However, I certain D Howard's standing reach is higher than Chris Bosh's.

Look at the above pic. Even though Bosh is clearly an inch taller than Howard, Bosh's shoulder height is no higher (in fact it looks slightly lower). D Howard has high, square shoulders and his head isn't big for his height either and long arms so he outreaches virtually every other player his height. Bosh has an extremely small head, but his shoulders a very sloping and low (resulting the illusion of a long neck) and even though Bosh has long arms, his low shoulder height neglects his standing reach.