Return to Kansas Provided Emotion of a Lifetime

Wilt Chamberlain averaged nearly 30 points and 18 rebounds a game in two varsity seasons at Kansas, leading the Jayhawks to the NCAA championship game as a sophomore in 1957. He also helped to break down segregation barriers in the Kansas City area.

But he angered Jayhawk fans, and touched off 40 years of animosity between the All-American player and his alma mater, when he gave up his senior season and joined the Harlem Globetrotters.

For four decades, Chamberlain turned his back on the school, declining countless invitations to return and have his jersey retired. He finally relented in January 1998, slipping into his 1957 letter jacket and striding into Allen Fieldhouse to help Kansas celebrate 100 years of basketball.

Fearful that he might be booed, the usually fearless Chamberlain was tentative. But he was greeted with a standing ovation.

“I’m a Jayhawk and proud to be a part of the tradition here,” he told the crowd, wiping back tears. “I’m very proud to be here.”

Bill Mayer, a retired newspaper executive who had covered Chamberlain at Kansas, remembered it Tuesday as an emotionally charged moment.

“When he gave that speech and stood out there on the floor wearing his letter jacket, it was something none of us will ever forget,” Mayer told the Associated Press. “As he came off the court, he told me, ‘That’s the greatest thrill I’ve ever had.’ ”