Wilt Chamberlain INSANE vertical (rare footage) - highest reach ever? HD

Old footage has surfaced that reveals how incredible of an athlete the 7'1" Wilt Chamberlain was. Despite weighing 240-250lbs his sophomore year in college, he is vaulting his way to the very top (give or take a few inches maybe) of a regulation backboard and the footage of this event was captured during a one-step block attempt in an actual GAME.

His standing reach in the pro's was known to be 114" (9'6"). The top of the backboard is 156" (13'). Even if we assume he is fully grown at this time (which he may not be), this would still peg his necessary flat-foot (with one step) vertical to accomplish the block between 40 and 42"

This follows close suit with the elevation necessary to accomplish a 3-step off one leg High Jump PR of 6'6.75". He did this with relatively unrefined form, in an era before the fosbury flop. His pelvis mid-point is just under 4', and in order to clear the bar with his basic jump-style he needed to raise said mid-point to a minimum of 40.35".

A further observation to explain/affirm his ability to sky reveals his crural index to be well above average. A crural index is the ratio of lower leg, to upper leg, and it dictates the leverage a person has when performing the task of jumping. When all other variables are equal, if two similar sized, similar strength athletes have only a different crural index, the individual with the higher crural index is going to have the superior mechanical advantage to elevate, similar to a vaulter benefiting from a longer pole. Chamberlains exceptional cural index is very near that of world class Olympic jumping athletes (1.1) - his index of about 1.03 is NOT a common trait, even among the athletes in the NBA (the average is only 0.84).

People may say "Well I don't believe it, no 7 footers today can jump like that therefore I doubt he did! Must be the camera angle! - what poor judgement" - That's up to them. But I'm a photographer, and a paleontolgy artist by profession. My entire career is based on a keen eye for anatomy, proportions, perspective, and accuracy. These weren't filmed with today's fish-eye lenses or 400mm zooms - The simple 35mm lenses of the 1950's hardly qualify for the optical illusion argument used to (rightfully) debunk most of today's "head above the rim" photographs.

So with all that being said - analyzing these two totally different scenarios both yielded a result within inches of each other. They reveal that Wilt, a massive 7'1" NBA athlete from over 50 years ago, possessed an incredible ability to leap - and the footage may be evidence of the highest maximum reach observed (and captured on film) in basketball history! And he did it wearing low-top Chuck Taylors!

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Jumping
• Amazing
• Footage
• Cool
• Wilt Chamberlain
• Crazy
• Basketball
• NBA
• Jordan
• Hang time
• vertical
• Vertical leap
• Jumps
• Vertical Jump
• Michael Jordan
• Kobe
• James
• Lakers
• 42 inch vertical
• Top of backboard
• Top of the backboard
• reach the top of a backboard

[JTHunterPJ]

Look more like he was about a 35 inch vertical leaper in his prime... not quite 40 sorry.

[dantheman9758]

@JTHunterPJ It's 40 inches. Relatively speaking, 40" isn't as noticeable on Wilt because he's longer than Yao Ming - his vertical "looks" the same as a 6'7 or 6'8 guy with a 35 inch vertical. But his high-jump footage shows his center of gravity elevating 40", no less. He was 2 time NCAA D1 Big-Eight/Big-Seven High Jump Champ for '56-'57. A 35 inch vertical means you won't even be elite in high school. His PR would have been good enough for 5th place in the 1956 Olympics. So, no. Not 35 inches.

[bestballer16]

daaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmmmm­mnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[grasd2]

@Danceboi808 yeah 7'1 guys jump 40 inches off the ground all the time...

[jongib369]

@jmanmoney54 joking I hope

[jmanmoney54]

Wow that was a flat verticle

[jongib369]

@Danceboi808 yes because jumping 40 inches off the ground is mostly height.........

[Danceboi808]

Its mostly just height

[dantheman9758]

@AgentZTN And Wilt and Vladimir do NOT use the same technique, or equipment. Wilt flails like shit and lands in sawdust he doesn't master any techniques and he doesn't land on a CUSHION. If you want to keep pulling numbers on paper out of your ass than go ahead, Keep convincing yourself a GOAT athlete who could have placed 5th in his era's Olympic High Jump on awful technique has a vertical almost identical as Larry Bird. His visible center of gravity when charted accurately, rose <39". U mad?