Recording of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-Point Game to be Preserved by Library of Congress

Photo | Malcolm Emmons- USA TODAY Sports

A recording of the fourth-quarter of Wilt Chamberlain’s famous 100-point game will be preserved by the Library of Congress, the institution announced today.

The recording is one of 25 announced for inclusion on the National Recording Registry. Other entries include Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” and Metallica’s “Master of Puppets.”

The Library of Congress described the 100-point game recording this way:

On March 2, 1962, Philadelphia Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain shattered the NBA record by scoring 100 points in a single game. The game, played in Hershey, Pennsylvania, was not covered by television; it was only broadcast by a Philadelphia radio station. University student Jim Trelease, who had fallen asleep listening to the game, awoke to the news that the station would be replaying part of the game in the early morning. Trelease decided to record the rebroadcast. In 1990, Trelease learned that the Hershey Community Archives did not have a copy of the broadcast. Fortunately, Trelease still had his copy and donated it to the HCA, which later gave a copy to the NBA. In 1988, the NBA had acquired a copy of the fourth quarter of the game from Warriors fan Samuel B. Marcus, who had recorded the Warriors’ possessions on a Dictaphone. League archivist Todd Caso had both recordings cleaned up and combined to make the best possible version from the two sources.

The Wilt Chamberlain Archive has this version of the fourth-quarter recording posted at YouTube. Bill Campbell had the call: “The most amazing scoring performance of all time! One hundred points for the Big Dipper!”