Wilt Chamberlain remained hospitalized today after complaining that his heart was racing just before a game between the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers.
Further details were expected sometime today, said an operator at Centinela Hospital Medical Center who declined to be identified.Chamberlain, 55, left the Forum about 7 p.m. PST, 30 minutes before the game started. An intern for Lakers' publicist John Black drove Chamberlain to the hospital.
Black said Chamberlain said he felt his heart racing, and experienced an accelerated heart beat and high blood pressure.
A nursing supervisor, who asked that her name not be used, would only say that Chamberlain was hospitalized for overnight observation and declined to release any other details.
Chamberlain was at the game because the 1971-72 Lakers, of which he was a key member, were honored. The Lakers won an NBA-record 33 straight games that season, set another record with 69 victories in the regular season and won the league championship, their first since moving to Los Angeles from Minneapolis in 1960.
Chamberlain and his former teammates talked with reporters shortly before he became ill and left for the hospital.
Chamberlain retired in 1973 as a four-time NBA MVP with league records of 31,419 points and 23,924 rebounds in 14 seasons. He has since been surpassed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA's all-time leading scorer.
In his recently-published book, "A View From Above," the 7-foot-1 star said at least a half-dozen teams tried to convince him to end his retirement and play - most recently the Lakers in 1989.