After two seasons with the Jayhawks, Chamberlain left the University, skipping his senior year of eligibility. He left town and headed to Philadelphia in May 1958 in a new red convertible, a bonus payment from the Harlem Globetrotters after he agreed to play one year on their exhibition tour.  Because of NCAA rules, Wilt was ineligible to play in the NBA until after his college eligibility had ended.  He eventually entered the NBA with the Philadelphia Warriors in 1959 and retired in 1973 as the league’s second all-time leading scorer with 31,419 points.  He was a four-time MVP and set a single-game record when he scored 100 points against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962.  He was named to the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1978.

Chamberlain told the Lawrence Journal-World on May 23, 1958: “If I had to start over again from high school, I would want to attend the University of Kansas.  I am sorry I have let some of these fine people down, but I have to do this for me.  It’s what I feel is best.”  The big-time money of professional basketball and the chance to escape the sagging zone defenses that had pounded on him during his collegiate career lured Chamberlain away from KU.  Wilt criticized the defensive tactics used by KU's opponents when explaining his decision to leave in a 1958 article in Look magazine:  “The game I was forced to play at KU wasn’t basketball.  It was hurting my chances of ever developing into a successful professional player.”