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Walking With Wilt

A True Story

2 min readApr 29, 2026

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Text and Image Prompts by the author. Images by Gemini 3.

I was playing basketball in the Fullerton, CA Boys Club, 12 year old league, circa 1968. I was point guard.

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To publicize the Boys Clubs, the Lakers put on an exhibition game before one of their home games at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, CA. The exhibition was two Boys Clubs teams playing a 15 minute quarter against each other. Of course, one of those two teams was Fullerton, and there I was playing on the same court Jerry West and Elgin Baylor played on. (Elgin was my favorite.)

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But there is one thing that has stuck in my memory. That was my walk with Wilt.

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After the exhibition game, the Lakers came on the floor before we boys got off. So there was Wilt and I walked toward him, meaning to talk to him.

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But I had to make about 4 steps for each of his steps, so, though it seems an eternity, our walk only lasted maybe 10 seconds, and then Wilt was off to wherever, and I was being summoned to get the hell off the floor.

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Moral of the Story: Everyone has a tale to tell. Also, grab your opportunities when they come to you. They may never come again. :)

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Jeffrey Dutton Smith
Jeffrey Dutton Smith

Written by Jeffrey Dutton Smith

I muse as a journal-ist about Life, Mental Health, Artificial Intelligence, China, Fundamentalism, the Military, and more. On X @TheTwoJeffs