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Certainly there had been racial tension back in the 1950s in Lawrence, Kan., that dredged up bad memories. Certainly Wilt had become bigger than the legendary program, becoming a legend himself who lasted into his 60s. But the time had come that weekend 21 months ago for the big man to make peace with his school.

On Tuesday, he found peace dying at his Bel Air, Calif., home at age 63.

What started as a quaint ceremony that day, turned into a national event by the end of Saturday. CBS televised the Kansas-Kansas State game. Chamberlain did some color commentary with Tim Ryan and Al McGuire. Every satellite in the heavens ran the highlights. Chamberlain cried during the halftime ceremony telling the sellout crowd: "Rock, chalk Jayhawk."

After all the points, all the teams, all the strife and, well, all the women, Wilt still thought of himself as a college star.

"Forty years ago I lost a heart-breaking battle, toughest loss of my life," Chamberlain said recalling the 1957 national championship game, "losing to North Carolina by one point in triple overtime. It was devastating because I felt I let KU down."

The crowd hooted and howled, "Noooo." Then Wilt raised his hand to silence the crowd the way only Elvis or the Pope could. They shut up when this legend spoke.

"But to come here today and feel the appreciation, the love and warmth ..."

Something caught in Chamberlain's throat.

The 7-foot-1 legend had been back to Kansas only once since leaving the school 41 years ago. In those four decades, he has been remembered for more than just scoring on the court. He coached in the ABA, starred in a movie, played tennis, polo and came close to boxing Ali. He became a one-name icon much the way Namath, Ali and Montana did.

Despite all that, Chamberlain became the embodiment of college basketball that weekend. He freely admitted his faults -- addressing his claim that he has had 20,000 sexual "encounters" -- and freely let tears flow. Warts and all, this was Chamberlain. This is what college basketball has been, should always be and never be: controversy, NCAA probation, racial discrimination and some of the greatest basketball ever.

"I'm here because I want to," Chamberlain said. "I'm here because I wanted to attend Kansas even though 200 other universities were trying to get me for a great deal more money than most people thought I made at the University of Kansas."

Kansas administrators had to cringe at that one. Chamberlain was the subject of a lengthy NCAA investigation during the 1950s into his recruitment. He loved cars and had some fairly gaudy ones while he was at Kansas. The best the NCAA could do was penalize Kansas for providing Chamberlain with tires.

Then before there were players leaving for the NBA in droves, Chamberlain became one of the first. He sacrificed his senior season in order to turn professional. In those days, the NBA waited until a player's class graduated, so Chamberlain had to play a year with the Harlem Globetrotters. His first NBA contract was for $65,000.

"These owners are paying these people because apparently they think they're worth it," Chamberlain said of the modern NBA. "Some of these guys are making $200,000 per game. I can also remember when I signed my first contract, people said, 'What basketball player is worth 65,000? The president doesn't make that much.' I said, 'Yeah, but I'm not the president. I jump higher.'

"I'm not concerned with the monetary thing in the NBA. I'm concerned with the contracts that go 8, 9, 10, 12 years. These guys aren't worthy to play with one team that long."

Chamberlain made $450,000 a season at the height of his career. He was a hybrid. A circus attraction as well as a player. The NCAA changed its dunking rules because of Chamberlain. After he started tipping in his missed free throws, shooters were made to stay at the free-throw line. Phog Allen, the former KU coach who recruited him, tried to push for 12-foot baskets.

"I declare Chamberlain coming to KU an emergency for the rules makers," Allen once wrote. "These rules makers will need a tight, top-lid for the Chamberlain ten-foot basket."

The basketball world adjusted.

"They took the air out of the ball," Chamberlain said, "played a slow-down game. If we would have been allowed to play basketball we would have won a couple of championships."

Whether he had an effect or not, the slow down eventually led to Dean Smith's four corners, which in turn helped bring on the shot clock. Chamberlain was critical of modern college coaches like Georgetown's John Thompson who still subjugate individual talents for a "system."

"I think some college coaches overcoach," he said. "I'll go back to Patrick Ewing, who is considered one of the greatest offensive centers in the pros. You may be too young to know that when he played for John Thompson he averaged 9, 10, 11 points because Thompson wouldn't let him shoot. Now apparently, the man's a great shooter. How do you hold a guy down? Coaches have their own styles of doing things. In basketball, give a guy a chance to be more articulate and free-thinking."

Wilt Chamberlain is surrounded by fans during his return to Kansas in January of 1998. (AP)

There had been rumors for years that Chamberlain disowned Kansas. Segregation raised its ugly head on more than one occasion in response to a gangly black teen-ager from Philadelphia. But for two years, he dominated the game like no one before or since, averaging 29.9 points and 18.9 rebounds per game.

None of it would have happened had not former Kansas star B.H. Born spotted Chamberlain in the Catskills. Both were working at a hotel where Chamberlain was a bellhop in the summer. Allen got a call from Born and visited Chamberlain's parents. Chamberlain arrived in Lawrence with a friend who had driven with him from Philadelphia.

"We drove all the way here and we got to Kansas City, Kansas," Chamberlain said. "We were hungry. We stopped at a place about 10 o'clock and the proprietor came to the table. He said he'd be more than happy to serve me in the kitchen. I thought the kitchen was a way of honoring me. My friend recognized what was happening and said, 'Let's get out of here.'"

Chamberlain eventually tired of the segregation and told Allen.

"I told Dr. Allen, 'If I don't eat in those places, I'm not going to be at the University of Kansas,'" Chamberlain said. "Dr. Allen sat me down and said, 'Anywhere in the state of Kansas you want to go, you can do it. Anyplace that refuses you being there, we will close that place up. I promise you.'"

That ended the Lawrence discrimination but not the road discrimination. SMU fans once sang, 'Bye-bye Blackbird,' to Chamberlain.

Perhaps all of it drove Chamberlain out a year early into one of the greatest pro careers ever. It's still amazing to consider that Michael Jordan owns four NBA records. Chamberlain still owns 56. If Wilt hadn't been asked to play more defense late in his career, there could have been more amazing numbers.

Unfortunately for Wilt, Kansas and anyone with a sense of morals, since his retirement in 1973 Chamberlain is known most for his self-proclaimed sexual prowess. In his book A View From Above, Chamberlain claimed to have had sex 20,000 times. Good or bad, it is part of his legacy that will hang with him along with his jersey in Allen Fieldhouse.

"I used a figure of speech to say I had 20,000 encounters so therefore I should definitely know about sex," he said. "If you had read the book, on the next to last page of the book I say for all you men who think having a thousand different women is a cool thing, the real cool thing is having the same woman 1,000 times. Nobody picked up on that, which is what you media enjoy doing. Sincerely, maybe I would have rephrased it different."

In this world of AIDS, Chamberlain found out you can't have it both ways. You can't be a sexual conqueror and a sex advisor. You can be a legend with all the faults of any human. The kind of legend that can raise his hand and quiet an entire arena.