Showtime Lines Up Wilt Chamberlain Documentary Series

Showtime will profile NBA Hall-of-Famer Wilt Chamberlain in a sports documentary series premiering July 16.

The series, Goliath, examines the historic life, career and impact of Chamberlain, whose excellence on the basketball court changed the way the game is played while breaking records and racial barriers, according to the network.

The series features archival footage as it profiles the basketball legend from his emergence on the national scene as a high schooler in the 1950s through his death in 1999. Each episode focuses on a specific element of Chamberlain’s cultural impact in the areas of money, power, race, sex, politics and celebrity, said Showtime officials.

“We are honored to team up with this group of talented filmmakers to bring the underexamined story of Wilt Chamberlain’s complex life to the masses,”  Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza said in a statement. “Everybody knows Wilt for his legendary accomplishments on the basketball court – scoring 100 points in a game, averaging 50 points and 25 rebounds in a season – but there’s so much more to him than his stats. He was far ahead of his time in so many ways that will last infinitely longer than the numbers on a scoreboard.”

Goliath is produced by Village Roadshow Television, Religion of Sports, Content Cartel, Happy Madison Production and Heeltap! Entertainment. Executive producers include Rob Ford, Charles Lindsay, William Lindsay, Matt Mosko, Kevin Garnett, Mike Marangu, Brian Bennett, Shannon Perry, Gotham Chopra and Ameeth Sankran.