Sports
Darrall Imhoff
1938–2017 · basketball player, centre
Olympic gold medalist centre, remembered for starting against Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game, who spent two seasons as a backup big man for the Pistons in the early 1960s.
- Born
San Gabriel, California- Died
Bend, Oregon
aged 78- Birth name
- Darrall Tucker Imhoff
- Detroit years
- 1962–1964
- Field
- Sports
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Imhoff, a member of the United States' dominant gold medal-winning basketball team at the 1960 Rome Olympics, came to Detroit in a trade from the New York Knicks after two seasons as an NBA centre. He spent 1962 to 1964 as a backup centre for the Pistons at Cobo Arena, gradually earning more playing time in his second Detroit season before the Los Angeles Lakers purchased his contract rights in 1964. He is best remembered in NBA history for a different game entirely, as the Knicks' starting centre the night Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in 1962, though Chamberlain himself said it was unfair to single him out for that performance. Imhoff's Detroit years were a modest, workmanlike chapter in a twelve-season NBA career.
Highlights
- Olympic gold medalist with the United States basketball team, 1960 Rome Olympics
- Traded to the Detroit Pistons from the New York Knicks
- Backup centre for the Pistons, 1962–1964
- NBA All-Star, 1967, later in his career with the Los Angeles Lakers
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Played here · 1962–1964
Cobo Arena
Closed · 1960–2019
The Pistons' home arena during his two Detroit seasons; the building still stands as part of Huntington Place.