Hightower stated he did so to financially support his family, but he would have been ineligible to play basketball his senior year due to his poor academic standing.

[1] Denver Rockets head coach and general manager Bob Bass would later say that the acquisition of Hightower was the most important moment in the team's first year.

[6][7] In December 1957, Overbrook won the Cambria County War Memorial Basketball Tournament after they defeated Charleroi High School, 72–58.

[16] Jack McCloskey, the head coach of Penn Quakers men's basketball team, told sportswriter Ronnie Christ that he tried to recruit Hightower – but due to his poor grades he would not be accepted by the university.

[25] Hightower gave an interview to the Philadelphia Daily News in 1960 criticizing the selection process for the United States men's national basketball team leading up to the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.

[20] Before his senior season, Hightower announced he was leaving the University of Kansas and moving back home to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to financially support his mother, two brothers and sister.

[35] He reported to training camp, but a few days later his contract was voided when Kansas City Steers management entered a protest to league president Abe Saperstein.

[41] Angered over his acquisition of Hightower, Globetrotters owner Abe Saperstein sent Ferrándiz a letter threatening his arrest if he re-entered the United States.

[42] Hightower led Real Madrid to the 1961–62 season Spanish national domestic league championship, and the 1962 final of FIBA European Champions Cup (now called EuroLeague), which the team lost.

Warriors owner Eddie Gottlieb denied his team was paying Hightower and claimed Littman was lying to drum up publicity.

[49] After the Warriors were eliminated from the 1962 NBA playoffs in the Eastern Division Finals by the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia head coach Frank McGuire told the media that his team would fare better next season if they could acquire Hightower.

On October 12, 1962, Hightower played in a charity game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden for a team called the "College All-Stars".

[54] By January, Philadelphia Daily News sportswriter Jack Kiser called Hightower "the biggest disappointment to hit the NBA in years".

[55] His play improved by February, which led Warriors coach Bob Feerick to start him in place of veteran Willie Naulls.

[62] During the first quarter of the fifth game of the 1964 Western Division Finals on April 12, Hightower got into a physical altercation with St. Louis Hawks center Zelmo Beaty.

Bullets general manager Buddy Jeannette told the Baltimore Sun, "Unless he comes up with a good excuse like a sickness in the family or urgent personal business, he's going to be fined.

"[74] On December 22, 1965, Hightower was sent to the Harrisburg Patriots of the Eastern Professional Basketball League (EPBL) to make room on Baltimore's roster Gus Johnson, who was returning from an injury.

[89] The acquisition of Hightower by Detroit convinced Ron Reed, who was coming off the bench for the Pistons that season, to focus solely on his professional baseball career.

[108] On December 16, 1969, in the last three minutes and thirty seconds of regulation, Hightower scored nine of the Stars' last 11 points to help his team come from behind to defeat the Kentucky Colonels, 102–101.

[115] On January 7, 1971, the Utah Stars traded Hightower and Donnie Freeman to the Texas Chaparrals in exchange for Glen Combs and Ron Boone.

[116] In his first game for Texas on January 8, Hightower scored 24 points (12 of which came from the free throw line) in a losing effort to his former team, the Utah Stars.

[123] In 1973, Hightower sued the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the Carolina Cougars for $573,000 (equivalent to $3,932,825 in 2023) for backed salary in the form of unpaid living expenses and fines.

When asked about his life and basketball career by Philadelphia Daily News writer Elmer Smith, Hightower responded, "There are a lot of things I could be bitter about.

[133] The Kansas City Star reporter Bill Richardson wrote that there may have been undue pressure on Hightower to live up to Chamberlain's success.

[1] Denver Rockets head coach and general manager Bob Bass said of the team's first season, "The most important thing we did was sign Wayne Hightower."

On Hightower, ABA public relations director Lee Meade said, "It was still a big deal when he signed with Denver [...] I mean, at least the hard-core fans had heard of him.

[145] Wayne's younger brother, Drake, played basketball at Overbrook High School and was offered an athletic scholarship to Tennessee State University.

He played for the school's basketball team, but dropped out of college to manage a lounge owned by Wayne in Denver, Colorado, called the Bunny Club.

[147] San Francisco based Golden Gate National Bank filed suit against Hightower for $2,502.72 (equivalent to $24,197 in 2023) in unpaid promissory notes in April 1965.

[151] In 1968, Hightower endorsed the non-partisan political advocacy group, Peaceful Resources in Democratic Education (PRIDE), which lobbied for the inclusion of African American history in public school curriculum.