Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Professional Basketball Player
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was born Ferndinand Lewis Alcindor Jr., on April 16, 1947, in New York City to Cora Lillian and Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Sr. He was raised Catholic and went to St. Jude School, then attended Power Memorial Academy, where he excelled in basketball. He led his high school team to 3 New York City Catholic Championships. His high school basketball stats were phenomenal with a 71 game win streak, 79-2 overall record, with 2067 points scored. He played 3 years with UCLA and 1 year with the University of Houston. From his earliest days playing basketball to his college years, his performance on the court was extraordinary.
Before being selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1969 NBA draft, Lew Alcindor was offered $1 million to play for the Globetrotters, which he turned down. At the same time, he was the New York Nets’ first pick in the ABA draft. Alcindor told both teams that he would only accept one offer from each clubhouse and the NY Net offer was lost. With the Bucks, Alcindor became a star, ranking No. 2 in scoring in his first season. In 1971 Alcindor converted to Islam and changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Kareem played for the Bucks until 1975 when he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kareem played for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1975 until his retirement in 1985. His career accomplishments include 6-time NBA champion as a player and 1-time NBA champion as an assistant coach. He was also a 6-time NBA MVP, 19-time NBA All-Star, 5-time NBA All-Defensive First Team, and the list goes on. The career statistics of this basketball superstar are as follows: 38,387 points, 17,440 rebounds and 3,189 blocks.
After retiring from basketball as a player, his love for the sport did not end. Abdul-Jabbar was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers and Seattle SuperSonics and in 2005 he became a special assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. This talented individual also had some success in his acting career acting in movies and had guest appearances on TV shows. He was in the movies “Airplane” and “Fletch” and made guest appearances on “Scrubs,” “21 Jump Street,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” and others. Abdul-Jabbar has proven to be a multi-talented individual on and off the court.
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