Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born April 16, 1947 in New York City, New York) was a successful high school, collegiate, and professional NBA basketball player. He is the NBA's all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points. Today, he is a successful coach, author, and part-time actor.
Born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor (usually known as Lew Alcindor), to Cora and Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor in Harlem, New York City, he was a center who grew to 7'2" (2.18 m) tall.
He led Power Memorial Academy to three straight New York City Catholic championships, a 71-game winning streak, and a 96–6 overall record.
He played for the UCLA Bruins from 1965 to 1969 under coach John Wooden. During his time on the team, UCLA had 88 wins and only two losses. Alcindor graduated with a B.A. from UCLA. At UCLA, he suffered a scratched left cornea; from then on, he mostly played wearing goggles.
Professional athletics
The Harlem Globetrotters offered him $1 million to play them, but he said 'no'.
On a coin-flip with the Phoenix Suns, he would be the number one pick in the 1969 NBA Draft pick. The winner of the coin-flip was the Milwaukee Bucks, where he would play five seasons. In 1975, the Bucks traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers, for center Elmore Smith, guard Brian Winters and rookie blue chippers Dave Myers and Junior Bridgeman.
While at UCLA Abdul-Jabbar converted to Islam. He took his Arabic name in 1971, publicly announcing it on May 1 of that year, one day after the Bucks completed a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Bullets (known today as the Washington Wizards) in the NBA Finals. However, he has repeatedly denied any connections to the Nation of Islam, having been converted by a Turkish imam of the Hanafi school of thought, under whom he studied at UCLA.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was also notable for his physical fitness regimen. While in LA, he started doing yoga in 1976 to improve his flexibility. He was also a pupil of the kung fu master Bruce Lee, studying Lee's Jeet Kune Do style.
Abdul-Jabbar was famous for his "Skyhook" shot, which was notoriously difficult to defend against. After a then-record 20 pro seasons, he retired from the game in 1989.
