Portal:Basketball/Selected biography/March, 2008
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player and current assistant coach. He was born as Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr before changing his name in the fall of 1971, several years after converting to Islam.
Considered one of the greatest players of all time, the 7ft-2in (2.18 m) Abdul-Jabbar played center for UCLA from 1965–1969. Later, he played professionally for the Milwaukee Bucks (1969–1975) and the Los Angeles Lakers (1975–1989), accumulating 38,387 points, the NBA's highest career total. He was famous for his "Skyhook" shot which was almost impossible to block because Kareem's body was between the basket and his arm, and because of his height. His on-court success was unprecedented; he won a record six Most Valuable Player Awards, played on six championship teams as a professional, and played on three NCAA championship teams under coach John Wooden as a collegian. His high school team won 72 consecutive games and his UCLA teams were an unmatched 88-2. After a then-record 20 professional seasons in the NBA, Abdul-Jabbar retired from the game in 1989. Following his success as a professional athlete, Abdul-Jabbar has become known as a successful basketball coach, author, and part-time actor.
Abdul-Jabbar was born in Harlem, New York City, the son of Cora Lillian, a department store price checker, and Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Sr., a police officer and jazz musician. He was their only child. At birth, he weighed 12 pounds, 10 ounces (5730 g), and was twenty-two and a half inches (57.2 cm) long. He was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended St. Jude School in Inwood, New York. From an early age he began his record-breaking basketball accomplishments. In high school, he led Power Memorial High School to three straight New York City Catholic championships, a 72-game winning streak, and a 96–6 overall record. He scored 2067 points in his high school career.
