Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. on April 16, 1947) is an American former professional basketball player and current assistant coach. He was known as Lew Alcindor before changing his name in the fall of 1971 several years after converting to Islam. He is considered one of the greatest players of all time. He has also had numerous television and movie appearances.

Early life
Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr., was born in Harlem, New York City, on April 16, 1947. His family was not poor, and his father was a graduate of the famed Juilliard School of Music in virtuoso trombone. He attended Power Memorial High School. in New York.

College
Alcindor went to college at UCLA. When he played on the freshman team, it beat the UCLA varsity team that had won two national championships. When he played on the varsity team, it won three national championships. When Alcindor was at UCLA, the NCAA did not allow the dunk and so he developed a hook shot, called the skyhook. Alcindor also got a degree in history.

 Professional basketball career 
lcindor was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1969 NABA Draft. He led the league by scoring twice with the Bucks. He also won three MVP awards with them. In 1975, Abdul-Jabbar was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. He won three more MVP awards with them, as well as five championships.

Abdul-Jabbar played in the NBA until 1989. When he left, he had scored 38,387 points. He was also one of the ten most accurate players, and blocked the third-most shots. Abdul-Jabbar was placed in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.

Outside basketball
Abdul-Jabbar studied martial arts with Bruce Lee, and appears in the Lee movie The Game of Death. He is also in the movie Airplane!. Abdul-Jabbar has written several books. Some of them are on basketball, but he has also written a book about the Harlem Renaissance that was later made into a documentary movie.

Abdul-Jabbar has also been an assistant coach for several NBA teams and usually helped tall players play better. Abdul-Jabbar has had leukemia since 2009. He accepted Islam after the game. He became an assistant coach after he retired.

 Related pages 
 Mantis

References

 Other websites 



 Kareem's complete bio at NBA.com
 Kareem's page at the Basketball Hall of Fame 
 1967-68 Oscar Robertson Trophy  USBWA College Player of the Year 

Category:1947 births
Category:Living people
Category:Actors from Manhattan
Category:African-American basketball players
Category:African-American movie actors
Category:African-American writers
Category:American basketball players
Category:American martial artists
Category:American movie actors
Category:American Muslims
Category:American voice actors
Category:Basketball coaches
Category:Centers (basketball)
Category:Former Christians
Category:Former Roman Catholics
Category:Los Angeles Lakers players
Category:Milwaukee Bucks players
Category:Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
Category:National Basketball Association players with retired numbers
Category:Participants in American reality television series
Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Category:Sportspeople from New York City
Category:Writers from Los Angeles
Category:Writers from Manhattan