Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a former NBA (National Basketball Association) player of legendary status. At 7 feet 2 inches tall, Kareem dominated the NBA for 20 years. Kareem was voted the National Basketball Association’s Most Valuable Player six different times, as well as being on the NBA All-Star team in 19 of his 20 seasons. Being named one of the fifty greatest players in NBA history, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 1995.

Kareem was born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. in Harlem, New York, in 1947. Born a big 12-pound, 11-ounce baby, Ferdinand began to master the game of basketball at a young age. In high school, he led his team at Power Memorial Academy to a 96-6 overall record with a 71-game winning streak and three straight New York City Catholic championships. After high school, he decided to attend UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), where he played college basketball from 1966 to 1969. During his college campaign, Ferdinand helped lead UCLA to 88 wins and 2 losses with three championships. . In addition to the team’s fantastic accomplishments, Ferdinand was named Player of the Year twice, named a First Team All-American three times, and was Naismith College’s first Player of the Year. The trademark glasses he wears were the result of a scratch on his left cornea that occurred while he was playing basketball in college. Ferdinand Alcindor also converted to Islam during college, but his name change did not occur until 1971.

After college, Kareem was drafted in the 1969 NBA Draft as the first overall pick by the Milwaukee Bucks after turning down $1 million to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. Abdul-Jabbar, second in scoring and third in rebounding during his first year in the NBA, easily earned Rookie of the Year honors. In his second season with the Milwaukee Bucks, he earned his first scoring title, his first MVP award, and his first Finals MVP award, as well as winning his first NBA championship. Over the next five years he continued to be a dominant force with the Bucks with multiple scoring titles and winning MVP honors twice before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. In his first five years with the Lakers he won three other Most Valuable Player Awards. Before Kareem’s retirement from basketball in 1989, he won five more championships with the Lakers under Pat Riley.

Apart from being a basketball superstar, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has appeared in a couple of movies as an actor and has made guest appearances on a few TV shows. His first film appearances were in “Airplane!” and “Fletch.” Kareem has since been named to the NBA Hall of Fame and in 2005 he became an assistant to Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson. Kareem is currently helping develop young players on the Lakers. Every Laker player surely hears the words of wisdom from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar because he is one of the five greatest players in the history of the National Basketball Association.