Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbaris an American retired professional basketball player who played 20 seasons in the National Basketball Associationfor the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers. During his career as a center, Abdul-Jabbar was a record six-time NBA Most Valuable Player, a record 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA selection, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. A member of six NBA championship teams as a player and two as an assistant coach, Abdul-Jabbar twice was voted NBA Finals MVP. In 1996,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth16 April 1947
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
Good thoughts are no better than good dreams, unless they are executed.
When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. That's a terrible burden.
When I was 17, I worked in a mentoring program in Harlem designed to improve the community. That's when I first gained an appreciation of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when African-Americans rose to prominence in American culture. For the first time, they were taken seriously as artists, musicians, writers, athletes, and as political thinkers.
There are a lot of authors in the world, so it's difficult to find a unique niche to present your take on things. That is always a challenge for any author.
The type of leukemia that I am dealing with is treatable. So if I do what my doctors tell me to do - get my blood checked regularly, take my meds and consult with my doctor and follow any additional instructions he might make - I will be able to maintain my good health and live my life with a minimum of disruptions to my lifestyle.
The '80s made up for all the abuse I took during the '70s. I outlived all my critics. By the time I retired, everybody saw me as a venerable institution. Things do change.
I'm still my parent's child, I'm still me, but I made a choice. I evolved into Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I think it has to do with evolution.
I'm not going to disappear.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that the 761st was Patton's best tank unit and nobody knew about it.
My mother had to send me to the movies with my birth certificate, so that I wouldn't have to pay the extra fifty cents that the adults had to pay.
My choosing Islam was not a political statement; it was a spiritual statement.
I got all A's and was hated for it; I spoke correctly and was called a punk.
Cancer is a scary thing and you have to deal with it seriously.
I want people to understand that I intend to continue living and doing all the things that I love to do up until the end. And the end is by no means rushing up on me.