50 Fun Facts About Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Under what name did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar play high school and college basketball?

He was born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. in New York City in 1947.

What was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's trademark shot?

He could shoot it from up to 16 feet and was stronger with his right hand than his left.

How many NBA Most Valuable Player awards did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar win, a record?

The first came with Milwaukee in 1971 and the last in his first season of the Showtime era in 1979-80.

Which franchise drafted Kareem Abdul-Jabbar first overall in 1969?

The one-season-old team had won a coin toss with Phoenix for the pick.

For how many seasons did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar play in the NBA?

He retired in 1989 at age 42 as the league's career leader in points, games and minutes.

In the 1980 comedy Airplane!, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played a co-pilot with what name?

A boy visiting the cockpit insists he is really the basketball star, and the character eventually snaps.

How many consecutive wins did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Power Memorial high school team run up?

Under coach Jack Donohue the team went 79-2 overall with a run of New York City Catholic titles.

How many consecutive NCAA national championships did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar win at UCLA?

Freshmen were ineligible for varsity, so his 21-0 first-year team never counted toward a title.

What did college basketball ban after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's sophomore season, in a rule named for him?

The so-called Alcindor Rule only pushed him to perfect his hook shot instead.

Which Baseball Hall of Famer and UCLA alumnus wrote urging teenage Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend UCLA?

Assistant coach Jerry Norman did the actual recruiting.

Which Houston forward scored 39 as UCLA's 47-game streak ended in the 1968 'Game of the Century'?

Kareem, playing with a scratched cornea, was held to 15 points; UCLA won the NCAA rematch 101-69.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's first public UCLA game in 1965 was the inaugural game at which arena?

His freshman team beat the defending national champion varsity, prompting UPI to call the varsity the second-best team on campus.

Which international event did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar boycott in 1968?

He decided not to try out for the U.S. team at all.

How much did the Globetrotters offer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to sign with them out of college?

He declined and went first overall in both the NBA and ABA drafts.

Which ABA team also chose Kareem Abdul-Jabbar first overall in 1969?

He turned them down too, saying he would not degrade the league representatives by playing them off against each other.

How did Milwaukee win the right to draft Kareem Abdul-Jabbar first?

Milwaukee had gone 27-55 the year before and jumped to 56-26 in his rookie season.

Which All-Star guard did Milwaukee acquire before the 1970-71 season, helping Kareem win his first title?

That season Kareem also won his first scoring title, his first MVP and the Finals MVP.

To which branch of Islam did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar convert from Catholicism in the summer of 1968?

He was named by Hamaas Abdul Khaalis of the Hanafi Movement, though the two later parted ways.

What is the rough translation of the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?

He asked publicly to be called by it at a State Department press conference on June 3, 1971.

In what year was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar traded from Milwaukee to the Lakers?

Sportscaster Marv Albert had reported his trade request that March; he preferred the Knicks.

Which of these players went to Milwaukee in the trade that sent Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Los Angeles?

The package was Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Dave Meyers, Junior Bridgeman and cash, with Walt Wesley joining Kareem in LA.

How many times was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar selected as an NBA All-Star?

The only year he missed in 20 seasons was 1978; the record stood until 2024.

Against which team did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar break Wilt Chamberlain's scoring record in April 1984?

He scored the record basket on a skyhook over 7-foot-4 shot-blocker Mark Eaton.

How many career regular-season points did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar finish with?

He also retired holding the records for games, minutes, field goals made and blocked shots.

Who broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career scoring record on February 7, 2023?

He did it as a Laker, in Los Angeles, with Kareem in the building.

Why did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar start wearing his trademark goggles in 1974?

He resumed wearing them for good in 1980 after Rudy Tomjanovich accidentally caught his right eye.

Which player did the Lakers pick first overall in 1979, launching the Showtime era alongside Kareem?

Kareem won his sixth and final MVP in that rookie's first season.

Kareem sprained his ankle in Game 5 of the 1980 Finals yet returned to finish with how many points?

He missed the clinching Game 6, in which a rookie guard jumped centre and won Finals MVP.

Which 76ers centre outrebounded Kareem 72-30 in the 1983 Finals sweep and took Finals MVP?

He grabbed 27 offensive rebounds, nearly matching Kareem's total of 30.

How old was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when he became the oldest Finals MVP ever in 1985?

He had been outplayed by Robert Parish in the Game 1 blowout, then took over the series.

How was Boston's 148-114 win over the Lakers in Game 1 of the 1985 Finals nicknamed?

Kareem sat in the front row at the next film session and took all of Pat Riley's criticism.

Kareem trained in Jeet Kune Do under which martial artist, and appeared in his film Game of Death?

He credited that discipline, plus yoga, with keeping him nearly injury-free for 20 seasons.

Kareem's 1983 autobiography Giant Steps takes its title from an album by which jazz musician?

His father was a transit police officer and jazz musician, and Kareem once owned about 3,000 jazz LPs.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 2015 fiction debut was a mystery built around which Conan Doyle character?

Two sequels followed, including The Empty Birdcage in 2019.

In 2009 Kareem announced he was being treated for what illness?

He later became a spokesman for Novartis, maker of his medication Gleevec.

Which president awarded Kareem Abdul-Jabbar the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016?

Obama also named him to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition in his final days in office.

Which Secretary of State named Kareem a U.S. global cultural ambassador in 2012?

One of his first trips in the role was to Brazil to promote education for local youths.

Kareem coached which minor-league team to the United States Basketball League title in 2002?

He still failed to land the head coaching job at Columbia University the following year.

In 1998 Kareem volunteered as a high school coach with which Arizona community?

He wrote about the season at Alchesay High School in A Season on the Reservation.

How tall was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar listed during his NBA career?

He was a slender giant at 240-250 pounds, bulking to about 270 only in 1986.

In which New York City neighbourhood was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar born?

He moved at age 3 to the Dyckman Street projects in Inwood, Upper Manhattan.

Kareem's 2020 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Narrator was for which documentary?

He was the subject rather than narrator of Minority of One, an HBO film from 2015.

Which 2013 ABC reality show saw Kareem Abdul-Jabbar compete as a celebrity diver?

He was 66 at the time and the tallest man ever to attempt the platform on television.

Which sitcom used Kareem's height as a visual gag opposite child star Gary Coleman?

He also turned up in Scrubs, New Girl, Everybody Loves Raymond and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Kareem chose jersey number 33 in tribute to a fullback for which NFL team?

Mel Triplett was his favourite player; he wore 33 from Power Memorial through UCLA and the NBA.

How many points did Kareem score in his 1966 varsity debut for UCLA, still an NCAA debut record?

Sports Illustrated dubbed him 'The New Superstar'; he went on to score 61 later that season.

Kareem broke his right hand two minutes into the 1977-78 season punching which Milwaukee rookie?

He was retaliating for an elbow to the stomach; Benson needed two stitches and got a black eye.

In 1985-86 Kareem broke the NBA record for seasons played, previously how many?

Dolph Schayes, John Havlicek, Paul Silas and Elvin Hayes had shared the old mark; he went on to play 20.

Which illness weakened Kareem for a month after training camp in 1983, when he was 36?

He had just signed a two-year, $3 million deal with none of the money deferred.

In 1971 Kareem toured which continent for three weeks with Oscar Robertson on a State Department trip?

At a State Department press conference on June 3 that year he asked to be known by his Muslim name from then on.