NBA legend Kareem
Former NBA great to speak at Rollins
Abdul-Jabbar, now a social activist, speaks at Rollins College Wednesday night.
In the two off-days that followed Game 1 of the 1985 NBA Finals, Kareem AbdulJabbar — a Goliath in every way — was getting crushed.
The opener, a 148-114 victory for the Boston Celtics against Abdul-Jabbar’s Los Angeles Lakers, came to be known as the Memorial Day Massacre. To the media opining on that blowout, AbdulJabbar’s career was as good as buried.
They shoveled words on it like dirt, prematurely as it turned out.
After Abdul-Jabbar’s 30-point, 17-rebound performance in Game 2, the narrative shifted.
“One of them asked him what he attributed his performance to tonight, and he said, ‘Contrary to popular opinion, the demise of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was highly exaggerated,’’’ said Pat Riley, the Lakers’ coach at the time and now president of the Miami Heat. “Then he went on to win the MVP Award in that series.’’
Abdul-Jabbar played four more seasons after that series, which the Lakers won in six games, and finished as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer after a 20-year career. Since launching his last sky hook nearly three decades ago, Abdul-Jabbar — slow-footed as a player — has become a driving force in society.
He is set to speak at Rollins College’s Warden Arena at 7:30 Wednesday night. Tickets begin at $15 and are available at winterparkinstitute.org or 407-646-2145.
“He has been an eloquent spokesperson for just making the claim that AfricanAmericans have not merely been great athletes, but they’ve contributed to America in so many ways — from the Harlem Renaissance to culture, Louis Armstrong, to serving in the military,’’ said Dr. Joan Davison, a professor of political science at Rollins. “He doesn’t necessarily want to be pigeonholed as only an athlete.’’
In a sense, the 7-foot-2 Abdul-Jabbar never retired. He just stopped playing basketball.
His social activism is wellknown. A normally reserved figure, Abdul-Jabbar is not shy about speaking out on political, racial and religious issues and other touchy subjects, such as players protesting during the national anthem at NFL games and the shooting two weeks ago of an unarmed black man in Sacramento, Calif.
Dr. Richard Lapchick, director of UCF’s DeVos Sport Business Management program, has known Abdul-Jabbar since they were teenagers.
Lapchick recalled how Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, boycotted the U.S. Olympic basketball team tryouts in 1968 to protest racial unrest and the International Olympic Committee president at the time. One year earlier, he attended a summit of black athletes in Cleveland and supported Muhammad Ali’s refusal to be drafted into the U.S. Army for religious reasons.
“Kareem has always been an introvert of sorts,’’ Lapchick said. “A lot of athletes care about those socialjustice issues but haven’t talked about them because they haven’t gotten the platform.
“He’s always been willing to sacrifice personally for the greater good.’’ It hasn’t been easy. Abdul-Jabbar, seen as standoffish at times during his NBA career, has experienced the hurt of racism and Islamophobia. His home burned down in 1983, costing Abdul-Jabbar a myriad valuable possessions — including reportedly a collection of 3,000 jazz albums. He has confronted leukemia and cardiovascular disease.
Orlando Magic executive Pat Williams once introduced Abdul-Jabbar before a talk he gave in Tampa. Afterward, Williams complimented him.
“I noticed that he had tears running down his cheeks, just the whole emotion from the speech,’’ Williams said. “There’s a very sensitive side to the man. He’s been quite reluctant to reveal much of himself to the public, but there’s a lot inside that guy.’’
Beyond the spoken word, Abdul-Jabbar is a noted guest columnist and a best-selling author.
And on social media, Abdul-Jabbar has attracted a much wider audience than any that surrounded a basketball court to watch him play. He has nearly 2.2 million followers on Twitter and almost a million on Facebook.
“He’s the most intelligent and articulate athlete that I’ve met, and I’ve been able to meet quite a few,’’ Lapchick said.
As Abdul-Jabbar’s 71st birthday approaches on April 16, no one is writing about his demise anymore.
“I’m happy for him right now that he’s found a voice, and that voice is being amplified in a positive way to a lot of Americans,’’ Riley said.