American basketball player
More than a decade after his retirement, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at 7-feet-2-inches tall remains one of the tallest men ever to play professional basketball. Despite his 267-pound frame, he was never awkward and was known in fact for his grace and flexibility—a rare talent among very large men. Powerful yet smooth in his playing style, he left his mark on the game with his signature shot, the skyhook. Goggle-eyed, but never gawky, he led two teams—the Bucks and later the Lakers—to a total of six championship titles, taking six most valuable player (MVP) awards in the process. With 38,387 career points, Jabbar retired as the all-time leading scorer in the history of professional basketball. Highly religious and introspective, he is remembered not only for his outstanding performance as a player but also for his politically aware persona. While many professional athletes go to great lengths to maintain their personal privacy, few have created an aura of inner depth as has been achieved by Jabbar.
Address: c/o Amsel Eisenstadt & Frazier, 5757 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 510, Los Angeles, CA 90046. Phone: (323) 939-1188.
SELECTED WRITINGS BY ABDUL-JABBAR:
(With Peter Knobler) Giant Steps, New York: Bantam Books, 1983.
(With Mignon McCarthy) Kareem, New York: Random House, 1990.
(With Alan Steinberg) Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African American Achievement, New York: William Morrow and Co., 1996.
(With Stephen Singular) Season on the Reservation: My Sojourn with the White Mountain Apache, New York: W. Morrow and Co., 2000.
Sketch by G. Cooksey
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