The life of the six-time MVP outside of basketball is an antidote to stereotypes about the world of sports.
That the eighties epic represents the Big Bang of the NBA as we know it today is a common opinion among fans and professionals, so much so that everything that had happened on the league’s floors in the previous four decades often overshadowed. If Bill Russell and Jerry West are idealized historical figures in black and white, distant and almost belonging to another basketball dimension, to Magic Johnson and Larry Birdthe role of founding fathers of contemporary basketball is universally recognized. Those are also the years of “Doctor J” Julius Erving and of a young Michael Jordan, who would soon have taken the NBA on his shoulders carrying it towards the twenty-first century, but they are above all the years of rivalry between Lakers and Celtics.
Polarization, even on this side of the ocean, leaves no way out: either you are with the green-and-whites of Boston or the yellow-purple of Los Angeles. The main protagonists of the rivalry are still them, Magic and Bird, Bird and Magic, but the two teams boast excellent supporting casts. The battles during the Finals offer different interpreters from time to time, players with extraordinary talent who fascinate the public, increasingly captivated by the thousand branches of a saga that almost resembles a chivalrous novel. Among these charming characters, however, there is one that seems to be out of place in that situation: he does not have the glamor of Magic or the elegance of Worthy, but not even the agonistic fury of Bird or the flexibility of McHale. That guy with the weird posture in the Lakers # 33 tank top,
Notice the unbridled cheer as he becomes the best scorer in NBA history.
In a way, Kareem Abdul Jabbar really comes from another basketball dimension. Because when the Lakers and Celtics battle for the title, he is already on the wrong side of his 30s and gives an average ten advantage to the boys he measures up to. Jabbar, perhaps, belongs to the era of Russell and West rather than the NBA that David Stern is turning into a money and success machine. It is no coincidence that after one of his last heroic performances, race-2 of the 1985 Finals, Kareem responds thus to those who had branded him as a finished player: ” It’s good to know that you’re not dead “, it’s nice to know don’t be dead.
However, the temporal separation is not sufficient to justify its extraneousness to the circumstances. It is difficult for those observing from the outside to identify with the center of the Lakers, wrapped as it is by an aura that makes it a mysterious object. That feeling of isolation from the reality that surrounds him, as if a blanket of mutual incomprehension divides him from the rest of the human race, is not new for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; indeed, it is the constant that accompanies him, and will accompany him, throughout his existence.
I am vast, I contain multitudes
From the beginning, Jabbar’s life seems like a script adapted to the need to refute stereotypes and clichés. Kareem was born with the name of Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. in April 1947 in New York. Inwood, a portion of Upper Manhattan that hosts the Dyckman Street Projects in which he takes his first steps and lives his adolescence. It is the furthest away from the stereotype of public housing that so often becomes the setting, even a little emphasized, of many stories starring African American athletes. To begin with, the neighborhood has a strong Irish majority, the crime rate is largely normal and then Inwood boasts a concentration of bookstores with few equals in the metropolis.
In those years, in the far north of Manhattan, also Jim Carroll grows up, poet and writer who will set his most famous work in Inwood, Basketball Diaries , a literary memoir with the ball at the center. And books, well before basketball, are the passion of young Lew, who reads a lot and develops a marked familiarity with solitude. Alcindor Jr. is an only child, a rather rare circumstance for the time, not only in the African American community, and socializing with classmates and neighborhood kids is no easy feat.
There are two problems: the first, of course, is represented by the color of the skin, the other is the height. Already in elementary school, the future NBA champion stands out above his peers and even struggles to find space for his legs under the school desks. Cora Lillan, the mother, works in a department store while Alcindor Sr. is part of the city law enforcement. The shifts are demanding for both of them and there is not much time to spend with the family, but Lew is not lacking in motivation. The father in particular transmits to his son the love for jazz, another passion that will never abandon him. In reality, that of Alcindor Sr. is more than a passion, because the father of the future Hall of Famer lives almost a double life: he is a policeman and at the same time a musician, clarinetist in different ensembles running around the clubs in New York.
That of not being one, of containing multitudes, as wrote Walt Whitman, a poet much loved by Jabbar himself, is another of the lessons, perhaps the most important, that young Lew will bring with him from his formative period. Of course, then there would also be basketball, a sport that Alcindor Jr begins to play almost because he is forced by an unusual height, and which will lead him to become the best scorer in the history of the NBA, but that is a story already told on numerous other occasions.
Bizarre friendships
The first step in Alcindor Jr.’s journey between adolescence and adulthood is at Power Memorial, a Catholic high school in the city, and represents a microcosm of future experiences that await him. Lew, who when he first crosses the threshold of his new school already exceeds two meters in height, dominates the court and becomes the most talked about high school in America, predestined for a successful career. However, the first experiences with writing date back to the period spent within the walls of the Power Memorial, an essay published by an independent newspaper on the Harlem Riots that in 1964 upset the black epicenter of New York, and the one with the twisted mechanisms of racial discrimination. , here materialized in the words of coach and mentor Jack Donohue.
The next step confronts Lew with the first real choice of his life. If that at the Power Memorial had been an almost natural landing, by the time of graduation Alcindor Jr has already received offers from all the best universities in the country. UCLA wins the race to take home what has been renamed “ The tower from Power” and in 1966 Alcindor flies to California. To tip the balance in favor of the University of Westwood are not so much the thousand lights of Los Angeles, the city with which Alcindor will long nourish a feeling of love / hate, as the presence of John Wooden on the Bruins bench.
Wooden at the time is already considered a guru who led the Bruins to two consecutive NCAA titles, and Lew aims to be enlightened by his basketball skills. Against all odds or imagination, a feeling of deep and authentic friendship is born and developed between the two that will last almost half a century. To separate Wooden and Alcindor there is first of all the registry office, but the theoretical gap between the two is much wider than the 37-year difference. The coach is what would be called a model example of old white and traditional America, he comes from a small town in Indiana, he is deeply religious and anchored to the values of a man who grew up between the two world wars and the Great Depression. In short, the points of contact with a young New Yorker all jazz and beat generationthey shouldn’t be many. The relationship with Wooden, beautifully told in Coach Wooden & Me , is the first clue that suggests that Lew Alcindor’s life is destined to develop through unusual and often mysterious ways.
In Los Angeles, Lew also cultivates another particular friendship, that with Wilt Chamberlain. In this case, the points of contact, at least in appearance, would be many more, and then the two have been dating since Alcindor was a promising high school student and Chamberlain played in Philadelphia but frequented the nightlife of Manhattan and its surroundings. Wilt, the original NBA party animal model in front of whose raids even Dennis Rodman comes out resized, acts as a real chaperon and introduces the shy and reserved Alcindor to the Los Angeles nightlife. The relationship between Lew and Wilt is another unlikely relationship, which however, unlike the friendship with Wooden, will not stand the test of time and the rivalry on the parquet of the league that will be the amplifier of thevery different vision of life on and off the pitch.
1968
In addition to bizarre friendships, the time spent on the UCLA campus gave Lew his first drug experiments, an almost obligatory step considering the historical and environmental context. The charm of the high, however, does not breach the young Alcindor, who instead increases and radicalizes his interest in the protest movement for civil rights and in particular towards the figure of Malcolm X.
The increasingly active participation in discussion and demonstrations in support of the movement reaches its peak in 1968. The call to number one of the NBA Draft is still a year away, but Alcindor already enjoys enormous popularity, which transcends the boundaries of basketball in all the United States, and which it uses to send a clear, unambiguous message. Following in the footsteps of his idol Muhammad Ali, Lew decides not to participate in the Olympics in Mexico City, which will become famous for the protests on the podium of Tommy Smith and John Carlos. The choice draws furious criticism, but surprises only those who have followed his previous moves with distraction. A year earlier, in fact, Alcindor had been among the few admitted to what would go down in history as the Cleveland Summit, milestone in the awareness by African American athletes of their political and social role. Alcindor’s activism, especially after retiring from basketball, would have been characterized by a more cerebral, almost academic approach compared to that of his fellow travelers, a factor that over time would have made him one of the most authoritative and listened voices on the subject of social conflicts and racial discrimination.
But 1968 is a pivotal year in Alcindor’s life also because it marks his conversion to Islam and the adoption of a new name, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, which will only be used publicly three years later. Even the relationship with religion will not be monotonous at all and will pass from the rejection of the orthodoxy preached by the Nation Of Islam and through tragic events such as that of January 1973. The following summer Jabbar will spend a long period in Saudi Arabia to study Arabic and to deepen the understanding of the holy scriptures, in an attempt to elaborate a personal and once again out of the box approach to the Muslim faith.
Historical passion
While writing the history of basketball, both college and NBA, Kareem studies and falls in love with the one with a capital S, History. The degree obtained at UCLA is only the beginning of an interest that includes historical research and more generally non-fiction. During his twenty-year career among professionals, however, the time to devote to intellectual curiosity is scarce and the only text signed by Jabbar is the 1983 Giant Steps autobiography . abounds.
Kareem struggles a lot to find his place in the world of basketball, partly due to character limits and partly due to the prejudices that precede him. The most intense satisfactions then come from the publishing activity: from the mid-nineties onwards Jabbar becomes a prolific author, writes editorials for TIME , Esquire , Guardian and other high-profile newspapers, receiving important prizes and awards, but above all publishes a series of books focusing on the history of the African American community, from the Second World War through the usual obsessions, jazz and basketball .
These are books written together, with the collaboration of professionals in the sector, but in which Jabbar overturns the role that usually belongs to the celebrity on duty: it is he who takes on the most tiring part, that of research, reading and analysis of the materials and documents. Commercial success is more than decent, and Jabbar earns credibility as a columnist that earned him numerous television appearances and invitations to conferences around the world. Even during the recent riots following George Floyd’s murder, the former Laker did not shy away from many requests for interviews and contributions.
A recent speech by Jabbar on the Tonight Show.
Jabbar’s point of view is always significant and precious because it is the result of a long process of study and deepening, certainly the furthest from positions of convenience, and is expressed through an astounding property of language for a man who for a good part of his his life has played in a completely different field. The depth and accuracy of Jabbar’s opinions set very high quality standards for anyone, perhaps even unattainable for other athletes who aspired to follow his trail. Today, when Kareem speaks or writes, the world listens and reads, as it does with those who, rightly or wrongly, are called opinion leaders .
Pop icon
The one painted so far is the portrait of an athlete who has also decided to be a social and political activist, investigating the issues that were most important to him with uncommon stubbornness and dedication. It is a true portrait, but not sufficient to convey the idea of the multitudes contained by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. We have already mentioned it before: if there are two things that Jabbar has always kept away from, in a stubborn and at the same time spontaneous way, they are conformity and banality.
Alongside historical studies and insights into current affairs, the six-time MVP has never made any secret of cultivating attractions attributable to pop culture. Speaking of his love for music and jazz in particular, a devotion underlined by his many friendships with myths like Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock and ravaged by the fire that destroyed his vinyl collection in 1983, Jabbar has been an avid collector of stamps, sports memorabilia, in particular relating to baseball, and comic books. Not only that: another great passion of the five-time NBA champion is investigative literature in noir hues, resulting in a series of novels inspired by the figure of Mycroft Holmes, older brother of the more famous Sherlock. Or, more recently,striking analogies between racism and dust in a room (“It seems invisible – even when it’s choking you – until you let the sun in: it’s only then that you realize it’s everywhere”) and fierce accusations against recent cases of anti-Semitism by prominent African American celebrities.
The fame gained on the NBA fields and the contiguity to Hollywood experienced during the long adventure at the Lakers then opened the doors to the world of entertainment in Jabbar, another environment to which apparently he should have been completely foreign. Movie cameos and television appearances are numerous, but the truly unforgettable moments, those that have transformed Kareem into a full-fledged pop icon, are two.
The first is the result of the bond with Bruce Lee, another completely unpredictable friendship, with whom Jabbar trained for a long time, perfecting his martial arts skills. If the friendship with Lee, seen from the outside, appears at least curious, the practice of Jeet Kun Do, a complex mix of various oriental disciplines created by Lee himself, is the furthest from being the ideal pastime for a man of 2 meters and 18 centimeters who by profession practice another sport, however quite different in approach and physical requirements. In any case, Kareem ends up playing the part of Hakim, Bruce Lee’s antagonist, in Game Of Death (translated in Italy with Chen’s Last Fight ), a posthumous work that will be released after the protagonist’s death.
Kareem’s acting performance not exactly flawless, but still gone down in history.
A few years later, Jabbar returned to the screens playing himself in The Craziest Airplane in the World , a demented film that quickly became a cult title of 1980s cinema. The few minutes alongside Peter Graves reveal his ironic, indeed self-ironic side, hitherto unknown and above all they give Kareem a stage that would have made him a familiar face even to an audience that totally ignores basketball and the NBA.
The funniest aspect of the scene is perhaps the Italian rendering of the dialogue between Kareem and little Joy which translates, among other things, “tell your old man to drag Walton up and down the court for 48 minutes” with “dì a your father to try to mark big and big christons for 48 minutes ”.
Completely negligible television appearances will follow, such as the one at the American edition of Dancing with the Stars , dictated by the need to balance a difficult financial situation rather than the desire to prove oneself or, more simply, to show off.
Unwelcome person
It’s not that Jabbar didn’t always want to be a basketball player: his love for the game has always been genuine and indisputable, you can’t resist those levels in the NBA for 20 years without devotion to the wedge ball. It’s just that that kid who grew up in Inwood, Manhattan wanted to be so much more too. It is difficult to feel empathy for those who, like him, have been endowed by mother nature with a unique talent that has made him a star of world sport, guaranteeing him fame, success and wealth, and who nevertheless ended up living almost as if that gift were, if not a curse, at least an obstacle to his full personal fulfillment.
Certainly the attitude towards the outside world maintained over the decades has not benefited the cause, making it the personification of the worst nightmare of journalists and press officers. The introverted character has fueled the fortification of a barrier between Kareem and the rest of humanity, a wall made of mutual misunderstandings and mutual distrust, coldness and mute scenes. First as a player and then in the new role of columnist and writer, there are countless episodes in which Jabbar has been careful not to respect the basic rules of behavior for a public figure, often ending up hurting the feelings of others.
The decalogue drawn up for those who find themselves in the uncomfortable position of interlocutor provides, among other precautionary measures, the prohibition of shaking his hand or even simply touching him. His obvious grumpiness has become a peculiar feature, even inspiring songs that tell of how he, the undisputed idol of entire generations of basketball lovers, has made meeting the legend in flesh and blood a traumatic experience .
Very often, almost always to tell the truth, the neighbor is an “unwelcome person” to Kareem: his uniqueness also lies in the lack of propensity to be understood or to satisfy the expectations of others, a characteristic that makes him even more revolutionary, certainly years away light compared to many other athletes trained to please.
The love life, between tormented couple relationships and an equally tiring relationship with his five children, has led him to live for several years now in complete solitude in his home in Los Angeles. Jealous guardian of the sphere of personal affections, Kareem has also had to face complex economic issues that have aggravated his post-career competitive choices. Jabbar’s indifference to many material aspects of existence did not contribute to his financial situation, like having been a star in the NBA before the boom of the 1990s, a league where the earnings were good but not even remotely comparable to the current ones. Recent attempts to launch into entrepreneurial activitiesFurthermore, they have not yet met the hoped-for success.
Finally, health problems made him even more shy and reluctant to contact others. Having beaten leukemia between 2008 and 2009 and having overcome a delicate operation with which in 2015 he was implanted with a quadruple bypass , Kareem still suffers from heavy daily migraines that he cures with isolation, silence, darkness and recourse. to the soothing properties of cannabis.
More than an Athlete
Having exceeded the threshold of 70 years well, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar today seems to want to validate the prophecy launched by his old friend John Wooden at the time of UCLA: «T emo that will never find peace» . In fact, in spite of extraordinary personal achievements in old age including the Presidential Medal of Freedomplaced around his neck by Barack Obama, Kareem appears anything but a man at peace with himself. The continuous, irrepressible desire to know has not healed the contradictions of a multifaceted personality, instead fueling the tendency to question everything and everyone, regardless of concepts such as balance, popularity or, even worse, convenience. The only fixed point identified by Jabbar in the course of his now long existence lies in the submission to knowledge as the only way of progress and emancipation, personal and not only, well summarized in the motto ” knowledge is power “.
Analyzed, observed, sometimes even psychoanalysed, loved and hated in equal measure, Jabbar remains unique and elusive, almost like his sky hook, a shot that made him famous and that no one has ever been able to replicate. Ask a hundred different people “Who is Kareem Abdul Jabbar?” and you’ll have a hundred different answers, because it’s nearly impossible to put together six NBA titles and Bruce Lee, Malcolm X and The Craziest Airplane in the World , 1930s New York jazz and Sherlock Holmes’ brother.
Yet, with his parable, Jabbar demolished the idea that a person is meant to be only one thing in life; sports star or intellectual, man of action or culture. After having climbed the mountain of the NBA, becoming perhaps the best player ever, it was very difficult to reinvent himself elsewhere and establish himself, even there, at the highest levels. And it was impossible to succeed while remaining exceptional in the deepest sense of the term: exception to the rule.
The gift that Jabbar’s life and works give us consists of a formidable tool against stereotypes and preconceptions, that is the platform on which, among other things, the phenomenon of racial discrimination is based more than ever today. Not only that: Kareem’s example also pushes us to appreciate and love those who make us uncomfortable, stimulating us to get out of our comfort zone and raise the bar in whatever we do – and it matters relatively whether it is basketball, creative writing. or political activism. These are all distinctive elements that we would not normally associate with a sports star, but the norm is a completely useless yardstick when it comes to the subject in question.
Even if someone else has registered the trademark, in an imaginary encyclopedia illustrated under the heading More than an Athlete we should find the effigy of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
