Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

One of the “50 Greatest Players” in NBA History (1996), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, is a former American professional basketball player, actor, basketball coach and author. Starting out on the court, he played center for UCLA from 1965 to 1969, during which time he made a name for himself for being a three-time First Team All-American, three-time NCAA champion, a Naismith College Player of the Year, and Most Outstanding Player in NCAA Tournament, before playing professionally for the Milwaukee Bucks from 1969 to 1975 and the Los Angeles Lakers from 1975 to his retirement in 1989. During his twenty seasons in the NBA, he won a NBA Rookie of the Year in 1970, a record six Most Valuable Player Awards and a two-time Finals MVP, as well as played on six championship teams. Well-known for his “Skyhook” shot and his height, Abdul-Jabbar was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on May 15, 1995. His glorious career in basketball led the now retired sportsman to pursue a career as a coach. He has worked as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers and the Seattle SuperSonics and was the head coach of the Oklahoma Storm United States Basketball League in 2002. As of 2005, he has served as a special assistant for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Outside basketball, Abdul-Jabbar has been recognized as a part-time actor and author. Among his remarkable roles are Bruce Lee's enemy in “Game of Death” (1978) and the co-pilot Roger Murdock on “Airplane!” (1980). He also guest starred in numerous television series, including “Diff'rent Strokes,” “Scrubs” and “21 Jump Street,” and appeared in the miniseries version of Stephen King's “The Stand.” Abdul-Jabbar is popular among book fans for “On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance,” “Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement,” “A Season on the Reservation: My Sojourn with the White Mountain Apaches” and others.

As for his personal life, Abdul-Jabbar has been divorced from Janice 'Habiba' Brown since 1978, with whom he has three children, Habiba, Sultana and Kareem Jr. With companion Cheryl Piston, he has a son named Amir. His youngest child is Adam. Abdul-Jabbar was once also romantically linked to actress Pam Grier (born May 26, 1949). He suffers from migraines and uses cannabis to reduce the symptoms, which has caused legal ramifications. Abdul-Jabbar converted to Islam during his college years.

Previously known as Lew Alcindor, the Roman Catholic-raised star changed his name in 1971, several years after converting to Islam. Addressing his thoughts behind his name change, Kareem stated to Playboy magazine, “I was 'latching' on to something that was part of my heritage because many of the slaves who were brought here were Muslims. My family was brought to America by a French planter named Alcindor who came here from Trinidad in the 18th Century. My people were Yoruba and their culture survived slavery. My father found out about that when I was a kid and it gave me all I needed to know that, hey, I was somebody, even if nobody else knew about it. When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people and that's a terrible burden on black people because they don't have an accurate idea of their history, which has been either suppressed or distorted.”