Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: What We Talk About When We Talk About “Greatness”
Imagine your career consisted of 6 NBA Championships, 6 MVP Awards, 19 All-Star Selections, 3 College Championships, scoring the 2nd most points ever in the game of basketball and that still not being the most impressive thing about you.
This was the fate of NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar since before he even went by that name. Those who were lucky enough to watch the 7’2 center play live are quick to mention his offensive tenacity, the poetic grace of his movements, his signature goggles, or his Finals MVP at 38 years old. Then of course there’s “The Skyhook” which may as well be named after him. However, a couple of years ago the NBA decided to name something else after him instead.
In 2021 the NBA announced the creation of the “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award” to honor Abdul-Jabbar’s lifetime of activism before, during, and after his time in the sport. Although he played at an elite level his entire career, his work as an activist remained a constant theme during his time in the league, and long after his jersey was retired. At 76 years old, Kareem has continued combating social injustice in all its forms through his writing and thought-provoking interviews.
In an effort to discuss the merits of “Greatness,” it’s easy to become lost in the jungle of statistics. Sports are admired for their objectivity. Those who are disciplined and talented enough to rise to the pinnacle of their sport are given the colossal task of wearing the ambitions of entire cities along with their jerseys in their climb to the top. The rare few who can avoid all the pitfalls surrounding that kind of cosmic success along the way are rarely able to sustain it long enough to enjoy the view of the summit. Time and time again we see greatness diminished under the weight of its own expectations.
The implosion of greatness has become so commonplace that we almost expect it to happen, and are surprised when it doesn’t. What makes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s brand of greatness so extraordinary is that despite being one of the best players to ever pick up the pumpkin, his achievements off the court as a social justice leader, prolific writer, and independent thinker threaten to eclipse his accomplishments on the hardwood.
Pre-NBA Years:
Kareem’s desire to be an activist and writer did not appear out of thin air. The fate of his life as a basketball player and social activist was intertwined from the beginning. As a black teenager during the 1960s in NYC, the color of his skin defined his journey. Despite leading his High School basketball team to 3 National Championships and helping earn the team the reputation of “the High School Team of The Century” the relationship with his head coach, Jack Donohue, soured when he called him the N-Word.
In 1964, Kareem also contributed as a writer for a local youth newspaper focused on promoting political activism among young folks in the area. That year the Harlem Riots broke out after James Powell, a 15-year-old black teenager was shot and killed by a police officer for throwing garbage at a house of a woman who hosed him and his friends while calling them racial slurs. This event enraged him and served as a catalytic foundation for his goals and stated purpose as an activist.
He would later explain that he saw his success on the court and his views as an activist as symbiotic. The impact of his game informed his confidence to express his political convictions. And his game spoke for itself. The force he was in college was equal to his success in the NBA. At UCLA he shattered records, got the slam dunk banned from the rules because of his dominance, and broke the hearts of anyone else competing for a title after he led them to a 3rd consecutive championship. Whilst he was an still active student, Kareem was considered a no-brainer when it came to selecting the Olympic basketball team to compete in Mexico that year. Kareem, however, decided to boycott the event instead.
The year prior he was invited to the Cleveland Summit and met with a number of influential African-American athletes. Legends like Bill Russell, John Wooten, and Muhammed Ali had convened to discuss their support of Ali’s refusal to fight in Vietnam. The summer before had seen two race riots in Detroit and Newark, and Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated that April. The decision to join the team would betray his instincts as an activist. Black Athletes in the 20th century were paraded around by America as symbols of supremacy and democracy only to come home and be treated like pariahs. Muhammed Ali himself — then Cassius Clay — had been refused service at a diner in Louisville whilst he was wearing two Olympic golds around his neck. How could he generate the enthusiasm to represent a country whose FBI secretly targeted black leaders? How could he justify bringing honor to a country that was fighting tooth and nail to deny him his rights?
Another reason KAJ decided to sit out is that he was enraged at the Olympic Committee president’s, Avery Brundage, decision to bench Jewish runners during the Olympics in Berlin to satisfy the wishes of Hitler.
In his book, “Coach Wooden and Me,” he writes:
America was angry at me for not showing gratitude to the country that had given me so many opportunities. I was grateful, but I also thought it disingenuous to show appreciation unless all people had the same opportunities. Just because I had made it to a lifeboat didn’t mean I could forget those who hadn’t. Or not try to keep the next ship from sinking. I tried to make the point that true patriotism is about acknowledging problems and, rather than running away from them, joining together to fix them.
The decision for the star college athlete to not participate in the Olympics caused national outrage. In the aftermath, he received insults, criticism, and death threats that served as a prelude to the intensity of the spotlight that would shine on him once he entered the NBA.
NBA Years:
These are the stories fans of the sport are all familiar with. After being picked first overall in the 1969 draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, Kareem went on to win Rookie of the Year. The next year he led the Bucks to their first championship. After that, he continued onwards to cement the legacy of the Showtime Lakers with 5 championship rings and a little bit of Magic.
Kareem was a certified phenomenon from before the day he joined the NBA. His image adorned the cover of Wheaties boxes and coveted basketball cards across the US. Although he was living his life on a very public stage, Kareem was notably introverted and preferred to spend his time reading, writing, and learning instead of engaging in many of the traditional perks associated with being a star athlete. During his time as a player, Kareem devoted what free time he had to social justice. He spoke out against Vietnam, embraced his new-found Muslim identity, championed Civil Rights causes, served as a mentor to many youth programs, and dedicated his finances to empowering learning and educational opportunities for underprivileged communities.
And all the while he was averaging a 24.6 PPG for his career…
If you’re interested in taking a deep dive into the enormity of KAJ’s career then an article simply won’t suffice. For the uninitiated, when talking heads on sports broadcasts and frat boys with backward hats debate who the greatest basketball players of all time are, there isn’t a single credible ranking that would leave Kareem out of the top 3. Any list with his name absent would be about as reliable as the job resume of George Santos.
Legacy:
For Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, much of his fate was dictated by his level of play on the court. Like the Egyptians of northern Africa, his retirement from the league left the world with several artifacts to remember his legacy by. A bronze statue of Kareem welcomes fans into a Los Angeles Arena, in which his retired jersey hangs from the rafters, next to the 5 championship banners he helped win. In the years that followed his retirement in 1989, it would have been easy to rest on his laurels and enjoy the millions of dollars available to him in his checking account. Instead, he doubled down on his efforts as a leader and activist. Only this time his instrument was his pen instead of his body.
The same fire that had sparked during the Harlem Riots of his youth was now informed by the wisdom of his own experience. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would go on to write 17 books covering a wide range of (mostly) African-American-focused topics. His articles, whether published in Time Magazine or his own personal Substack, have established him as an influential cultural critic working to dismantle racism, discuss hypocrisy in politics, and challenge us to ask important questions about the intricacies of American culture. In 2016, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
Today athletes can enjoy the freedom to express themselves that Kareem didn’t have. Athletes already fight an uphill battle when they aspire to be considered anything more than a “dumb jocks.” Given the breadth of racial segregation in the US during the 20th century, many black athletes had to fight for the right to even be able to “Shut-Up and Dribble” with their white teammates.
Progress is measured by the cumulative efforts of those who first carried the torch. Before the Milwaukee Bucks declined to play in the 2020 NBA in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake, there was Bill Russell in the 1950s being refused a bed in the same hotel as his white teammates. Before NASCAR banned Confederate Flags at their events over a hundred years too late, Jackie Robinson was breaking the color barrier in the MLB, or Muhammad Ali was being stripped of his title for refusing to fight in Vietnam. Before Colin Kaepernick dared to take a knee during the National Anthem in 2016, Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood atop a podium during the 1968 Olympics, barefoot and with one gloved hand raised in protest of African-Americans in the US. And it was these precise acts of bravery that ignited the spirit of a young Lew Alcindor who was the youngest activist invited to the Cleveland Summit where he came into direct contact with Ali and Russell.
Throughout his career, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar encountered many tests to his resolve. His commitment to his principles led him to make unpopular decisions with real consequences. Whether it was refusing to play in the Olympics, converting to Islam and changing his name in the 70s, or his lifetime of work combating all forms of discrimination he continued down the path despite the guarantee of intense opposition.
“The lesson never changes, so why is it so hard for some people to learn? No one is free until everyone is free. As Martin Luther King Jr. explained: ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.’ So, let’s act like it. If we’re going to be outraged by injustice, let’s be outraged by injustice against anyone.” — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Yes, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of the most talented basketball players ever. Yet his own greatness is not predicated by his achievements on the court but rather by the bridges he helped build off of it. When we examine the legacy of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, perhaps the significance of his greatness is in the way he challenges us to question what it means to be “Great.” Records are impressive, but fragile and vulnerable to the winds of change.
The legacy of greatness that Kareem continues to build on is far more tangible and important than anything related to statistics. It’s one founded on humanitarian principles echoed in the halls of schools and creeds of this nation, but never quite fulfilled. It’s the pursuit of happiness, the self-evident truth that all men are created equal. It’s liberty and justice for all. Kareem Abdul’s unwavering dedication to these principles and his commitment to combating injustice regardless of sex, race, or religion serves as the foundation of his influence, and why he’s considered by many to be the “Greatest of All Time.”
