NBA legend Abdul-Jabbar speaks to Hopkins community on race

In the past, the Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium (MSE) has hosted politicians, actors, comedians and famous children's show scientists. Now MSE can add one more category to their lineup: professional basketball superstars.

Shriver Hall filled with students, faculty and locals Tuesday night to attend a speech by National Basketball Association (NBA) Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the second speaker in the MSE 2008 line-up that also includes actor Will Ferrell and former CIA Operations Officer Valerie Plame.

Abdul-Jabbar, NBA all-time lead scorer and author of six books ?- three autobiographical and three on the history of African-American achievements - spoke mostly on topics centering on race in American society and the history of he considered to be often overlooked African-American achievements.

Upon entering the Shriver Hall stage, the NBA legend, who stands seven feet two inches tall, had to unwrap the microphone chord in order to be able to hold it high enough to reach his mouth.

Abdul-Jabbar's main focus of the evening was on the events and issues in his recently released New York Times best-seller On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance.

He began his lecture with two episodes from his childhood which had spurred his interest in writing on the issues of race in America.

The first was an incident which occurred at halftime during his junior year of high school. Abdul-Jabbar was not performing too well - his mind was more focused on the team's next game against Maryland powerhouse DeMatha Catholic.

"My coach [Jack Donahue] really tore into me and told me I had to get with it," Abdul-Jabbar recalled. "And, in trying to push my buttons, he overstepped bounds and used the N-word. He was in no way a racist, but his anger made him overreach and he said that word. And it really affected me in a negative way."

This incident made Abdul-Jabbar question the values of those around him.

"He was someone I looked up to and had a lot of respect for," Abdul-Jabbar said. "When things went bad, that's where he went to. It really made me wonder where he was at."

Abdul-Jabbar also recounted his experience when he was enrolled in a Harlem student program begun by famous historian and sociologist Dr. John Henry Clark.

"The negative [aspects of Harlem] really started to overwhelm," Abdul-Jabbar said. "Drugs, crime, no economic life at all; a very tough place to be. [Clark] had a vision that had to do with taking the young people of Harlem and creating workshops and giving them the opportunity to learn how to make Harlem a better place."

Abdul-Jabbar, who has had an avid interest in reading and writing since grade school, enrolled in the journalism workshop and rose to the position of copy editor and fact checker due to his good grounding in grammar. This workshop allowed him access to the Schaumburg Library, notable for its collection of African American-related works, which further spurred his interest in history and the Harlem Renaissance.

Through this workshop Abdul-Jabbar was afforded another special opportunity. Clark was friends with Dr. Martin Luther King and arranged for King, who at the time had just been named Time Magazine's Man of the Year and was on his way to a Nobel Peace Prize, to come speak to the students at the program. Many reporters attended the event, and Abdul-Jabbar, being a part of the journalism workshop, was granted press credentials.

Abdul-Jabbar, who still has a picture of himself at that press conference "towering over everybody," said of King, "It took awhile before I understood him, until I saw the movie Ghandi, to explain how non-violence can work. It takes brave and determined people to make it work. I thought we were not going to get our rights without a fight. Dr. King probably agreed with that, it was just his methods of fighting were ones which encouraged people to think about what they were doing."

From here Abdul-Jabbar segwayed into a tale about "'the greatest basketball team you've never heard of,' the Harlem Rens."

The Rens (short for Renaissance, named after the fact that they played at the Harlem Renaissance Casino) was an all-black basketball team created in the Roaring Twenties, right in the proverbial center of the Harlem Renaissance. Abdul-Jabbar wrote about the Rens in his latest book, pulling together pieces from living members of the team and from another interesting source, his former college coach John Wooden.

Abdul-Jabbar stressed the importance of studying and remembering African-American history.

"I dealt with all these subjects just to share with the world, because not too many people know about it," Abdul-Jabbar said. "In my efforts to interview people about this I talked to many current players in the NBA who did not understand that at its inception, the NBA was segregated."

"The 1920s is known as the Jazz Age because black culture was given acknowledgement for the first time," Abdul-Jabbar said. "[Now] it's nothing to see a black newscaster or a black person participating in board rooms or in the highest halls of power. But 50 years ago, a person like Colin Powell could not have existed."

After his speech, Abdul-Jabbar took questions from the audience. Asked about how he successfully transitioned after changing his name, Abdul-Jabbar spoke of the influence Muhammad Ali, who was formerly Cassius Clay before he himself changed his name in 1964. Abdul-Jabbar himself was known as Lew Alcindor until his conversion to Islam in 1971.

"[Ali's] political stances really made it easier for the rest of us. It made it easier for black Americans to be ourselves without asking a lot of questions," he said.

Abdul-Jabbar also shared his support for presidential candidate Barack Obama (D-IL) with the audience.

"[Obama's candidacy] is a big step forward," he said. "I had the good fortune of meeting him in summer of 2006. He's bright, cares about this country and will make a great leader. It's a wonderful thing and will help to change our image across the world."

Part of that image, he noted, involves the issue of race.

"If you look at [the faces on U.S.] currency, all the presidents are white. Now that the mold is being broken, all Americans can aspire to the highest office in the nation and contribute to what makes our nation great," he said.

Abdul-Jabbar also answered a series of questions about his playing career and the current state of professional and college basketball.

Commenting on how he perfected the skyhook (his signature shot), Abdul-Jabbar shared an anecdote from his childhood, when college students helped coach his team.

"[The skyhook] was the one shot that didn't get smashed back in my face, and since I always had to play against older kids because I was so tall, this worked against them. I used it to become the leading scorer in the NBA, but (current players) don't get it," he said.

Reflecting about his career in the NBA, Abdul-Jabbar said, "I was gifted, or blessed. It was just a magic ride for me. Everything fell into place."

Abdul-Jabbar is adamant in his belief that basketball has become ruined by big money contracts.

"The genie out of the bottle is that all the money in the professional game has corrupted the game," he said. "It's ruined the pro game and the college game. I ask all the kids in here, would you rather have a college degree or $30 million? A lot of [students] don't have legitimate high school diplomas. When their athletic talent is identified, their teachers give them passing grades in thinking that they can make it as an athlete. It's a dumbed-down game and we don't enjoy it."

He also pointed out that the "one and done" rule, which forces players to wait one year after high school to be eligible for the NBA draft, is not effective, and instead encourages player to go to Europe to play.

After the speech, Abdul-Jabbar proceeded upstairs, where he signed autographs and copies of his latest book.

Abdul-Jabbar starred at Power Memorial Academy in New York City before parlaying this into a basketball scholarship to UCLA.

There he led the Bruins to a record 88 wins and two losses and three national champions.

After graduating from UCLA in 1969 with a degree in history, he embarked on a very successful NBA career with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers. In his 20-year career, Abdul-Jabbar won six MVP awards, made the All-Star team 19 times and won five NBA championships.

During his career Abdul-Jabbar was famous for his trademark goggles and his "skyhook" shot. Since his playing career ended he has had various assistant and minor league coaching jobs and is currently a special assistant to the Lakers.

He has also appeared in several films, including Airplane and Game of Death, and has made numerous television guest appearances. He is currently pursuing his latest career in writing.