NBA Hall Of Famer: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 November 2022

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of the greatest basketball players of all time: an NBA Hall of Famer, six-time MVP, 19-time All-Star and, of course, the master of the skyhook shot. He excelled at basketball in high school, went on to play college ball at UCLA and was drafted first overall in the NBA, where he played for 21 seasons. Since retiring from basketball, he has written books and columns, and he even worked as a writer for Veronica Mars. He's also an outspoken advocate for social justice, and his most recent project is the documentary film Fight the Power: The Movements That Changed America. We talk with the NBA legend about this new documentary, playing alongside Magic Johnson and his roller disco days. Plus, he shares why he was never able to play a game of double Dutch as a kid.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:21.5	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn.
0:23.9	First up this week, Karim Abduel-Jabbar.
0:26.7	He is of course one of the greatest basketball players of all time, a Hall of Famer, 6 time
0:31.7	MVP, 19 time All-Star, the master of the Skyhawk.
0:36.7	A key part of the Showtime era, Lakers, and an NBA veteran who believe it or not, made
0:48.7	one three pointer in his entire career.
0:52.7	Since retiring from basketball, Karim Abduel-Jabbar has shown he has talent and skill far outside
1:08.9	the paint.
1:09.9	He's written books, columns, he even worked as a writer for Veronica Mars.
1:14.4	He's acted on screen, opposite Bruce Lee and Leslie Nielsen.
1:19.2	In short, he is a very interesting man.
1:22.7	When I talked with Karim last year, he just narrated a documentary, fight the power, the
1:27.6	movements that changed America.
1:30.0	Here's a bit of it.
1:31.1	In this clip, Abduel-Jabbar talks about his memory of the lynching of Emmett Till.
1:36.6	I had seen so many examples of violence against black people.
1:42.6	It was not a shock.
1:46.8	I was eight years old when Emmett Till got murdered.
1:51.2	I couldn't understand why that happened.
1:53.1	I asked my parents, they didn't have the words to explain it to me.
1:57.3	So from that point forward, I was just looking for the answers, why are people who look
	...

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