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The '80s made up for all the abuse I took during the '70s. I outlived all my critics. By the time I retired, everybody saw me as a venerable institution. Things do change.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Age: 77
Born: 1947
Born: April 16
Actor
Author
Basketball Coach
Basketball Player
Film Producer
Screenwriter
Television Actor
New York City
New York
Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor
Jr.
Lew Alcindor
Things
Abuse
Time
Critics
Institutions
Saws
Took
Outlived
Everybody
Venerable
Change
Retired
Made
Institution

More quotes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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When we went up against teams that were better, I just hoped that we could steal the victories.
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For me, the bold jazz of John Coltrane and Miles Davis reflected the bold attitude in African-Americans finding their political identity and voice.
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Your mind is what makes everything else work.
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I don't really care who's doing drugs in the NBA as long as the scene isn't adversely affecting my team and teammates. I've known enough drug users-going as far back as grade school and the streets of New York-not to view them as pariahs or lost souls. I've certainly smoked more than my quota of weed.
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I enjoy seeing new places.
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Even when there are adverse circumstances, I try to do my job. And I usually do.
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As a parent, I have a job as a role model to my children, and by extension, to other young people.
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Actor Mike Warren [was my former teammate], who was in Hill Street Blues. There are more, but it's starting to sound like a team reunion at Red Lobster. They were a great bunch of guys and we accomplished a lot together. That's something you don't forget.
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One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.
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Basketball is an endurance sport, and you have to learn to control your breath that's the essence of yoga, too. So, I consciously began using yoga techniques in my practice and playing. I think yoga helped reduce the number and severity of injuries I suffered. As preventative medicine, it's unequaled.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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When I was 17, I worked in a mentoring program in Harlem designed to improve the community. That's when I first gained an appreciation of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when African-Americans rose to prominence in American culture. For the first time, they were taken seriously as artists, musicians, writers, athletes, and as political thinkers.
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We can learn from mistakes of others, whether they're kings or our parents. When we do learn those lessons, we're better equipped to make our own dreams come true.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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Reporters used to ask me the same inane questions year-in and year-out, city-to-city, and it would drive me crazy.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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I don't get a big charge out of being the leading scorer. The object of competing is winning. I just try to do what has to be done for us to win. That might be anything at the time - defense, rebounding, passing. I get great satisfaction out of being a team player.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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Common decency demands that [NCAA athletes] should be paid, but the only way it will happen is the same way workers got paid throughout American history, through a strong union.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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I got all A's and was hated for it I spoke correctly and was called a punk.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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In athletics there's always been a willingness to cheat if it looks like you're not cheating. I think that's just a quirk of human nature.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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When I was at UCLA, the Harlem Globetrotters offered me a million dollars to come play for them. I turned it down because my education was just as important as playing ball.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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A team will always appreciate a great individual if he's willing to sacrifice for the group.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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I have to say I have an incredible musical education because of my father.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar