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When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. That's a terrible burden.
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
Positive
Terrible
Black
Kids
Anything
Believe
Would
Burden
People
Basketball
More quotes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
I totally alienated some reporters as I retreated.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
As a parent, I have a job as a role model to my children, and by extension, to other young people.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Lakers were able to maintain a certain level of talent and success and so were the Celtics. So after awhile it became part of people's sports lore...
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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
OK, I'll put it like this: I doubt if we will see another All-American basketball athlete who is a Rhodes Scholar.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
There's a ball. There's a hoop. You put the ball through the hoop. That's success.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The Sixties was a perfect storm of disaffection with political leaders trying to pass off the same old platitudes to maintain the status quo and an unexpected courageousness in the masses of youth. Nothing on this scale had ever happened before in U.S. history and it hasn't happened since.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Sports and entertainment are the only places where inner-city kids see themselves being able to succeed. Their intellectual development is something they don't relate to.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
I want people to understand that I intend to continue living and doing all the things that I love to do up until the end. And the end is by no means rushing up on me.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
More whites believe in ghosts than believe in racism.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
But all was not sunshine and Marvin Gaye songs. [UCLA] also recruited black students as part of a High Potential Program that was meant to bring diversity to the campus. Two of the students that were part of that program were Alprentice Bunchy Carter and John Huggins, Jr., both members of the Black Panther Party's Southern California Chapter.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The type of leukemia that I am dealing with is treatable. So if I do what my doctors tell me to do - get my blood checked regularly, take my meds and consult with my doctor and follow any additional instructions he might make - I will be able to maintain my good health and live my life with a minimum of disruptions to my lifestyle.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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
I've had a desire to coach for years. This was something I felt I should do.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
I needed to go to class I needed to go to practice I needed to have a life away from basketball.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
What I learned in my time isn't necessarily being taught now, and I'd like to help impart that knowledge to a new generation of players.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
I think race has been a burden for black Americans. Being Muslim has also been a challenge because so many people do not understand Islam.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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
I want to do as little as possible when I finish playing ball - just spend a lot more time with my family.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
