Another basketball game just ended. So that meant Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dominated again with his sharp footwork, high-arching skyhook and imposing height.
This game took place well before Abdul-Jabbar won multiple championships with UCLA and the Lakers. It also happened when Abdul-Jabbar was known as Lew Alcindor. As a high school student in Harlem, N.Y., he and his friends just finished a pick-up basketball game and took the subway back home. That ride back to Harlem, though, led them to a violent protest.
Unlike how he used his physical attributes to his advantage on the court, Abdul-Jabbar saw how other physical traits became a source of conflict off the court.