by Edmund Bertram

Created on: April 29, 2008

Lew Alcindor was born April 16, 1947 in New York City, given the name Frederick Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. His father was a police officer and a jazz musician; his mother was a clerk at a department store. He was raised in Brooklyn in a Roman Catholic family. At St. Jude School in Inwood, New York, his grade school, his basketball career began. At Power Memlorial High School, he led his team on an unheard of 72-game winning streak.

Upon his high school graduation, Alcindor attended UCLA, where he played under the coaching of the renown John Wooden. Due to NCAA rules of the time, Alcindor was not allowed to play on the varsity team as a freshman, however as a sophomore, in 1967, he was named Player of the Year. As he did in high school, Alcindor led his team to unprecedented winning streaks. In 1967, a new regulation was made in NCAA basketball as a result of Alcindor's game. The slam dunk was outlawed because Alcindor's unmatchable skill at dunking was viewed as unfair to the rest of the league. He followed his Player of the Year award with two more, each of his three years playing for the Bruins' varsity team. He was truly unlike any player college basketball had seen before, and was bound to be a star for many years to come. It was also during his college years, that Lew Alcindor converted to Islam, though he would not change his name for a few years.

In 1969, Alcindor was chosen by the Milwaukee Bucks, the number one draft pick of the year. He was also offered a spot on the New York Nets, of the NBA's competing league at the time, the ABA. The Nets offer was much smaller, however, so Alcindor went to the Bucks on a million dollar contract. The Bucks were an expansion team in their first year of play, and Alcindor led the team to second place in the Eastern Division, a feat never repeated by a later expansion team. Naturally, he was also named Rookie of the Year for the 1969-70 season. The following season, some new players, most notably Oscar Robertson, added depth to the team. They had the best record in the league that season, and the team won its first and only NBA championship.

In 1971, Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabar, connecting himself more fully with his Muslim faith. He remained the leader of the Milwaukee Bucks until 1974, winning his first three MVP awards in those five years with the Bucks. According to Wikipedia, Abdul-Jabar respectfully requested a trade to either New York or Los Angeles, because he believed that the Midwest

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