My race didn't hold me back: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar bid adieu to the game in 1989, by when he was unsurpassed as an NBA player. He had scored more points, won more MVP awards, played in more All-Star Games than anyone else. In a chat with DNA, the basketball legend dwells on his career, the game and why he was pleasantly surprised when Barack Obama became president. Excerpts.

Greetings from India…
Hello. I hope you all are enjoying the basketball. I know cricket is big in your country. I know about cricket. I have my roots in Trinidad. My grand parents came to America in 1917. But I have relatives back in Trinidad, who love cricket…

You have been known to have a keen interest in baseball. How did the switch from baseball to basketball happen? 
I played baseball when I was in school. And I played basketball too. Basketball seemed to come easier. When I played baseball, I was a pitcher. There was this whole thing of control, which I wasn’t good at. And basketball just came a whole lot easier. And then I started to grow very tall. I believe that my physical attributes lent themselves to me playing basketball.

How has the game evolved since the time you stopped playing?
The game hasn’t really changed that much. I think the only thing that has changed has been the fact that it has gained popularity worldwide. I think that has been a real change in an aspect of the game — its visibility. It is just that a lot more people are watching it and the international spotlight on the game has become very intense.

Do you wish you were playing now?
No. Given the salaries maybe, but the time that I played is really seen as the golden age. Because all the players during that time had to go to university. You couldn’t get entry into the NBA unless you played at a university. And when you play in the university, you have a chance to learn the game in less intense circumstances. So at that time their games were  more developed when they started than they are now. But the over all general knowledge of the people playing in the NBA was a lot higher at that point.

In terms of technology and support staff, players have a lot many advantages now…
You have to work very hard to develop your skills and to apply them in the game. These days they watch games on TV and then apply it in their game. In my time, we started with the team. I played in a team when I was in the fifth grade. I played organized basketball very early on and also worked on my game on my own.

You  started at a time when racial prejudice, especially against the African-Americans, was a major issue. Can you talk a little bit about that time of your life?
My race didn’t hold me back. I think a lot of opportunities were there regardless of race. The year I was born (1947), there was a player named Jackie Robinson, who broke the baseball colour line by playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. And that changed everything and made it possible for black Americans to succeed in various sports. At that time, the NBA was segregated. The NBA did not integrate till 1950. The integration and the broadening of opportunities became commonplace after that. I came along at the right time.

From a prejudiced, segregated country to a nation whose leader is an African-American. How does it feel?
I would say that I didn’t except to see that happen, at least not in my life time. And I was really shocked when it did. I think I became aware of it when Barack Obama was still a candidate and he won Iowa. Population of Iowa has only two percent of black people. He won that primary and all of a sudden I realized that something in America had changed. A black-American candidate could be taken seriously. That his colour was not important, his qualities were. It was startling for me at first. But it made me feel so good. It gave me hope. It was a remarkable thing to observe, especially for someone like myself who had seen the bad aspect of America.

Can you talk a little bit about your ‘skyhook’?
The hook shot is a very old shot in the game. It’s just my particular personal take on it; you know I jump pretty high. There was a sportscaster, who covered our team when I was a rookie, named Eddie Duset. He saw how high I jumped and he saw the hook shot and he christened it the ‘skyhook’. It’s not something that I can claim that I invented but I did put my particular stamp on it.

Who is your favourite basketball player? Any one from the present crop you really like?
My favourite player of all time is Bill Russell. He played for the Boston Celtics in the 1950s and 60s. I learned a lot from watching him. From the current lot, I enjoy watching Dwayne Wade play.

What do you do now?
I am working on a documentary at the moment. It’s all about the history of basketball. I also study and practice yoga. I have been doing yoga for a very long time. It was an instrumental part of my training routine.

Have you ever been to India?
No I haven’t. I have traveled to Pakistan and Bangladesh and on the way was in Delhi airport for a while. But I would love to visit India. I studied the history of India and it’s fascinating.