Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem originally Ferdinand Lew(is) Alcindor: (b.1947) basketball player. Born in New York City, he reached a height of seven feet, one-and-three-eighths inches (two meters seventeen centimeters). During his college career at UCLA, the team lost only two games, and he led it to three national championships (1966-68). He then joined the Milwaukee Bucks; in 1975 he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. The dominant center of his time, in 1984 he surpassed Wilt Chamberlain’s career scoring total of 31,419 points. He also holds the record for the most field goals (15,837), ranks second for the most blocked shots (3,189) and games played (1,560), and ranks third for rebounds (17,440). He was voted Most Valuable Player a record six times.
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
Mark's Text Terminal 