Latest Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• Actor Mike Warren [was my former teammate], who was in Hill Street Blues. There are more, but it's starting to sound like a team reunion at Red Lobster. They were a great bunch of guys and we accomplished a lot together. That's something you don't forget.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Team, Guy, Together

• Ken Heitz got drafted by the Bucks the same year I did. He went to their camp just for the experience, then dropped out to attend Harvard Law School. I always admired his combination of athleticism and brains.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  School, Years, Law

  Source: www.sbnation.com

• I've kept in touch with many of my former teammates: Bob Marcucci was our team manager and we bonded over our passion for baseball.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Baseball, Team, Passion

  Source: www.sbnation.com

• Common decency demands that [NCAA athletes] should be paid, but the only way it will happen is the same way workers got paid throughout American history, through a strong union.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Strong, Athlete, Common Decency

• [Coaching] is a difficult job which everyone who owns a TV thinks they can do better at.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Jobs, Thinking, Coaching

• The lifespan of most professional athletes is relatively short, and most have no preparation for doing anything after their career ends, which it could in an instant.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Athlete, Careers, Preparation

  Source: www.sbnation.com

• 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

  Ucla, Play, Important

  Source: www.sbnation.com

• We all had a lot of fun making the film ["Airplane" ], but there weren't a lot of outtakes or cracking up because we all were focused on doing our jobs in a professional manner.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Jobs, Fun, Airplane

• I was just starting out acting [doing "Airplane"] and wanted to be taken as a professional, not as an athlete doing a cameo.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Taken, Airplane, Athlete

• In January of 1969, after a meeting to discuss the leadership of UCLA's new Afro-American Program, [Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter and John Huggins, Jr.] were murdered on campus by a rival black nationalist group, the United Slaves Organization. This shook up all the students, black and white, and made us all realize that what we were doing wasn't just an academic exercise, but had repercussions in the real world.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Real, Exercise, Black And White

  "This Day in UCLA History: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Becomes A Bruin". Bruins Nation Interview, www.bruinsnation.com. May 5, 2015.

• The only reason is that I hadn't seen The Modern Jazz Quartet perform live and a live performance is often where the real experience of jazz takes place. I'm not familiar with the Boswell Sisters.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Real, Jazz, Reason

  Source: www.sbnation.com

• 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

  Song, Party, Sunshine

• For me, the bold jazz of John Coltrane and Miles Davis reflected the bold attitude in African-Americans finding their political identity and voice.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Attitude, Voice, Political

  Source: www.sbnation.com

• UCLA acknowledged this shift by bringing in Alex Haley (the co-author of The Autobiography of Malcolm X) and Eldridge Cleaver (Soul on Ice) as speakers.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Ucla, Ice, Soul

  Source: www.sbnation.com

• 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

  Perfect, Leader, Political

  Source: www.sbnation.com

• Culture and politics were inseparable [in the Sixties], which gave a soundtrack to political awareness and activism.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Political, Culture, Awareness

• My English teacher, Dr. John Lindstrom, taught me an appreciation for the written word. Until his class, I'd dabbled in journalism and essay writing. But when he selected one of my essays as the best in the class, it gave me the confidence to see myself as a writer.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Teacher, Appreciation, Writing

  Source: www.sbnation.com

• When I traveled through Greece in the '90s, everything [Albert Hoxie] taught me came flooding back and I was able to appreciate the art and culture much more because of him.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Art, Appreciate, Culture

• [Albert] Hoxie, my Western Civilization professor. I had him in my freshman year and he opened up an extraordinary world to me that I've never forgotten. He used his extensive knowledge of art history to illustrate the development of Western culture and politics.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Art, Years, Civilization

• I think people that are, you know, voting in the blind are doing a disservice to America by not being better informed.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Thinking, America, People

  "Abdul-Jabbar Admires Athletes Who Make An Activist Statement". "Morning Edition" with Steve Inskeep, kuow.org. September 2, 2016.

• Ignorance is not something that lends itself to a meaningful discussion.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Meaningful, Ignorance, Discussion

  "Abdul-Jabbar Admires Athletes Who Make An Activist Statement". "Morning Edition" with Steve Inskeep, kuow.org. September 2, 2016.

• I was especially impressed with Pauley Pavilion [at UCLA campus ]. The floors hadn't been laid down yet, when they gave me the tour, each new room got my heart thumping. They even had a surgical operating room in case an athlete was severely injured.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Heart, Athlete, Ucla

• My high school had been a renovated old hospital, so when I first came to the UCLA campus in the spring of 1965, I was immediately impressed by the classic northern Italian architecture that was mixed with futuristic ultra-modern buildings. The classic architecture gave it the heft of old wisdom while the modernistic look inspired hope for the future.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Spring, School, Italian

  Source: www.sbnation.com

• Video games just can't compare with the variety and intensity of reading.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Reading, Games, Video

  Source: www.omnivoracious.com

• I could have skated by as an athlete, but the world is so much bigger and more interesting than any one thing. I didn't want to be pigeonholed as just a jock. I'm also an author, a student of history, and I collect memorabilia from the Wild West. I'm also a son, a father, and a friend.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Father, Athlete, Son

  "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Basketball Legend and Kids' Book Author". Interview with Seira Wilson, www.amazonbookreview.com. January 16, 2012.