Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor on November 16, 1947 in New York City, the son of Earl and Juanita Alcindor. He came from a family of musicians and educators and was raised in Harlem. He attended Manhattan's prestigious Professional Children's School but did not make the basketball team. After graduating from high school in 1965, he attended John F
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Kennedy High School in Los Angeles, California. He played basketball for the school and at nearby Occidental College, where he was a two-time All-American and won the college's scoring championship. He also played football, and was a two-time letterman and two-time team captain.
In his senior year at Occidental, Alcindor had a 26.7 points per game average and led his team to win the national championship.
He played for the Milwaukee Bucks from 1971 to 1975 before being drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1976 NBA Draft.
After being selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the 1978 NBA Draft, he became one of only four players to both play in an All-Star Game AND win an NBA Championship ring in the same year (the other three are Michael Jordan, LeBron James & Shaquille O'Neal).
After being traded by the Lakers to the Phoenix Suns in 1980, he became an NBA All-Star for six consecutive seasons (1980–1985) while becoming one of only seven players to win both an NCAA Championship (PhiSci) AND an NBA Championship (Lakers).
He also joined Oscar Robertson as one of only two players to average 20+ points per game for their entire career.
He retired following his 13th season with the Lakers in 1989 after winning five championships (1982–1985). During his career he also owns numerous records including: most points scored in a game (68), most points scored in a season (3,197), most points scored in a quarter (57), highest field goal percentage (.610), highest three point field goal percentage (.476), highest free throw percentage (.919), highest scoring average (27.0 ppg) , most total rebounds (2,769), most offensive rebounds (1%), fewest turnovers ever by a player with more than 2,000 assists (368) & most blocks ever by any player with more than 4,000 rebounds (625). Following his retirement as a player he has become one of only 10 players to have their jersey