![Picture](/uploads/2/7/7/5/27757469/8160563.png)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is clearly most well known for his impeccable basketball skills and career. Kareem started his basketball journey as Lew Alcindor at Power Memorial Academy High School where he was first recruited because of his clear giant-like height in proportion to all the other kids. He quickly became hooked and blossomed into the undisputed king of high school basketball. Every college in the country wanted to have "The Tower of Power" headlining their college basketball dynasty (NBA). However, from the beginning, UCLA stuck out to Lew because of their shear dominance of the sport, winning the previous two national championships. But, according to him, that wasn't the main reason as to why he chose the University of California at Los Angeles. Their coach, John Wooden, was. Known for his vast knowledge of not just the game but life itself, Wooden gained respect the moment words left tongue (Academy of Achievement). When Lew arrived at UCLA he played on the JV team solely because it was against NCAA rules to play on the varsity as a freshman. The varsity team won the national championship that year. Incredibly enough, the JV team beat the national champions easily on the shoulders of their fabulous freshman Alcindor. When he started playing on the varsity as a sophomore, he dominated the competition winning three consecutive National Championships and three NCAA POY awards (NBA). After his career at UCLA, it was evident that Lew was going to be the first overall pick of the NBA draft. And in 1969 that rang true when he was drafted first overall by the Milwaukee Bucks. He quickly started dominating the highest competition in the world winning Rookie of the Year. By this time, Lew had changed his name when he converted to Islam to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He had a great five years for the Bucks, even winning an NBA Title in 1971. However, even with this success, The Bucks traded him to the Lakers for a quartet of average players that would never equal the dominance that Kareem exhibited on the court. A few years later, The Lakers acquired the number one overall draft pick in 1979 and see it on up-and-coming point guard out of MSU named Earvin Johnson aka "Magic". The combo of Magic and Kareem went on to win 4 more championships for the Lakers and created one of the most amazing dynasties in the history of the league. When Kareem retired, no one had scored more points, recorded more blocks, won more MVPs, played more minutes, or made more all star appearances (NBA).