Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is considered by many fans and sportswriters to be the greatest basketball player of all time. He was the star of the UCLA Bruins teams that won three consecutive NCAA championships in the 1960s and later dominated the NBA for 20 years, first with the Milwaukee Bucks, then with the Los Angeles Lakers. The 7-foot-2 Hall of Fame center, famous for his indefensible skyhook, was a six-time MVP, a 19-time All-Star, and set records in nine different categories. He remains the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points.

Since retiring as a player in 1989, Kareem has forged a second career through his love of history, jazz, and writing. He has co-authored six books on the contributions of African-Americans to American culture and history, including Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement (1996) and Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, WWII’s Forgotten Heroes (2004). A Season on the Reservation (2000) is a chronicle of his time teaching basketball and history on an Apache Indian reservation in White River, Arizona.

His latest book is On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance (2007). The audio adaptation of the book is a four-volume compilation read by Bob Costas, Avery Brooks, Jesse L. Martin, and Stanley Crouch, and features conversations with dozens of icons, including Coach John Wooden, Julius Erving, Charles Barkley, Samuel L. Jackson, Maya Angelou, Quincy Jones and Billy Crystal, and also includes some of his favorite music.

Since 2005, he has been a special assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers.

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