Good role models are essential to our children and young people, for as former basketball superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once said, “As a parent, I have a job as a role model for my children, and by extension, to other young people.”
What a refreshing attitude he displays in taking responsibility for bringing up his children in the ‘right’ way, while still understanding that, in being a role model, he has the ability to inspire other young people positively. If we think about it, he was not only a basketballer, but an outstanding one who was a professional at the highest level of America’s National Basketball Association, the NBA. He was a record six times the sport’s most valuable player (MVP), for 39 years held the record as the highest scorer in a season, only knocked off that pedestal by LeBron James, and is widely respected as one of the greatest of all time.
Born in 1947, and growing up as Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr, he converted in 1971, his Islamic name meaning ‘noble one, servant of the Almighty.’ Finding his faith challenged two years later, he undertook a pilgrimage, including learning Arabic, and emerged with much greater clarity and his faith renewed. Here was a man humble enough to recognise that he ‘didn’t have all the answers,’ so rejecting ease and entitlement, he asked difficult questions, sought genuine and resilient answers, and has, ever since, become renowned for his clarity of purpose, respected both on and off the court.
Yet, keeping his faith, and maintaining dignity and a sense of right and wrong, continued to be challenged as he has frequently suffered from migraines, though that probably pales in respect of his wider health issues as he has confronted chronic myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive form of bone marrow and blood cancer since 2009, at the same time as he faced a diagnosis of prostate cancer. It would be 2012 before he felt confident he had achieved an acceptable state of well-being. Then, in April 2015, he was diagnosed with a cardiovascular condition, and just days later had quadruple coronary bypass surgery, and has since suffered from atrial fibrillation, a rapid and irregular rhythmic condition of the heart.
Despite these setbacks, he continues to inspire young African-Americans, and Muslims whether in his writings, in as diverse topics as his perspective of the so-called Harlem renaissance, ‘On the Shoulders of Giants;’ his love of Jazz, in ‘Giant Steps,’ an appraisal of John Coltrane’s album of the same name; and his ‘Brothers in Arms,’ a WWII historical about America’s first African-American tank battalion. He also co-wrote a series of three mystery novels featuring the elder brother of Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes. In all, he has written or co-written 17 books.
He has contributed to ‘Time Magazine,’ on a regular basis, ‘Jacobin’ irregularly, and is a frequent public speaker on contentious and controversial issues facing America and the world. He has also been widely acclaimed for his achievements, recognised in 2012 as the Cultural Ambassador of the United States, the President’s Medal of Freedom in 2016, and was appointed to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition in 2017. During 2011, he was awarded the Double Helix Medal for his cancer awareness advocacy and an Honorary Degree from the New York Institute of Technology for his cancer research support.
Abdul-Jabbar’s sporting legacy has been defined as “elegant and graceful,” his nature as “compassionate and understanding,” hardly qualities you would find every day in the rough and tumble that is the highly competitive NBA. His global perspective, his charitable works and his care and concern for minorities are appreciated by those who feel neglected, and his social activism has identified him as a ‘lightning rod’ for minorities, and a headache for the ‘establishment.’ His achievements on and off the court have made him a man you could aspire to be, should aspire to be, and who is the ideal role model for so many.
Most of us ‘wannabe’ someone... and let it be someone real... not some charming yet vacuous influencer... but someone whose personality, characteristics, and qualities, you truly admire.
Ray Petersen
The writer is a media consultant
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