THE YEAR OF THE OLD SPORT : THIS KAREEM IS STILL FRESH : Abdul-Jabbar Will Be 40 in April, With No Signs Whatsoever of the Wheels About to Come Off

This is a test. Find out how much you really know on the subject of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Please remember this is as advanced course.

Question--What did he do at halftime of the recent UCLA-North Carolina game?

Answer--Abdul-Jabbar, a UCLA alumnus, walked halfway around Pauley Pavilion to find James Worthy and Mitch Kupchak, both former Tar Heels, pointed at the scoreboard, smiled, and walked away.

Q--What size shoe does he wear?

A--15.

Q--When did he first begin wearing those goggles full-time?

A--1979.

Q--What does his Muslim name mean?

A--Generous (Kareem), servant for Allah (Abdul), powerful (Jabbar).

Q--What does he think about his age?

A--Not much. He apparently thinks more about the ages of his teammates. He was delighted recently when he was in the Laker offices and discovered a high school photograph of Kurt Rambis, which he quickly removed to the locker room for the purpose of laughter and blackmail.

Q--At first, how long did he think he would last in the National Basketball Assn.?

A--”I didn’t think I would see 35,” he said.

Kareem needs to adjust his goggles. He’s seeing 39 right now.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar might not believe his eyes, but there he is, still strapping on those industrial goggles, still slipping into his low-cut size 15s, still dropping hooks from out of the sky and still playing in the NBA, which he has done since the fall of 1969.

That was four presidents ago. Already, he has played in parts of three decades, or long enough to have seen each and every player his own age press their jump shots between the pages of an album of memories and call it a career.

When the playoffs begin for him in this, an unprecedented 18th season, he will be 40. According to his birth certificate, Abdul-Jabbar was born April 16, 1947, but who believes that?

Besides talking about his age or looking at his statistics, there are other illustrations of how long Abdul-Jabbar has been in the NBA. Such as other players.

Take Billy Cunningham. He was a player, retired as a player, became a coach and retired as a coach, all in the span of one Abdul-Jabbar career.

Now, take Billy Cunningham away and consider the numbers. Add them up. No, get the accountant on the line.

By the opening game of this season, Abdul-Jabbar had:

--Personally outscored the entire 12-player rosters of six other NBA teams.

--Played more than 400 games--or almost five full seasons--more than any other active player.

--Scored nearly double the number of points of any other active player.

Pretty impressive, to be sure. But what does Kareem think about it all? Is he middle-age crazy or what?

“It’s weird,” he said. “I’ve been involved in this game so long that rookies now have seen me play in the NBA since they started watching pro basketball for the first time. It’s like I’m part of the landscape or something.”

Sometimes, when he makes you believe he can go on forever, Kareem seems even more than that. He isn’t just part of the landscape, he is the landscape itself.

The Lakers do not want to imagine that day when they look out the window and no longer see Kareem. This is the ultimate, worst-case scenario.

“We’ve been trying to prepare for his retirement,” said Laker General Manager Jerry West. “We hope we’re still preparing a few years from now.”

In the spring of 1969, Bill Russell retired from the Boston Celtics as a player-coach. He would never play against Abdul-Jabbar, who only a few months later would become a rookie with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Russell has watched Abdul-Jabbar for more than 17 years and has an opinion on just what Abdul-Jabbar has accomplished and how long he should go on.

“The time will come when he feels like it’s time to stop,” Russell said. “You play because you like to play. If you happen to be the best at your position, that’s nice. I’m sure he feels, and rightly so, that he’s the best center they (the Lakers) can get.

“But he shouldn’t be compared to the Kareem of 10 years ago,” Russell said. “Other people have got their perceptions of how they like to remember you, but Kareem is not a legend. He is a person.”

He is the person who holds NBA career records for years played, games played, minutes played, scoring, field goals made, field goals attempted and blocked shots.

Some of the records are a tribute to longevity, which means that he has been a good player, had good health and played on good teams.

However, it is possible for players to spend a lot of years in the NBA and not have anything close to parallel results. And yet, somehow, Abdul-Jabbar has always found a way to produce.

Early in his career, he was a scorer, rebounder and shot-blocker. He does none of the three as well any more, but then his ability to pass the ball is generally regarded as much improved from his younger days.

But at any age, Abdul-Jabbar seems always able to score with the sky hook.

“He can shoot that thing from his wheelchair,” said Denver Nugget Coach Doug Moe.

Last season, Abdul-Jabbar averaged 23.4 points, his best scoring season since 1981-82, and played more minutes than any other Laker. So far this season, Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring has gone down slightly, but the number of rebounds and assists has risen.

“But those numbers don’t take into account the emotional mental attitude,” said West. “He doesn’t miss practices, he never complains, he plays every game. You just don’t find that. I use myself as an example. One of the most difficult things for me late in my career was getting to the game and hoping that I was going to be able to concentrate on what I was doing.

“The really remarkable thing about Kareem is not only that there is a tremendous length to his career, but the fact that he is so productive. He has found a way to be able to take this enormous skill that he has, and as age deteriorates certain people, it doesn’t seem to be a factor with him. You see he’s required to perform at that very high peak every time and he’s found a way to do it better than any athlete I’ve ever seen.”

How long has Abdul-Jabbar been consistently good? Try this: He was twice chosen Most Valuable Player in the playoffs. The awards came 14 years apart.

The Lakers do not hide the fact that they are still building their offense around Abdul-Jabbar. He is still the first option on offense and the last line of defense.

“Every year during the playoffs I hear, ‘Oh, boy, Kareem is getting too old,’ particularly from a guy like Tommy Heinsohn, who should know better,” West said. “But Kareem had one of his great years last year.

“And he’s such a focal part of this team, required to shoot and pass the ball for us so much, I think that some people don’t understand. Sure, some people look at rebounds and blocked shots, but with all that we ask him to do, there is probably more required of him than any center in the league.”

There are always statistics to remember with Kareem. The numbers come tumbling out of the record book in such numbing proportion that one has to caution himself that they themselves are not as important as the person who accumulated them.

More than 35,000 points . . . chosen Most Valuable Player in the league six times . . . played on four NBA championship teams . . . scored at least 40 points in a game 70 times . . . 4,192 points scored in the playoffs . . . 180 games played in the playoffs. All the numbers have not yet been totaled for a final time. Why not?

“It’s still happening,” said Abdul-Jabbar, who finds it somewhat ironic that the length of his career now gets the kind of attention that his athletic ability probably should have received all along.

“For most of my career, people take my skill level for granted,” he said. “That say, ‘OK, he can do all that,’ then they find ways to knock me. Now, at this point, my most avid detractors find it amazing I’m, still around.

“They’ve kind of had to fall off the scene a little bit, especially after we won the world championship in 1985. I think that kind of silenced a whole lot of people who would hint . . . they’d never come out and say it . . . but they’d hint that I was a loser or I wasn’t as much of a winner as Player X, without any real basis for it, because they wanted something negative to say about me.”

One thing his critics could never say is that Abdul-Jabbar has had a short career. In fact, he said he is already considering playing longer than next season, his 19th, and looks beyond that.

“Somebody said I’m going to be the only 20-year man,” he said. “That’s possible. I want to have a good 18th year, then deal with my 19th year. If I have a good 19th year, maybe they might want me back.

“But it doesn’t make sense to get caught up in trying to approach a number or a milestone just for the sake of it.”

But what of the number 40, a milestone birthday, that he is approaching rapidly? Abdul-Jabbar said he is not at all sensitive about his age.

“That’s not a problem,” he said. “My whole life I’ve always had to bear the weight of being different --tall, black, Muslim, you name it. This is just another wrinkle to that.”

So there you have it. Growing old has a new wrinkle, as if it needed another one.