A Chapter Closed, He Is Opening

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is, by definition, the greatest basketball player in the annals of the game. As with Babe Ruth and Henry Aaron, the numbers are there--38,387 points, 17,440 rebounds, 5,660 assists; most defensive rebounds, 9,364; most games played, 1,560; most blocked shots, 3,189; most seasons played, 20, and most minutes played, 57,446.

He was so good in college that they outlawed the dunk shot in his honor. So, he perfected probably the most devastating shot in the game--the sky hook, an unstoppable ceiling-scraping move to the basket that the pros wished had been outlawed instead.

Kareem was almost a league unto himself. He was a team. He played at a steady, even, relentless pace that allowed him to win with apparent effortlessness. He played with the kind of detached perfection of an 18th Century cabinetmaker. Guys painting ceilings have displayed more emotion than Kareem would in a championship playoff game.

He was the most feared man in the game. The two guys assigned to guard him approached their job with all the enthusiasm of a guy going to the electric chair.

Some guys keep a distance between themselves and the public. Abdul-Jabbar kept a chasm. He walked into a shell of his own devising and you tried to get through it at your peril. It was nothing personal. Even teammates had to observe the niceties.

And Kareem was equal-opportunity aloof. It didn’t matter how rich you were or how famous you were or what color you were, you had to remove your hat and wipe your feet, so to speak, to get an audience. He was a well-read man with a small tolerance for nonsense or levity. He knew as much world history as Toynbee.

Like Ben Hogan or Jack Nicklaus, he demanded--and commanded--respect. You didn’t clap Kareem on the back even if you could. He was a formal man. He never called Magic Johnson anything but Earvin. There were no locker-room hangers-on on Kareem’s ticket. He was the professional’s professional.

He had the greatest farewell tour in the annals of sport. They gave him everything from a motorcycle to a Rolls-Royce. A rival coach once observed that they would have given him Rhode Island, they were so happy to see him leave. And not have to try keeping him to 25 points a night.

It was the measure of the man that he amassed his incredible number of points without ever posting up a number of 56-point nights or throwing up a record number of shots. And he threw in only one three-point basket in his entire career. He was actually a superior passer.

He is a genuine 20th Century legend whose contribution to making pro basketball the fastest-growing world sport cannot be overstated. His records might never be caught.

Which is why I have to be impressed that the Maritz fourth annual Athletes and Entertainers for Kids fashion show and fund raiser at the Hotel Nikko tonight was able to get Kareem as one of its celebrity hosts (together with model Kathy Ireland).

Kareem is not your basic have-tux-will-show celebrity. He chooses his appearances as carefully as he did his sky hooks. This is a charity that concentrates on disadvantaged and abused children and 75,000 were assisted psychologically and educationally last year. It is a program Kareem approves of.

It’s not as if he’s sitting in his clippings or cassettes of past glories. “I’ve got five projects I’m working on,” he explains. “In order, they’re:

“1. Being a parent (he has five children, one a basketball player, one a soccer player).

“2. Preparing a movie on the life of Vernon Johns, who was Martin Luther King’s mentor--James Earl Jones will play the part.

“3. A movie on the old baseball Negro leagues.

“4. A documentary on the 761st tank battalion, one of Gen. Patton’s favorite units, an all-black task force which helped stall the German attack in the Battle of the Bulge and later liberated Dachau and Buchenwald.

“5. A broadcast career (analyzing) college basketball games.”

Apart from that, his time is his own.

After a lifetime spent protecting his privacy, dealing largely in monosyllables, won’t Abdul-Jabbar find the transition difficult?

He laughed. “I’ve always been able to find something to say that needed to be said.”

Why has basketball changed since he left it? When Abdul-Jabbar was abroad on the courts of the NBA, the game was dominated by the man in the pivot. During his tenure, the Lakers won five NBA titles and his original team, the Milwaukee Bucks, one. Since his retirement, the game has been taken over by guards--notably Michael Jordan.

“It’s a cyclical thing,” Abdul-Jabbar says. “There are more, and better, athletes in the game today than there were 20-25 years ago. You need more than just a dominant center and someone to bring the ball up court for him. On the other hand, this Shaquille O’Neal may swing the pendulum back.”

Of course, Shaquille is only 57,000 minutes, 1,500 games and 36,000 points from being mentioned in the same sentence with Kareem. He had better get a sky hook.