The Son Also Rises : But Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Knows He Will Never Reach the Heights His Father Did

The son had dreams, and he had, of course, the name. The name. You are born Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and you figure some things are meant to be.

The father watched, and waited quietly for reality to intrude.

“When he was in high school,” Abdul-Jabbar said recently about his namesake son, “I think he had kind of an idea that he was genetically endowed to play in the NBA.”

No nickname necessary here, just the legacy of the league’s all-time leading scorer. Forget Shaq and Hakeem and David Robinson. This really was the next Kareem.

The younger Kareem (he is not Kareem Jr. or Kareem II, simply Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the also) could definitely play basketball with style and grace, but it was clear midway through his time at Brentwood High that he wasn’t going to be 7 feet tall, or dominate the game as his father had.

At 6-6, the son, who had received so much attention from Division I colleges early in his high school career--who could resist recruiting Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?--began to see the hot interest fade away.

He would not be going to a basketball power. But his desire to play Division I basketball, at the very least, did not wane.

So, his father, like any other father--OK, any other Hall of Fame father--made a few phone calls, and now his son is a redshirt freshman backup forward at Valparaiso (a small Division I school in Indiana), loving every minute of college life.

His best statistics? In a redshirt season last year, he racked up a 3.82 grade-point average toward a psychology degree.

“Well, I don’t think I’m just another dad, but I’m really happy things are going the way that they are for him,” the elder Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said. “He really had ideas at one time of going to the NBA.

“He’s more realistic about it now. He enjoys playing college basketball and doing well at school, and I can’t ask for anything more. He didn’t get a single ‘A’ in high school, and he made dean’s list up there.”

Said Kareem, the son: “I always knew I wanted to play college basketball. I just didn’t always know exactly how to go about getting there and trying to make yourself a visible recruit. I did get in the whole process pretty late.

“But I was still able to play Division I, and that’s what I wanted.”

The younger Abdul-Jabbar is one of five Abdul-Jabbar children, with two sisters (one older, one younger) and two younger brothers.

And, if he doesn’t have the sky hook or the height, he has his father’s face, his poise and intellect. As the first son, and the namesake, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had, from his first breath, a legacy full of pride and expectation.

“I think he learned at an early age what it’s all about,” his father said, “and his reaction has been very wise. I tried to do my part in not putting any unrealistic expectations on his shoulders. All he has to do is be himself and realize the potential he finds within himself.

“I think he’ll be able to handle college basketball. When he gets in the game, he knows what to do. He’s just now learning how to be effective in a game and get the most from his potential.”

Said the Valparaiso coach, Homer Drew, whose own son, Bryce, is the team’s best player: “With that name, there’s so much expectation, it encourages expectations which just may not be his personality.

“Everybody expects so much out of him because of his name, but Kareem’s handled it tremendously. Kareem’s talent is in academics, knowledge and intelligence, and if basketball can move him along in that, or if he can keep playing basketball, he’s going to do that too.”

Though the redshirt season is past and Abdul-Jabbar is contributing in limited time with a solid Valparaiso team, were there ever times he wished he could have gone through this quietly, with a name and a father that did not draw unfair comparisons?

“Not really,” the younger Abdul-Jabbar said, brightly. Abdul-Jabbar used to wear his father’s No. 33 in junior high school, but is wearing No. 42 at Valparaiso. “See, I heard him say once that he knew he’d name his first son Kareem. That just happened to be me.”

In recent years, about the only weird part of the name, he says, has been dealing with the name change of UCLA running back Sharmon Shah, who this year announced he should be called Karim Abdul-Jabbar--and wears No. 33.

“I don’t know what to think about that,” the 19-year-old Abdul-Jabbar said. “It’s a free country, you can call yourself whatever you want. I know one person came up to me beginning of this year, they thought I transferred and became a running back. That was a little silly.”

So, how did he end up in the Mid-Continent League, at a school nobody banging around the L.A. summer leagues has ever dreamed of playing for?

When the big-name schools lost interest, the father made a few phone calls, then spoke to Dale Brown, the Louisiana State coach, and was pointed toward Brown’s former assistant, Homer Drew.

“Kareem asked Dale if he could recommend a place where his son could play and still have quality academics,” Drew said. “And Dale said, ‘I know the exact spot.’ ”

Valparaiso, Ind. The Crusaders. Not a smaller school in Southern California, a smaller school halfway across the country.

“A lot of thought went into it,” the older Abdul-Jabbar said. “I guess a lot of luck went into it too. If I didn’t know Dale, he probably would’ve ended up a lot closer to home.

“Dale recommended Homer Drew, said he worked well with young men and that Valparaiso was a top-flight academic institution. I was thrilled by those two factors, and I didn’t care how small the school was. It’s the right setting, and he’s flourished.

“I think Homer does an excellent job. I didn’t have any misgivings at all. I thought he might freeze to death, but he survived that too.”

The hardest thing, the son says, was going through his first year on the bench, even though he agrees it probably was best.

He’s Kareem’s son, and he isn’t playing at all his first season at tiny Valparaiso?

“It’s hard sitting on the sideline watching your teammates, everybody in stands is wondering, ‘Is he on the team, can he play?’ It’s hard because nobody gets a chance to see what you can do,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

“But it’s helped me a lot in preparing for this year and I’m definitely a better player than I was last year.”

This year, on a deep team, Drew is using Abdul-Jabbar in spots for some offensive spark. Through Valparaiso’s first eight games, he averaged just over three points a game.

In a Dec. 9 victory over Wisconsin Green Bay, the only game his father has attended so far, Abdul-Jabbar came into the game, scored two quick baskets and spurred the team to a game-winning run.

“He’s got offensive skills,” Drew said. “And in a situation like the Wisconsin Milwaukee game, Kareem went in and got us four quick points, gave us that spurt.”

Abdul-Jabbar, who led Brentwood to a 21-7 record his senior year, admits that he never knows if he’s going to play. But he says he knows he has to make the most of the time he gets.

“It’s kind of rough, but it keeps you ready,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “I know the worst thing that can happen to me this season is if Coach puts me in games, and I’m not paying attention and go and run the play wrong or make a really obvious mistake.”

Against Wisconsin Milwaukee, Abdul-Jabbar said he didn’t feel any extra pressure with his father in the stands--”It ended up being my best game, though,” he said--but the elder Kareem definitely made an impression.

“Oh, we loved it,” Drew said. “All of the players said he was just a normal parent in the stands, cheering and being part of the crowd. I really enjoyed it, because my son was Mr. Basketball in Indiana, and he’s still always been ‘Homer Drew’s son.’ Now, many times, I’m ‘Bryce Drew’s dad,’ and that’s great.

“When Kareem’s dad was here, he was being introduced, and it’s, ‘This is Kareem’s dad.’ Kareem’s dad! It shows that the guys like Kareem for Kareem, not because his father’s the NBA all-time leading scorer, and he won all those rings.”

On that night earlier this month, he was just another tall spectator, having a ball at a college game.

“It was great--I haven’t had that much fun at a basketball game in a long time,” the father said. “You don’t realize how much fun that can be unless there’s somebody out there who makes you personally interested in the game. That was a new one for me.”

Does he get nervous watching his son play?

“None of that,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “There’s going to be ups and downs, and he’s going to go through what everybody else goes through. I don’t have any problems with that.

“Now, my younger son [Amir, 15] playing football, that’s agonizing. He’s out there, and it’s a macho game. The kids know who he is and they’re trying to lay one on him and he’s trying to respond to challenge. Football scares me. In basketball, I’m not afraid of anything.”