All the courage and competitiveness of Jackie Robinson affects me to this day. If I patterned my life after anyone it was him, not because he was the first black baseball player in the majors but because he was a hero.
Ken Heitz got drafted by the Bucks the same year I did. He went to their camp just for the experience, then dropped out to attend Harvard Law School. I always admired his combination of athleticism and brains.
A lot of young players don't really know much about the history of the game and a lot of them are missing out on what the game is all about, especially the whole concept of sportsmanship and teamwork.
The only reason is that I hadn't seen The Modern Jazz Quartet perform live and a live performance is often where the real experience of jazz takes place. I'm not familiar with the Boswell Sisters.
The word 'leukemia' is a very frightening word. In many instances, it's a killer and it's something that you have to deal with in a very serious and determined way if you're going to beat it.
I read that Hollywood wanted to film Fences years ago with a white director, but [August] Wilson refused. He thought that the director needed to have lived the culture of black Americans.
Common decency demands that [NCAA athletes] should be paid, but the only way it will happen is the same way workers got paid throughout American history, through a strong union.
When I was at UCLA, the Harlem Globetrotters offered me a million dollars to come play for them. I turned it down because my education was just as important as playing ball.
When I traveled through Greece in the '90s, everything [Albert Hoxie] taught me came flooding back and I was able to appreciate the art and culture much more because of him.
The '80s made up for all the abuse I took during the '70s. I outlived all my critics. By the time I retired, everybody saw me as a venerable institution. Things do change.
Sports and entertainment are the only places where inner-city kids see themselves being able to succeed. Their intellectual development is something they don't relate to.
The lifespan of most professional athletes is relatively short, and most have no preparation for doing anything after their career ends, which it could in an instant.
I want people to understand that I intend to continue living and doing all the things that I love to do up until the end. And the end is by no means rushing up on me.
We can learn from mistakes of others, whether they're kings or our parents. When we do learn those lessons, we're better equipped to make our own dreams come true.
There are a lot of authors in the world, so it's difficult to find a unique niche to present your take on things. That is always a challenge for any author.
 and Eldridge Cleaver (Soul on Ice) as speakers. )
UCLA acknowledged this shift by bringing in Alex Haley (the co-author of The Autobiography of Malcolm X) and Eldridge Cleaver (Soul on Ice) as speakers.
Lakers were able to maintain a certain level of talent and success and so were the Celtics. So after awhile it became part of people's sports lore...
. He knocked me out of bounds, I came back and faked him, came across the middle and dunked on him. )
I had a moment like that with Wilt (Chamberlain). He knocked me out of bounds, I came back and faked him, came across the middle and dunked on him.
For me, the bold jazz of John Coltrane and Miles Davis reflected the bold attitude in African-Americans finding their political identity and voice.
My mother had to send me to the movies with my birth certificate, so that I wouldn't have to pay the extra fifty cents that the adults had to pay.
Either because I was an athlete or because I was black - probably both - there seemed to be a clear assumption that I wouldn't be up to the work.
I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing.
You have to be able to center yourself, to let all of your emotions go... Don't ever forget that you play with your soul as well as your body.
You got guys now declaring they're ready to play pro ball in their second or third year of high school. It's crazy! They're missing so much.
I did a book in 1996, an overview of black history. In that process I became more aware of a lot of the black inventors of the 19th century.
He doesn't necessarily have to learn the sky hook. He just has to learn how to be an effective post player. I think I can help him do that.
In athletics there's always been a willingness to cheat if it looks like you're not cheating. I think that's just a quirk of human nature.
I think race has been a burden for black Americans. Being Muslim has also been a challenge because so many people do not understand Islam.
I'm not comfortable being preachy, but more people need to start spending as much time in the library as they do on the basketball court.
What I learned in my time isn't necessarily being taught now, and I'd like to help impart that knowledge to a new generation of players.
I'm still my parent's child, I'm still me, but I made a choice. I evolved into Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I think it has to do with evolution.
I would suggest that teachers show their students concrete examples of the negative effects of the actions that gangsta rappers glorify.
In a typical history book, black Americans are mentioned in the context of slavery or civil rights. There's so much more to the story.
People still cheat on their wives, that hasn't fallen out of fashion. We all speak of it badly, but it has not fallen out of fashion.
Your best athletes might give basketball a try just when they think, geez, this might be something that pays off for me in the end.
I've kept in touch with many of my former teammates: Bob Marcucci was our team manager and we bonded over our passion for baseball.
If I hadn't become a professional basketball player, I would have become a history teacher. There's so much to learn from history.
I think someone should explain to the child that it's OK to make mistakes. That's how we learn. When we compete, we make mistakes.
I have been coaching recently. I coached high school basketball in Arizona, and I hope that more opportunities become available.
There are rap groups that have a positive outlook in their art. These groups should be shown as an alternative to gangsta rap.
I feel that Dennis Rodman has become a problem. He will be more of a problem than an asset. Of course, he can prove me wrong.
Great players are willing to give up their own personal achievement for the achievement of the group. It enhances everybody.
I was latching on to something that was part of my heritage, because many of the slaves who were brought here were Moslems.
Justice should be blind especially color-blind and able to fairly deal with the very real need for honest law enforcement.
When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. That's a terrible burden.
Five guys on the court working together can achieve more than five talented individuals who come and go as individuals.
Alexander Hamilton realized that warfare was part and parcel of human nature, and it's something we had to prepare for.
I think people that are, you know, voting in the blind are doing a disservice to America by not being better informed.
The disconnect lasted too long. I think people got the idea I was sullen and couldn't communicate, which wasn't true.
My grandfather and my uncle both died from colorectal cancer, my dad almost died from it and I have the gene for it.
Culture and politics were inseparable [in the Sixties], which gave a soundtrack to political awareness and activism.
When you're a coach you've got to go up the ladder, you've got to be ready to travel. That's the nature of coaching
Michael Jordan and Magic and myself, all learned how to play the game in college programs that emphasized the team.
During 1866 and 1922, Native Americans and black soldiers often intermingled in the American west, on the frontier.
Reporters used to ask me the same inane questions year-in and year-out, city-to-city, and it would drive me crazy.
OK, I'll put it like this: I doubt if we will see another All-American basketball athlete who is a Rhodes Scholar.
Today's youth are told to get rich or die trying and they really shouldn't take that attitude forward with them.
The transition was difficult. It's hard to stop something that you've enjoyed and that has been very rewarding.
Yoga is somewhat hard to quantify in terms of benefits because you see them in all the injuries you don't get.
As brilliant an individual that Michael Jordan was, he was not successful until he got with a good team unit.
Jackie Robinson, as an athlete and as someone who was trying to make a stand for equality, he was exemplary.
I think black Americans expect too much from individual black Americans in terms of changing the status quo.
I feel that there has been progress made since I was a boy on matters of race, but we have a long way to go.
A lot of players think the game is all about individual performances when it's really all about a team game.
I think the NBA players have to be held accountable in a reasonable way, just like any other professionals.
I felt that a number of people might have questioned my loyalty, but I continue to be a patriotic American.
The rivalry between the Lakers and Celtics endured for about eight years, and the interest grew each year.
I want to do as little as possible when I finish playing ball - just spend a lot more time with my family.
I love basketball, but playing basketball doesn't fully define who I am. I was always a good student, too.
Fundamental preparation is always effective. Work on those parts of your game that are fundamentally weak.
I have always thought that writers come with any variety of attributes. Some are capable and some aren't.
Black people don't have an accurate idea of their history, which has been either suppressed or distorted.
What I have is P.H. positive chronic myeloid leukemia, which is an aberration in your white blood cells.
I think a lot of people, if they get the opportunity to do some acting, they think, 'I might be a star.'
We want to show how hip-hop, which kind of fuels today's basketball stars, is directly related to jazz.
With 300 million people in America, you can fail to impress 299 million of them and still go platinum.
What we need are positive, realistic goals and the willingness to work. Hard work and practical goals.
I've had enough success for two lifetimes, My success is talent put together with hard work and luck.
I always thought I could do a good job coaching, but the opportunities have not presented themselves.
When a rap song glorifies violence, death and sadness and loss is inflicted because of the violence.
It's hard for young players to see the big picture. They just see three or four years down the road.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that the 761st was Patton's best tank unit and nobody knew about it.
If not for the success that medicine has made, I might be part of a much different story right now.
I tell kids to pursue their basketball dreams, but I tell them to not let that be their only dream.
I needed to go to class; I needed to go to practice; I needed to have a life away from basketball.
As a parent, I have a job as a role model to my children, and by extension, to other young people.
This is what I would have done if I had to have a real job: I would have been a history teacher.
When we went up against teams that were better, I just hoped that we could steal the victories.
When the line started to blur between the fans and the players, sometimes things can get ugly.
Kobe's an incredibly talented athlete, and there are many more like him among today's players.
I am highly offended by the total lack of acknowledgement of my contribution to Laker success.
I'm not going to emphasize the sky-hook as much as work with the specific skills of the guys.
Some stuff can be fixed, some stuff can’t be. Deciding which is which is part of maturing.
I was getting hot flashes and sweats on a regular basis. That's not normal, even for my age.
I can do something else besides stuff a ball through a hoop. My biggest resource is my mind.
A team will always appreciate a great individual if he's willing to sacrifice for the group.
The constant expansion has diluted the talent. Other than that, it's still the same game.
I need about three seats lengthwise to sleep on a plane. It's not easy for me to curl up.
[Coaching] is a difficult job which everyone who owns a TV thinks they can do better at.
I think that the good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice.
The Lakers fans have been great, even folks in the supermarket are welcoming me back.
High school dropouts are forfeiting their opportunity to pursue the American Dream.
There's a ball. There's a hoop. You put the ball through the hoop. That's success.
