X6
Thursday, January 15, 2015
EXTRATIME
Stars of yesteryears
Celebrating
HAKEEM ’The Dream’ OLAJUWON
H
akeem Abdul Olajuwon, formerly known as Akeem Olajuwon, is a retired Nigerian-American professional basketball player. Born on January 21, 1963, he played the center position in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors between 1984 and 2002. Olajuwon led the Rockets to back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 1995. In 2008, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. At 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), Olajuwon is considered one of the greatest centers ever to play the game and was nicknamed “The Dream” during his basketball career, for his grace on and off the court. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Olajuwon traveled from his home country to play for the University of Houston under Coach Guy Lewis. His college career for the Cougars included three trips to the Final Four. Olajuwon was drafted by the Houston Rockets with the first overall selection of the 1984 NBA Draft, a draft that included Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton. He combined with the 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) Ralph Sampson to form a duo dubbed the “Twin Towers”. The two led the Rockets to the 1986 NBA Finals, where they lost in six games to the Boston Celtics. After Sampson was traded to the Warriors in 1988, Olajuwon became the Rockets’ undisputed leader. He led the league in rebounding twice (1989, 1990) and blocks three times (1990, 1991, 1993). Raised as a Muslim, Olajuwon became more devoted to the faith during this period and changed the spelling of his name from Akeem to Hakeem. Despite very nearly being traded during a bitter contract dispute before the 1992–93 season, he remained in Houston where in 1993–94, he became the only player in NBA history to win the NBA MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Finals MVP awards in the same season.
Hakeem In 1996, Olajuwon was a member of the Olympic gold-medal-winning United States national team, and was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. He ended his career as the league’s all-time leader in blocks, with 3,830. Olajuwon was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2008 and ranked #13 in SLAM Magazine’s 2009 revision of the top 50 greatest players of all time (published in the August 2009 issue). Early life Olajuwon was born to Salim and Abike Olajuwon, middle-class Yoruba owners of a cement business in Lagos, Nigeria. “Olajuwon” translates to “always being on top” in Yoruba. He was the third of six children. He credits his parents with instilling virtues of hard work and discipline into him and his siblings; “They taught us to be honest, work hard, respect our elders, and believe in ourselves”. Olajuwon once expressed displeasure at his childhood in Nigeria being characterized as backward. “Lagos is a very cosmopolitan city...There are many ethnic groups. I grew up in an environment at schools where there were all different types of people.” During his youth, Olajuwon was a soccer goalkeeper, which helped give him the footwork
and agility to balance his size and strength in basketball, and also contributed to his shotblocking ability. He did not play basketball until the age of 15, when he entered a local tournament. It has been said that a coach in Nigeria once asked him to dunk and demonstrated while standing on a chair. Olajuwon then tried to stand on the chair himself. When redirected by staff not to use the chair, Hakeem could initially not dunk the basketball. Despite early struggles, Olajuwon quickly became taken with the game: “Basketball is something that is so unique. That immediately I pick up the game and, you know, realize that this is the sport for me. All the other sports just become secondary.” In 1980, before arriving in the US, Olajuwon played for a Nigerian junior team in the All-Africa Games. This created some problems when he tried to play for the United States men’s national basketball team initially. FIBA rules prohibit players from representing more than one country in international competition, and players must go through a three year waiting period for any nationality change. Olajuwon was ineligible for selection to the “Dream Team” as he hadn’t become a US citizen then. Olajuwon became a naturalized American citizen on April 2, 1993 and in 1996 Olympics, he received a FIBA exemption and was eligible to play for Dream Team III. The team went on to win the gold medal in Atlanta. During the tournament, he shared his minutes with Shaquille O’Neal and David Robinson. He played 7 out of the 8 games and started 2. He averaged 5 points and 3.1 rebounds and had 8 assists and 6 steals in seven games. Off the court Olajuwon married his current wife Dalia Asafi on August 8, 1996 in Houston. They have two daughters, Rahmah and Aisha Olajuwon. Abisola Olajuwon, his daughter with Lita Spencer, whom he met in college, represented the West Girls in the McDonald’s All American Game and
Hakeem Olajuwon (left) in action
played in the WNBA. In addition to English, Olajuwon is fluent in French, Arabic, and the Nigerian languages of Yoruba and Ekiti. He wrote his autobiography, Living the Dream, with co-author Peter Knobler in 1996. During his 18-year NBA career, Olajuwon earned more than $107,000,000 in salary. Olajuwon was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2008 and on April 10, 2008 the Rockets unveiled a sculpture in honor of him outside the Toyota Center.
Awards and achievements 2× NBA champion (1994, ‘95) 2× NBA Finals MVP (1994, ‘95) 1× NBA MVP (1994) 2× Defensive Player of Year (1993, ‘94) 6× All-NBA First Team (1987, ‘88, ‘89, ‘93, ‘94, ‘97) 3× All-NBA Second Team (‘86, ‘90, ‘96) 3× All-NBA Third Team (1991, ‘95, ‘99) 5× All-Defensive First Team (‘87, ‘88, ‘90, ‘93, ‘94) 4× All-Defensive Second Team (‘85, ‘91, ‘96, ‘97) 12× All-Star Olympic gold medalist (1996) Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996).