Tag: Lew Alcindor

UCLA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar hospitalized with broken hip

Former UCLA basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is slated to undergo surgery after falling and breaking his hip at a concert in LA on Friday evening.

Basketball Hall of Famer and UCLA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 76, was hospitalized after breaking his hip from a fall at a concert in Los Angeles according to his representative, Deborah Morales.

Abdul-Jabbar was slated to undergo surgery on Saturday after going to the hospital on Friday night. No other details about his condition have been released at this time.

Morales said Abdul-Jabbar was “deeply appreciative” of the Los Angeles Fire Department, which treated him at the scene, and the “amazing medical team and doctors at UCLA Hospital who are taking great care of [him].”

Abdul-Jabbar is one of the most prolific college and NBA players of all-time. While at UCLA, where he went by Lew Alcindor, he was a two-time AP Player of the Year and a three-time NCAA Champion – and is responsible for the NCAA not allowing dunking for a ten year period starting in 1967.

Abdul-Jabbar then became the first pick in the 1969 NBA draft and had an incredibly prolific professional career, holding the NBA scoring record for over 30 years before it was broken by LeBron James in February.

Notre Dame Legend Whitmore Dies at 73

Bob Whitmore was a pioneer for the Notre Dame basketball program The DeMatha (Md.) Catholic High School product chose to attend Notre Dame after an outrageous high school career that saw his team go 55-3 over his junior and senior seasons, even …

Bob Whitmore was a pioneer for the Notre Dame basketball program  The DeMatha (Md.) Catholic High School product chose to attend Notre Dame after an outrageous high school career that saw his team go 55-3 over his junior and senior seasons, even beating Lew Alcindor and Power Memorial (NY) in 1965.

It was at Notre Dame where Whitmore would again meet up with Alcindor, jumping against the legend in the first jump ball ever performed at the Joyce Center.

Whitmore scored 1580 points and secured 1053 rebounds in his three seasons for the Fighting Irish and helped lead them to the NIT Semi-finals his junior year before an NCAA Tournament appearance his senior season.

Current Notre Dame head basketball coach and fellow-DeMatha graduate Mike Brey remembered the Irish legend on Saturday.

“We have lost one of our great players, but also a great gentleman. Bob Whitmore laid a foundation for this program that is still being felt to this day. My thoughts and prayers go out to Bob’s family, friends and former teammates.” – Mike Brey

Whitmore helped establish a Notre Dame pipeline to the Washington, D.C. area which in turn helped direct Austin Carr, Adrian Dantley, Collis Jones, Sid Catlett, Don Williams, Jerian Grant, Prentiss Hubb and others to play basketball at Notre Dame.

Whitmore recorded 47 double-doubles in his 84 games at Notre Dame and finished with a career average of 18.8 points and 12.4 rebounds per game.  Whitmore’s six 20-point/20-rebound games remain the most in Notre Dame basketball history to this day.

Whitmore had been sick with a variety of health issues but was able to make it back to campus in 2019 to be inducted into the Purcell Pavilion Ring of Honor.

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Bob Whitmore was 73 years old.

Fans could not believe that Michael Jordan won ESPN’s GOAT college basketball player bracket

The voters got this one so wrong.

When it comes to the NBA, most would agree that Michael Jordan is the greatest of all-time. He won six NBA championships (and finals MVPs), he’s a five-time MVP and a 10-time scoring champion.

But he absolutely wasn’t the greatest player that college basketball had ever seen. There’s not even a debate.

Yet, with the NCAA tournament canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic, ESPN decided to hold a GOAT college basketball player bracket. This bracket was left up to the fans, so we can’t blame ESPN for the decision. But the final result could not have been more off the mark.

In the final, Michael Jordan defeated Larry Bird while Lew Alcindor (who would later go by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) lost to Shaquille O’Neal (!!!) early in the bracket.

Alcindor should have won that bracket easily as a three-time champion and three-time National Player of the Year at UCLA. Alcindor was so dominant that the NCAA decided to ban dunking to make it fair. So, when the final result was unveiled, college hoops fans were justifiably upset.

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