basketball player

Personal Information

Born Hakeem Abdul Ajibola Olajuwon (known professionally as Akeem until 1991, then reverted to original spelling, Hakeem), surname pronounced "oh-LAHJ-oo-wahn"; born January 23, 1963, in Lagos, Nigeria; son of Alhaji Salaam Olude and Alhaja Abike Olajuwon (cement dealers).
Education: Attended University of Houston, majoring in business technology, 1981-84; also attended Baptist Academy and Moslem Teachers College, Nigeria. Professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets, 1984-2001; with Toronto Raptors, 2001.

Life's Work

Akeem "the Dream" Olajuwon, who in 1991 changed his given name to its original Arabic spelling "Hakeem," is considered one of the best centers playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA). While most of his teammates and rivals got involved with the sport in grade school, Olajuwon didn't play the game until his senior year in high school, because basketball was virtually unknown in his homeland of Nigeria. Growing up in the capital city of Lagos, he excelled at the more popular games of handball, soccer, field hockey, and the high jump. Seeing his skills in these activities, Ganiyu Otenigbade, a coach at Lagos State, convinced Olajuwon to give the American game a try. "Once I start playing basketball I don't play those other sports again," Olajuwon told John Capouya of Sport. "It's the movement, there's a feel to it. When you shoot it and make the basket, it's just a good feeling.... Basketball is a cool game."

It wasn't long before 17-year-old Olajuwon was leading the Nigerian basketball team in the All-African Games. Although they were unable to catch the traditional leaders from the Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Egypt, the tournament provided invaluable experience for the young center, and later that year Olajuwon took the junior Nigerian team to a bronze medal performance at their All-African tournament. After graduating from high school, he briefly attended the Baptist Academy, then transferred to Moslem Teachers College. It was during his sixth month there that Olajuwon was spotted by a U.S. State Department official, who offered to take him on a six-campus tour stateside. Olajuwon's family had always wanted him to attend an American university, so the invitation was enthusiastically received.

Olajuwon arrived in New York City on a chilly October day in 1980. "I thought it was too cold for me to live in this country," he told People magazine writer Kent Demaret of his reaction to the climate in the northern United States. He found the warmer weather of Houston, Texas, much more appealing, however. His sponsor had spoken highly of Guy Lewis, the coach at the University of Houston, and Olajuwon was excited about their meeting. Lewis was skeptical, despite rumors of the Nigerian's phenomenal raw talent. He told Demaret, "I've had hundreds of foreign kids referred to us over the years. Frankly, they just don't play basketball in most countries the way they play it in the U.S." But in Olajuwon he saw the exception to the rule.

At nearly seven feet tall, Olajuwon possessed more speed and agility than most players of his size, and he was filled with a tremendous desire to win. He was also undisciplined, underweight, out of shape, and far too polite on the court, but those things could be changed. In January of 1981, he entered the University of Houston as a business major on a full athletic scholarship.

Throughout his first year on the college basketball scene, Olajuwon was viewed by many as "little more than a curiosity--with the usual 'spear chucker' slurs" reserved for a native African, wrote Sports Illustrated contributor Curry Kirkpatrick. The polite, soft-spoken ways of his culture were considered droll on the Texas campus, and his naivete and supposedly limited English became legendary. In fact, English is the primary language of Nigeria, and Olajuwon spoke it fluently--as he spoke French, Yoruban, and three other African dialects. Houston sports director Jay Goldberg told Sports Illustrated, "I think he meant to present an illusion of dumb. On purpose. He was testing people to see whom he could trust." Discussing his first months in the United States with Capouya, Olajuwon remembered: "They try to make me doubt myself or make a joke about Africa, though they haven't even been there. That's not funny to me.... People think all of Africa is the jungle because that's what they see on TV. But Lagos is like New York--crowded, people walking 24 hours a day. If you live there you can live anywhere in the world."

During his first season with the University of Houston team, Olajuwon never played a full game. He built up his endurance, ate plenty of steak and ice cream to increase his mass, and learned the aggressive, American style of play. Professional basketball star Moses Malone, then with the Houston Rockets, played one-on-one with him to sharpen his defensive skills. By the next fall, Olajuwon had become "the most feared college basketball star in nearly a decade," according to Kirkpatrick. That year he led the University of Houston Cougars to a 31-3 record. The team came within two points of winning the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship, and he received the Most Valuable Player award in what turned out to be the first of three consecutive years of Final Four NCAA appearances. It wasn't surprising when he was designated the NBA's number one draft pick after his graduation in 1984. The Houston Rockets signed him to a six-year, $6.3 million contract, enabling him to make the transition from collegiate to professional sport without leaving his adopted hometown.

In his first years with the Rockets, Olajuwon was teamed with 7-foot-4-inch-tall forward Ralph Sampson in an alliance known as the "Twin Towers." They started their first season with an eight-game winning streak to lift Houston out of its perennial position at the bottom of the division. Although Sampson was traded in 1987, Olajuwon stayed with the Rockets, signing a ten-year, $20 million contract extension in 1986. Already he had used the business skills learned at the University of Houston to establish his own corporation, through which he invests and manages his salary. He has full African distribution rights for Etonic sneakers and is negotiating with the company to build a manufacturing plant in Lagos.

Health problems have repeatedly cast shadows over Olajuwon's sports career. A shoulder injury before the 1988 season led to rumors of drug use, which he rebuffed by offering to put up $100,000 against $1,000 from anyone who doubted that he would test clean for drugs, with the loser's money going to charity. "That offer is open for as long as I'm in the league, because I've never done drugs and I don't plan to," he told Capouya. Then in 1989 he missed the exhibition season because of thrombophlebitis, a painful blood clot in his left calf resulting from a kick from another player. Blood-thinning medication paved the way to a successful comeback from that incident, and Olajuwon returned with the relentless energy that is his trademark. "He's like a wolf chasing a reindeer," Capouya quoted Houston Rocket Cedric Maxwell as saying. "He just chases and chases and chases. Finally, it's the reindeer who wears out, stops and says, 'Kill me. It will be less painful.'"

On January 3, 1991, Olajuwon again fell victim to injury on the court. Chicago Bulls center Bill Cartwright elbowed him in the face, fracturing the bony socket surrounding his right eye. He underwent surgery to repair the damage and minimize the risk of double vision in the future, but two months elapsed before he returned to the court. Critics predicted that the Houston Rockets would crumble without Olajuwon at the helm. Olajuwon himself had frequently derided some of his teammates for their seemingly lackadaisical approach toward winning games. But during his absence, the remaining Rockets regrouped and developed a new team approach to playing basketball. "Olajuwon, either humbled or impressed by the team's success without him ... was very mindful of what had been achieved," observed Richard Hoffer in Sports Illustrated.

Recurring health troubles continued to plague Olajuwon in late 1991. He was hospitalized in November after experiencing heart palpitations during a game, but doctors indicated that he would be able to resume play after a period of rest. In March of 1992 he received a five-game suspension for what was suspected to be a feigned injury. The pulled hamstring muscle in question later proved valid, and Olajuwon became restless in Houston, hoping to be traded to some other team, until a new coach, Rudy Tomjanovich, took over the team at the start of the 1992-93 season, and Olajuwon felt appreciated once again. The Rockets won the Midwest division playoffs that season, and Olajuwon was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 1993.

At the close of the 1993-94 season, Olajuwon was named League MVP. His team survived the playoffs in 1994 and defeated the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, with Olajuwon earning the Finals MVP award that year. Again in 1995 and despite a slow start at the beginning of the season in 1994, the Rockets survived the playoffs and won the NBA championship. Olajuwon collected the second of his back-to-back Finals MVP awards.

Olajuwon had another long seasons with the Rockets, in 1995-96, and in the summer of 1996 he helped the U.S. Olympic basketball team to a gold-medal win. After another long season in 1996-97 and having renewed his contract with the Rockets, he began to experience recurring health problems. As Olajuwon approached middle age for an athlete, his appearances dwindled in number. After playing in 47 and 50 games respectively during the next two seasons, he played a career low of 44 games during the 1999-2000 season, due to a hernia and a respiratory ailment. A recurrence of blood clots limited his play to 58 games in 2000-01. When he reached free agency at the end of that season, he opted to leave the Rockets and signed for $17 million with the Toronto Raptors.

Olajuwon left Houston after 17 seasons. A 14-time All-Star, he had averaged 22.5 points per game and 11.4 rebounds during his years with that team. By 2002 Olajuwon led the league with a total of 3,740 career blocks.

Awards

Named Most Valuable Player (MVP) in NCAA Final Four Championship, 1981; numerous shot-blocking and rebounding titles; Rookie of the Year and number one NBA draft pick, 1984; 14-time NBA All-Star; NBA Defensive Player of the Year, 1993; League MVP, 1994; NBA Finals MVP, 1994, 1995; Olympic Gold Medal, 1996.

Further Reading

Sources

• Chicago Tribune, January 15, 1991; March 25, 1991.
• Christian Science Monitor, February 6, 1985.
• Dallas Morning News, March 6, 2002.
• Jet, May 21, 1984; January 28, 1991; April 1, 1991.
• London Free Press, March 6, 2002.
• Los Angeles Times, November 28, 1990.
• Newsweek, November 26, 1984.
• New York Times, March 29, 1983; June 20, 1984; February 16, 1985; November 21, 1989.
• People, December 5, 1983; December 17, 1984.
• Sport, November 1984; April 1988.
• Sports Illustrated, November 28, 1983; March 4, 1991; April 8, 1991.
• Toronto Sun, August 2, 2001, December 26, 2001, March 6, 2002.
• Washington Post, March 2, 1991.

— Joan Goldsworthy

For more information on Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon, visit Britannica.com.

(häkēm' ōlī'jəwŏn') , 1963–, Nigerian-American basketball player, b. Lagos. Introduced to basketball at age 15, when he stood 6 ft 9 in. (206 cm) tall, he soon became the center for the Nigerian national team. In 1981–84 he attended the Univ. of Houston, where he led his team three consecutive times to the National Collegiate Athletic Association's “Final Four” (national tournament semifinals). Drafted by the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association, he formed part of the “Twin Towers” offense (1984–87) with the even taller Ralph Sampson, and gradually emerged as the dominant big man in the NBA. “The Dream” became an American citizen in 1993. In 1994 and 1995 he led the Rockets to the NBA championship and was the league's most valuable player for the 1993–94 season. In the mid-1990s he and Shaquille O'Neal were regarded as the NBA's best centers. Olajuwon signed with the Toronto Raptors in 2001 but retired the following year.