Short answers, pulled from the story.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is an American former basketball player born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. on the 16th of April 1947 in Harlem, New York City. He played 20 NBA seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers and won a record six Most Valuable Player awards.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships as a player and two more as an assistant coach. He won a record six NBA MVP awards in 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, and 1980, and was twice named NBA Finals MVP, in 1971 and 1985.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlain's career scoring record on the 5th of April 1984 against Utah, scoring on his skyhook. He held the record of 38,387 points for nearly 39 years until LeBron James surpassed him on the 7th of February 2023.
The skyhook was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's trademark hook shot, released at the highest point of his arching arm motion from up to 16 feet. He learned it in fifth grade using the Mikan Drill, and his great height made it nearly impossible to block without a goaltending violation.
Lew Alcindor converted from Catholicism to Sunni Islam in the summer of 1968 and adopted the Arabic name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, meaning "noble one, servant of the Almighty." He legally took the name in 1971 at age 24, connecting it to his family heritage and his Yoruba ancestry.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played college basketball as Lew Alcindor for the UCLA Bruins under coach John Wooden. He won three consecutive national championships from 1967 to 1969 and was three times named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made his film debut in Bruce Lee's 1972 film Game of Death and played co-pilot Roger Murdock in the 1980 comedy Airplane!. He also became a best-selling author, writing his 1983 autobiography Giant Steps and the 2015 Victorian mystery novel Mycroft Holmes.