10 Things We Learned From Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Minority of One

NBA legend opens up in thrilling HBO doc.

High School Coach Called Him The N-Word - Part of the documentary has Kareem Abdul-Jabbar remembering the painful and stunning moment that his Power Memorial Academy high school coach Jack Donohue called him a "n*****" during a game for his lackluster effort. A young Lew Alcindor was crushed hearing the vile word from a coach he respected, but it opened his eyes to the harsh realities of the world. "He was the last person that I thought would ever use that word," Abdul-Jabbar said. "He didn't say what he said because he was a racist. He said what he said because I wasn't giving my best effort and he wanted to shock me out of it and he went too far."(Photo: New York Times Co./Getty Images)
Witnessed Harlem Race Riots - As an impressionable 17-year-old in 1964, something told Lew Alcindor to get off the train at the famed 125th Street stop in Harlem. When he did, he was exposed to what he described as a "whirlpool of violence" during the notorious Harlem race riots, an event which seen a 15-year-old Black boy killed by a police officer. "When you see people being murdered and beaten, it makes you angry," Abdul-Jabbar says. "It makes you want to affect change."(Photo: Dick DeMarsico/Underwood Archives/Getty Images)
Received Letter From Jackie Robinson - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar remembers being the most sought-after recruit in the country and receiving a letter from baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson, imploring the teenager to attend UCLA. "'Hey, UCLA is the place to go,'" Abdul-Jabbar says Robinson wrote to him in the letter. "'You'll get a great education and the basketball program is first rate.'"(Photos from left: AP Photo, Photo File/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Still Not Sure if NCAA's Dunk Ban Was Racially Motivated - The 7-2 center was so dominant in the paint during his college career that the NCAA banned dunking in 1967, something to this day that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wonders was racially motivated against him or not. Abdul-Jabbar dominated anyway, leading the Bruins to three straight national titles and helping UCLA amass an 88-2 record from 1967-69.(Photo: Focus on Sport/Getty Images)Icy Relationship With Wilt Chamberlain - The documentary has Kareem Abdul-Jabbar talking about being a seven-foot eighth grader and meeting his then-hero Wilt Chamberlain at New York City's famed Rucker Park. There, Chamberlain took the impressionable teen under his wing. But with time there would prove to be no love lost. As Abdul-Jabbar became the center for the Los Angeles Lakers, leading them to NBA titles, he felt like Chamberlain was dogging him out in the press. All this years later, Abdul-Jabbar chalks it up to Chamberlain having a big ego.(Photo: Focus on Sport/Getty Images) 

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Witnessed Harlem Race Riots - As an impressionable 17-year-old in 1964, something told Lew Alcindor to get off the train at the famed 125th Street stop in Harlem. When he did, he was exposed to what he described as a "whirlpool of violence" during the notorious Harlem race riots, an event which seen a 15-year-old Black boy killed by a police officer. "When you see people being murdered and beaten, it makes you angry," Abdul-Jabbar says. "It makes you want to affect change."(Photo: Dick DeMarsico/Underwood Archives/Getty Images)

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