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Hakeem Olajuwon

1963-

American basketball player

Seven-foot Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon has a rare combination of strength, footwork, and speed that put him on the short list of the best big men to ever play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). On the defensive end, his shot blocking abilities are legendary, and on the offensive end he can score with a dunk, a jump hook, a drop step, and a fade away. After playing seventeen years of his eighteen-year career for the Houston Rockets, and winning two NBA titles during the 1990s, Olajuwon announced his retirement from professional basketball on December 2, 2002.

From Handball to Basketball

Hakeem Olajuwon was born on January 21, 1963, in Lagos, Nigeria. His parents, Salaam and Abike Olajuwon, owners of a concrete business, raised Olajuwon along with his four brothers and one sister in a one-story, three-bedroom red concrete house in a neighborhood inhabited by Nigeria's relatively small middle class. During his childhood, Olajuwon played soccer as a goalie and excelled as a team handball player. He did not play basketball until he was a high school senior at Moslem Teacher College, after a Nigerian basketball coach spotted the six-foot-nine-inch, 170-pound Olajuwon on the soccer field and talked him into trying the game.

Although Olajuwon instantly loved basketball, learning to play was difficult because basketball games were not televised in Nigeria, and soccer dominated the nation's sports news. Nonetheless, under the tutelage of coach Richard Mills, 17-year-old Olajuwon quickly became a leader on the Nigeria national basketball team, which took third place in the All-African tournament in 1979. The following year Olajuwon traveled to the United States to visit colleges. Disdaining the cold wind that greeted him when he arrived in New York in October of 1980, Olajuwon enrolled in the University of Houston, which offered him both a place on the basketball team and a much more familiar climate.

Two Trips to the Final Four

Olajuwon's adjustment American basketball was not easy. After sitting out the first year as a redshirt freshman, Olajuwon joined the Houston Cougars for the 1981-82 season, but, now seven feet tall, he suffered from frequent back spasms, caused by growing pains and simply being out of shape. Still learning the game, he was also consistently in foul trouble, but from the start he was a natural shot blocker. Throughout the season he worked on increasing his weight with lots of steak and ice cream and worked one-on-one with Houston Rockets star Moses Malone to improve his defensive skills and learn the more aggressive-style of American basketball.

By his second season, Olajuwon had become one of the best college basketball players on the court. The trio of Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and Larry Micheaux, known as the "Phi Slamma Jamma," tore through the season, posting a record of 31-3. Favored to win the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament in 1983, Houston lost, 54-52, in the final seconds of the last game when North Carolina State University threw up a buzzer-beater shot, a play that still earns a place on sports highlight films two decades later. Despite losing, Olajuwon was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. With Drexler and Micheaux gone the next season, Olajuwon became a one-man show, averaging fifteen points per game and leading the nation with 13.5 rebounds per game. Although Houston once again made it into the final game of the NCAA tournament, the Cougars failed to win the title, losing 84-75 to another future superstar center, Patrick Ewing, and his Georgetown Hoyas.

Hakeem "The Dream"

Foregoing his final year of college eligibility, Olajuwon was selected as the number one overall pick of the 1984 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets. Olajuwon, paired with seven-foot-four-inch Ralph Sampson in the front court, had a stellar rookie year, averaging 20.6 points and 11.9 rebounds per game, and finished second to Jordan in the Rookie of Year voting. During the 1985-86 season Olajuwon averaged 23.5 points and 11.4 rebounds per game and led his team to face the Boston Celtics in the NBA finals, but lost the series four games to two.

The next several years of Olajuwon's career proved frustrating. Although his personal statistics remained impressive, Olajuwon struggled with injuries and an overall weak team that failed to produce playoff wins. By the end of the 1991-92 season, Olajuwon was demanding that Houston management trade him. Instead, Houston brought in a new coach, Rudy Tomjanovich, who worked to keep Olajuwon in a Rockets uniform. The year proved to be a turning point for Olajuwon and the Rockets. Under Tomjanovich the team began to once again post wins, making it into the second round of the NBA playoffs before losing to the Seattle Supersonics in seven games. Personally, Olajuwon found new focus in the Islamic faith. After making his first trip to Mecca in 1992, he began to pray daily, carrying a prayer rug and compass (to find Mecca) wherever he went.

NBA Title Times Two

By the 1993-94 season Olajuwon was at the peak of his career. His undefendable fade-away jump shot, combined with his powerful dunks and tenacious defense under the basket proved a nearly unstoppable combination. Posting a season average of 27.3 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks per game, Olajuwon was named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP). Facing star center Ewing and the New York Knicks in the NBA finals, Olajuwon won his first NBA title, defeating the Knicks in seven games. He was also named the MVP of the finals. The following season the Rockets, who were plagued by injuries throughout the regular season, surprised many by returning to the NBA finals, this time facing center Shaquille O'Neal and the Orlando Magic. Olajuwon dominated at both ends of the floor, and the Rockets took the seven-game series in four games. Olajuwon, once again named the NBA Finals MVP, ended the season with his second championship title.

Retirement and Beyond

In 1996 33-year-old Olajuwon married 18-year-old Dalia Asafi under the traditional Islamic custom of a prearranged marriage. As Olajuwon aged, his minutes on the court and statistics took a natural decline, and Houston management began planning a future beyond his presence on the court. During the 2000-01 season Olajuwon was diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg and benched while he took a series of blood thinners. At the end of the season Olajuwon's contract expired, and Houston management decided to free themselves of Olajuwon's hefty salary and traded their premiere center to the Toronto Raptors. Olajuwon already has plans for life after the NBA. He has significant real estate investments in Houston, which he operates under his company Palladio Development Ltd.

A shoo-in to the NBA Hall of Fame, Olajuwon matched up against some of the best centers to ever play the game, including Bill Walton, David Robinson, Ewing, and O'Neal. His ability to perform in the company of such talent proves his place in the NBA history books. Upon his retirement in 2002, the Houston Rockets announced that a life-size statue of Olajuwon would greet fans outside the team's new downtown arena.

SELECTED WRITINGS BY OLAJUWON:

Living the Dream: My Life and Basketball, Little Brown, 1996

FURTHER INFORMATION

Books

Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 2. Detroit: Gale, 1992.

Contemporary Newsmakers 1985, Issue Cumulation. Detroit: Gale, 1986.

Sports Stars. Series 1-4. Detroit: U•X•L, 1994-98.

Who's Who Among African Americans, 14th ed. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001.

Periodicals

Blinebury, Fran. "Hakeem Olajuwon." Sport (January 1994): 42.

Bloom, Barry M. "Dream Fulfilled: Two Straight Titles Have Rocketed Hakeem Olajuwon into Another Dimension." Sport (November 1995): 22.

D'Alessandro, Dave. "If This is It for Olajuwon, Basketball is Losing an Artist." Sporting News (March 26, 2001): 18.

D'Alessandro, Dave. "Olajuwon Must Alter His Game for Good of the Team." Sporting News (November 22, 1999): 52.

"Dressing Down." Sports Illustrated (February 20, 1995): 14.

Gietschier, Steve. Living the Dream: My Life and Basketball [book review]. Sporting News (February 19, 1996): 8.

Kirkpatrick, Curry. "The Liege Lord of Noxzema." Sports Illustrated (November 28, 1983): 106.

Lee, Spike. "Slam Dunk." Interview (February 1994): 66-67.

McCallum, Jack. "A Dream Come True." Sports Illustrated (March 22, 1993): 16.

McEntegart, Pete. "4 Toronto Raptors: Surrounded by a Young and Deep Supporting Cast, Hakeem Can Dream about Another Shot at a Championship." Sports Illustrated (October 29, 2001): 126.

Montville, Leigh. "The Stuff of Dreams." Sports Illustrated (June 12, 1995): 28.

Sarnoff, Nancy. "Center of Attention." Houston Business Journal (January 26, 2001): 14.

Starr, Mark. "Good Enough to Dream: After Two NBA Titles, Hakeem Olajuwon is Running out of Worlds to Conquer." Newsweek (November 6, 1995): 70-71.

Wulf, Steve. "The Dream is Again Sweet for the Rockets." Time (June 19, 1995): 63-64.

Other

"Akeem [Hakeem] Olajuwon." Sports Stats.com. http://www.sportsstats.com/bball/national/players/1980/Akeem_Olajuwon/ (December 11, 2002).

"Hakeem Olajuwon." National Basketball Association. http://www.nba.com/ (December 11, 2002).

Sketch by Kari Bethel