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KAREEM ABDUL JABBAR TAKES BIG STEPS WITH BASKETBALL FILM (2524 hits)

USATODAY.com--A quote by the man who discovered gravity resonates with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

“If I have seen further than others,” wrote Sir Isaac Newton, “it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
Obviously, the former Lakers and Bruins great is a gravity-defying 7-feet, 2 inches. But Newton's quote is also the basis for a film he'll introduce Saturday at Cinemas Palme d'Or in Palm Desert.
A history and English major at UCLA in the late 1960s, Abdul-Jabbar has co-written four books, including “Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement,” “Brothers In Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, WWII's Forgotten Heroes,” and “On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance.”
In a recent interview with The Desert Sun, Abdul-Jabbar talked about creating a brand for himself as a historian calling attention to African-American figures he sees as American heroes.
He's moved a step closer to achieving that goal by executive producing and helping to adapt his most recent book into the film he'll present next weekend, “On the Shoulders of Giants: The Story of the Greatest Basketball Team You Never Heard Of,” produced and directed by Deborah Morales.
In the film, Abdul-Jabbar takes viewers on a journey to discover a pre-World War II African American basketball team he sees as pivotal to the civil rights movement. In the film's opening, Abdul-Jabbar is seen with other basketball giants — literally and figuratively — who he counts as personal heroes, including:
• Marques Haynes, star on the 1948 Harlem Globetrotters team that beat the George Mikan-led Minneapolis Lakers.
• Jerry West, the former Los Angeles Lakers guard who built the Abdul- Jabbar-led Lakers dynasty of the 1980s as its general manager.
• Bill Russell, the Boston Celtics great who served as a professional and personal inspiration to Abdul-Jabbar for his commitment to promoting African Americans in leadership roles.