Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon

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Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Hakeem Olajuwon didn’t began playing basketball until he was fifteen years old. Although growing up he dedicated most of his life to soccer, his size quickly earned him a spot in Nigeria’s National Basketball team.(Olajuwon, Hakeem1) After two years of familiarizing his self with the sport, Olajuwon was recruited to play college basketball in the United States at the University of Houston.(Hakeem Olajuwon2) In his first season, Houston made it to the Final Four of the 1982 NCAA Tournament.(HakeemOlajuwon2) Even though they lost, Olajuwon was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.(Hakeem Olajuwon2)
Olajuwon was the third of six children. His parents were middle-class owners of a cement business. During Olajuwon’s younger years, he was a soccer goal keeper. This helped him gain skill and agility to balance his size and helped him improve his shot blocking abilities in basketball.(Hakeem Olajuwon4) Olajuwon married his current wife on August 8, 1996 in Houston. They have two daughters together. He also has another daughter but by his former wife who he met in college. Also in 1996 Olajuwon wrote an auto-biography, Living the Dream.(Olajuwon7) In his career, he earned more than $107,000,000 in salary. Olajuwon signed a shoe deal with L.A. Gear, then later he was the face of Spalding’s athletic shoe line.(Cont.BlackBio.84) In his college career and early years in the NBA, he was un disciplined. He would talk back to officials, get into minor altercations, and he’s had several technical fouls called on him. He later began taking interest in being a Muslim. He changed the spelling of his name from Akeem to Hakeem.
After his junior year in college, Olajuwon left the University of Houston and was selected...

... middle of paper ...

...d one season before retiring in 2002. Olajuwon was ranked 7th in career points scorer in the NBA and 11th in career rebounds. He was also a 12-time All-Star. In 2008, He was put into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Olajuwon now resides in Houston where he has had a great success in real estate marketing. He spends most of his time in Jordan where he continues to follow Islamic studies.

Works Cited

Bigelow, Barbra C., ed. Contemporary Black Biography. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992.print.
Grance, Michael. Basketball’s Greatest Stars. Buffalo: Firefly,2010.print.
“Hakeem Olajuwon.”ESPNNBA.2014.web.17 mar.2014
“Hakeem Olajuwon.”Britannica School. Encyclopedia Britannica.2014.web.17.mar.2014
“Olajuwon Hakeem.” Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Grolier online,2014.web.17 mar.2014
“Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon.” 2014. Thebiography.com.website.Apr.16 2014

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