Hakeem Olajuwon by Ryan Rappoport

rerappopor2 — 2025-02-12 15:24:08 UTC

Hakeem Olajuwon was born January 21, 1963 in Lagos, Nigeria. He was raised by his parents, Salim and Abike Olajuwon along with his 6 siblings. He grew up as Yoruba where he valued the principles of bravery, honesty and morality. These values shaped him into the person he is today. He grew up in the Middle Class as his parents owned a cement business in Lagos. As a kid, he grew up as a gifted athlete where he had major success as a soccer goalie. Prior to highschool he had never even thought about play basketball.

rerappopor2 — 2025-02-12 15:26:42 UTC

Hakeem Olajuwon attended Muslims Teachers College, a high school in Lagos where he was first introduced to basketball at 15 years old. He joined the basketball team where he was coached by Ganiyu Otenigbade to play center. During his time playing basketball in Lagos he was spotted by multiple coaches who quickly recognized his immense talent. He was selected to play on multiple highly recognized teams like the Nigerian Junior National team where he continued to have success. Also, he played in the All-African games where he got MVP where he also made his first connections with an opposing teams USA born coach. This took him to visit 6 American colleges for basketball. Hakeem left his family in Lagos to pursue his career in basketball at the University of Huston where he was offered a full scholarship. When he first arrived in America he landed in New York City, but once he felt the cold for the first time he told the taxi driver, "take me to the University of Austin," even though he meant Huston.

rerappopor2 — 2025-02-12 15:27:15 UTC

After having a great college career, leading his team to 3 consecutive final four appearances, he was drafted 1st overall in the NBA draft to the Huston Rockets. His entire career spanned 18 years where he dominated the NBA as a 12x All Star and 2x NBA champion. With his great success he was able to win gold with 1996 "Dream Team" where he competed with team USA in the Olympics. He brought a rare combination of size and grace to the NBA where he is an inspiration for maybe NBA players in the league now. He has left such a big impact on the game of basketball just by the way he changed the world's view on the center position. Before his time all centers would do is rebound the ball and play defense but because of the footwork and skills he developed playing soccer as a young kid, he was the first center who really had no weaknesses. Finally, he has had a very big impact among the Nigerian community because he was really the first Nigerian player to come to the NBA and have a significant amount of Success. Hakeem was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 2008.

rerappopor2 — 2025-02-12 15:28:39 UTC

During his NBA career he started to take regular visits to the Huston Mosque and started to study the Quran intensively. In 1991, he changed the spelling of his name "Akeem" to "Hakeem" to reflect the proper Arabic Spelling. During that summer of 1991, he made his pilgramige to Mecca where he then returned with a different perspective on how he would intertwine his life with Islam. Because of his commitment to Islam, Olajuwon would fast during ramadan, even with the rigorous NBA schedule. Currently, Hakeem splits time living in Huston, Texas and in Jordan where continues his Muslim religious practices.