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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar surprised some fans by appearing at a Jackie Robinson Day tribute at Dodger Stadium in a wheelchair.The NBA’s second all-time leading scorer was shown arriving at the statue honoring Robinson being pushed in a blue wheelchair before getting up and posing for photos.A blonde woman wearing a beige coat rushed over to help steady the 78-year-old as he got out of the chair.
The Lakers legend had successful hip surgery just 15 months ago after falling at a concert.“One of the goats… hate seeing the bigfella who played into his 40s being fragile,” one fan commented.“Poor Kareem.Dude is such a legend,” another wrote with a crying emoji.Standing at 7-foot-2, Abdul-Jabbar attended UCLA 25 years after Robinson did, and the two had a relationship before Robinson died in 1972.“People who were interested in that knew that one significant aspect of segregation had just been eliminated, and Black Americans were proud of it,” Abdul-Jabbar said via MLB.com.
“My mom didn’t know much about the game.But because of all the attention that Jackie got, we started listening to the games on the radio when I was about 2 years old.
And it was very important to me that Jackie’s team won.”Abdul-Jabbar recounted a story during Robinson’s military time where he refused to move to the back of a bus, resulting in a court-martial and eventual acquittal.After leaving the military, the Lakers legend said that Robinson “started getting ready to do what he had to do on the field for kids like me.”Abdul-Jabbar, who grew up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan in NYC, made his professional basketball debut in 1969 while a member of the Milwaukee Bucks before forcing a trade to the Lakers in 1975.In his post-NBA career, Abdul-Jabbar has spent his time in the arts, writing on Substack, while also working as a Hollywood Reporter columnist.
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