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Kareem Abdul Jabbar AKA Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. [April 16, 1947-]
Former professional basketball player and New York City native, Jabbar was a controversial figure throughout his career. After converting to Islam in his early 20's, Jabbar studied self-defense extensively with martial arts master and actor Bruce Lee
1
. While in college, Jabbar, a rumored Black Panther party member, boycotted the 1968 Olympics over the treatment of African Americans. Through his career, Jabbar suffered from debilitating migraines, leading him to wear dark tinted goggles
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on the court.
1 Jabbar went on to co-star in 1972's Game of Death , Lee's final film. Left incomplete at the time of Lee's passing, footage from the film was later rediscovered in the Golden Harvest archives, only to be subsequently lost again.
2 Migraines unresponsive to "conventional" treatments other than cannabis , leading Jabbar to become an early advocate for the legalization of cannabis and other "street" drugs for medicinal purposes.
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