Hakeem Olajuwon: the Lagos goalkeeper who became an NBA great
He first played basketball at 15. Years later he won two titles with Houston and a treble of top awards no one else has matched in one season.
Houston — Hakeem Olajuwon did not touch a basketball in a competition until he was 15, when he entered a local tournament at school in Lagos. Before that he was a football goalkeeper, which helped give him the footwork and agility to balance his size.
From Lagos to Houston
The third of eight children of Yoruba owners of a cement business, he credited his parents with teaching him honesty, hard work and belief in himself. He objected to his childhood being described as backward, calling Lagos a cosmopolitan city.
He travelled to play for the University of Houston, reaching three Final Fours, and the Houston Rockets took him first overall in the 1984 NBA draft, ahead of Michael Jordan.
"The Dream"
In 1993-94 he became the only player in NBA history to win Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year and Finals MVP in the same season. The Rockets won back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995. He was also the first non-American to win league MVP and the first to start an All-Star Game.
He observed the Ramadan fast during the season, and was named NBA Player of the Month in February 1995 even though the fast began on the first of that month.
He became an American citizen in 1993 and won Olympic gold with the United States in 1996. He joined the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2022 the NBA renamed its Defensive Player of the Year award the Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy.
Background: Wikipedia.
