Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in conversation with Bill Walton at Live Talks Los Angeles

[Music] this is Kareem and I'm bill and he has a New York Times top 10 best-selling book out just this week I have had the privilege pleasure of reading this book I had an advance copy about a month ago and it changed my life and I couldn't be more fortunate couldn't be happier to be here tonight but I have one question to start with why and why and when did you stop taking acid it's no good for you immediately immediately yeah I wanted to and that was it maybe you should have talked to me earlier can you talk in your book about the frustration with the progress you talk about do time can you explain the difficulties of the slow process of change in our world today jeez I did like most people it takes a long time and a whole lot of study to discuss this subject but you know it's all about the common good and really what the Founding Fathers said about that subject that we come together we form this democracy and we try to work for the good of all of us that's supposed to be our focus and our our goal so that's how I see it I think the thought counts to find that founding fathers had it right and I think we got work to do how would things have been different for you if that if you had grown up in California jeez I don't know that that's a very interesting you know maybe I maybe I would have realized my my life long dream and played baseball in the book you talk about your love for baseball you thought about Coach wooden his love for baseball can you share with us that conversation of the conversations that you had and why baseball well coach swing loved the game he played baseball at Purdue he's very good baseball player they could play in the second baseman shortstop but very determined and capable baseball player and for those of you don't know in 1953 coach wooden was offered the opportunity to manage the Pittsburgh Pirates but he turned it down because he had made his commitment to UCLA and you know Coach wooden was with his commitment that was that he builds laughing right yeah there we go but when you see guys they play for Coach wouldn't they start laughing went to my shots talking aboutthe that's what it's about because I laughed in a row the ride you lost two games in high school one is a senior at the very end to DeMatha at DeMatha you also lost to Pat Riley's team when you were a sophomore you were playing for power Memorial he was up in Schenectady before we lost six games when I was a freshman boy don't count and what in one game when I was a senior would you lost to Patrick but no to game to Pat Riley oh he fouled out in the first half they found some in the ninth grade I'm 14 years old playing varsity basketball and we go upstate to New York you know from the city leaves the city and they look really like but it's Al Capone and his voice but if we play this a holiday tournament in Schenectady Pat Riley's high school is hosting it he was a senior that you're in a senior right and they made sure that they won this preservative they found me out in the first hand I didn't even know how to follow he learned out of it out late hi I'm Anne I got a broken draw to prove it they they figured this out so but we went back and played them in two years later it was a little bit different that time what did Pat say to you over all the years that always was like yeah we met you Revis always telling me that that happened then I reminded him about a game that he played against Texas Western glory road there you go so I will come back for a minute and that that set him up after 1:00 Kareem can you describe the penthouse apartment that you grew up in in midtown Manhattan uh you mean the apartment that we shared with another family in Harlem that was talking about the will enough fifth floor with two bedrooms yeah we had one in the head was so it it was a very interesting time my family moved out of Harlem when Harlem was at its most crowded and we were living me my dad and my mom had one bedroom of a two-bedroom apartment and we had one bedroom in the living room and shared it with another family the that was commonplace in New York City in Harlem in those days and finally we got out of the I was three years old and moved to a much much better set of circumstances outside of Harlem and got got away from all of the negative aspects of living a normal one of those negative aspects was the civil unrest the riots and 6465 around the streets as a as a high school young high school student got a chance to witness that and I was working in a mentoring program where I was involved in a journalism workshop so we went out and covered it as journalists and it really helped me understand the need for activism and need for people to be involved in political issues you see the negative aspects of what can happen when people are powerless and it makes me want to do something about it and there's a very vivid description in the book of you in the streets observing all this and then the bullets and the teargas and you having to run well just you want to get out of that environment you know I saw it and I couldn't believe it but there was I got out of there the very next day I was back there you know because it was a month that that Ryan happened on the Sunday on Monday I was back there on the street with my pad and pen and trying to talk to people about why it happened and try to talk to the police officers it was it was interesting to see see how that played out but again it was anger over a young kid got shot by a police officer police officer said the kid had a knife we'll never know but these things have occurred over and over and over people will have reacted to it more recently because it's been on film and it's verifiable but in the black community we know we knew what was happening to us and to to so many of our young men and it went on for too long where did your love of writing come from I think my love of writing came from just the fact that my dad was an avid reader I enjoyed reading and I just it allowed me to travel the world and learn things I would talk with my grandmother she always encouraged scholarship but you know she was from the West Indies and really gave me an idea that the world was a very big place and you need to educate yourself in order to to do well in the world as a child growing up who were some of your favorite authors where did you like to go on these time-traveling trips Oh like with the little gym when Treasure Island and kidnapped or the black arrow Robert Louis Stevenson Ivanhoe 20 Musketeers all that stuff I like all the great stuff you know and would you get these books from the public library again from the library a herb Albert Jerry moss center and pick him up at the lobby now public library on Broadway at full stamina the sense of poetry that comes through this incredible book here where did you come up with that appreciation for that type of writing I think my pre my appreciation because that just came from my love of literature and learning and in coach he loved it to death and you know he could quote all of his his favorite poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Shakespeare and other people like that can you recite poetry like he could not like he could no nobody ever could nobody could I mean ya know and just go for hours days you could let me read the greatest poetic inscription it's a little Billie I don't miss get some day I hope this gives you some insights into the way things were way before your time wishing you all the best your friend Kareem he didn't say nice things like that when we played which was fine that was fun it was a thrill for me and an educational experience when you went to UCLA please describe that that first time when coach came to the penthouse there in mint in midtown Manhattan and well you know I had already been to well UCLA for my recruiting trip and I wanted to go there so my parents wanted me coach and he usually coach didn't didn't do that but he thought I was worth it so you were that was cool I can't duel annoyed you still are well thank you I got a little annoyed though cuz I had to go to to my room while the adults spoke I kind of pissed me off I was 18 at that point but there was a great story that you tell and all the stories in here did absolutely pretty but he he tells the story of how when coach comes over his parents set him to his room and some Korean was standing by the door with his ear trying to listen to what they were saying and that can you just imagine this is it as great a basketball player and human being has there ever been trying to listen to what the old people are saying about him outside I didn't try too hard to listen I figured I was in the driver's seat because I was going to go with my parents like coach did not but I knew that they'd like him so I wasn't worried about it what were some of the surprising things about coach wooden when you first got to UCLA in 1965 yeah the very first thing our very first conversation that I had with him you know I'm coming East I'm coming all the way out to California to play basketball I figured deal I meet the coach we're going to talk about the basketball program and his hopes and aspirations and the first thing he starts talking about his academics and he says you know cream you got good grades you got it should do well here and I want I expect all of our athletes to go to class and get their degrees because that's why you came here in the first place isn't it I was like well yeah I did I did hear something about some hoops here you know but it was a pleasant surprise you know because he wasn't the average guy most college coaches would give an arm a leg or a favorite child to win the NCAA tournament and you know coach wasn't in that mood and he never ever took a step in that direction he was incredible like that can you describe what's going on in this picture right here on the cover what's going on in this picture is we're practicing someplace I don't know I think that Madison Square Garden that's what I think I don't know if it's Madison Square Garden but we're on the road at practice and this is probably my sophomore junior year that's what's going on and he's pointing out where he wants us to go on the course it's not I tell you what he's saying he's saying look you go over there and you make the shot and you make the other guys missed a shot you get the rebound we're going to win this game and if you look at his expression on the picture he is a yeah right coach I got this how about the picture on the back picture on the back is that a game I think in 2008 or 9 at fall and fall it'll be and I was walking out and coach was walking out at the same time and he he asked me he said you got it help me get on over to the side so I said sure coach Eli I took his hand and we walked off off the court together and all I guess a lot of people notice it and took the shot but it's really poignant for me because so here again role reversal here's a man had led me so effectively and taught me so much and now I have to lead him off the court it's it got to me you know I I thought about that for a few moments [Applause] when you were at UCLA and you graduate what did you anticipate your relationship would be like with the coach for the rest of well I I knew coachman was cleans that I graduated he was really pleased when I grow no I think that was more relief this assistant my jaw still hurts Hawaii 1975 or sixes but no cut you don't understand how coach has affected you until you get some time away from him and then you start to realize all these things that you brought with you that he put in here and he put in here and they're there and you can't ignore it and you gotta you know you can't let that let go that because she realized how important that is all the the lessons the ability to help the people that you care about and that you want to achieve something with how to work with them and how to be there for them and you know just the attitude that you have have to have to confer instead he taught us all these great life lessons that we didn't even realize that he was teaching us these things but this is what what he was doing and I realized when I would like discipline my kids and they didn't want to listen and they're gonna do it their way so I I'd let them do it and let them fail and at that point I could teach them a few things you know because I had their attention and you know but in Inwood I start smiling to myself because that that's what coach wouldn't do with us and it just you realize it geez I got all these tactics and understandings and to put there by coach wing five children yes how many of them are here tonight none of them we're all Kareem's children birth we're all coach witness children the book starts with Barack Obama in the White House can you describe that deceleration there was a great David I had a wonderful time and so many people that got the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the phenomenal class it was unbelievable you know Robert DeNiro and Ellen DeGeneres jeez Michael Jordan Vince Collins Jordan Vin Scully Cicely Tyson the gates bill Bill Doyle his wife yep uh chase it was unbelievable and you know it's so proud to be part of that Bruce Springsteen oh wow yeah Born to Run badlands there we go how about the music in your life where did that come I know your dad was a trombone player my dad was a jazz musician big band guy my dad if my dad had had his life stream you know just like you got to play for the Celtics yeah my dad wanted to play for Count Basie oh it didn't happen but that that was where his heart was and I got an incredible education and appreciation of jazz from my dad and why - white white jazz is supposed to classical as Emerson lockable tells me to rap what I watch the disease's America's gift to the world it is the only art form that is native to America and it is the best [Applause] you're the gift to our world how did coach wooden change in the 50 years that you knew him well you know I think coach wooden adapted to some tough situations when L die that that was really that was very difficult to coach um that had been his partner and his one of his legs for all of his life and then you know he lost her imagine what it'd be like for any of you to lose a leg it's not fun then he had to adjust and it was wonderful that those of us here in town we could be there for him and be supportive Lily go over to Andy Hills house for reunions aren't caught there watch the Dodger game with coaching well coach and I was always be arguing about our I was I'm a nationally guy he's an American League guy so we had our follow all the time teams and we'd argue about various tactics that we would have some I always had a tough time figuring out the outfield you got guys like Duke Snider and Willie Mays and Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente to stan musal and you got to figure out how to get him on field so but that's just guys that are crazy about baseball they think about stuff like that this is your 15th book all right or 14th Oh 13th or 4x again yeah I'm over it doesn't know your writing process how does that play out you sit at the computer yourself do you dictate it tight write longhand I writing all right all right in the morning and I do about to I try to do about two hours or a couple you know it's book doing articles and shorter you don't have to devote so much time to it but I try to write in the morning just like that and the sense of putting it together because when I look at it there's no blurbs on this this is just you and this is a very very personal book just a really the first time I 51 years for me that I've seen the real personal sign in a public setting here well you know I I had to think about what I wanted to put in here and a lot of them there's a lot of stuff in there and a lot of it is very personal and I didn't know if how coach his family would feel about it I didn't know how I would feel about it um toward the latter part of our lives you know we just were friends on a much more intimate and extended level than I ever thought possible ever you know and he helped me finally I had a bad incident in high school with my high school coach he used the n-word he wasn't trying to be an idiot but he lost his temper at me because I was being cocky and not playing very well in the game and he tried to shut me out of it and use the n-word he shouldn't have done that planning you know he got angry and I got it finally you know coach help me get come to that understanding and then put me on the phone with him and after I got off the phone he just said creamed have you ever made a mistake stand of that right there's that smile again I don't think he did I don't think you did you never made a mistake all right W my jaw you never made any mistakes I made every mistake in the book stealing them but at least I I tell everybody bill was a good guy but at least coach didn't have to bail me out of jail I'm guilty nope I'm healthy of smiling on a cloudy day Carine this book talks a lot about things that people don't like to talk about race religion and politics you took that big giant leap here where did that come from um it's something that we have to talk about because there are problems in those areas that we have to solve and we kind of solve it with we can't solve it with some people living in in South America or China we have to solve it with the people that live in our communities so we got to talk about these things we got to get this solved and we got to move on because America is too good an experiment to give up on it now and there's a very sad story in the book about an occasion at the back rack restaurant share that with this because that and I know I've heard this I've heard the story from you and from coach and there's a difference in the story really well you know we ain't we went to eat at this restaurant to better write very nice restaurant I was always hungry UCLA but never for very long yeah but on our way out we stopped to talk to mr. Spratt and alone to place and this woman came up to coach wooden I was standing right next to him she asked him a question about me uh using the n-word and I'm right there you know and it was it was ugly but uh you know this is America but the coach had never seen something like that happen and it shocked him and he didn't he he had a very tough time responding to it and he tried to talk to me about that you know how he he understood how I must have felt that at a moment like that and he tried to talk to me about it but it was very difficult for him and how do people understand the racial problems if were in the minority he says they were in the majority so excuse me I'm mr. spoke there Gordon little short white guy from Indiana me big stupid goofy nerdy looking guy from San Diego how do we understand the problems that you have to face every single day um you listen and you try to empathize um when I look back let's say we look at an incident in history japanese-americans being sent to internment camps I can understand that just because of my experience most white Americans can't understand it so you know it you have to go the extra mile or three or ten to get that across because sometimes it's hard for people to get something and it's not because they're stupid or they're evil or they don't want to know some things are hard to understand some things are hard to grasp so we asked our patience with each other and respect and an understanding that everybody has some worth what about the religious aspects Kareem he was set in his ways from Indiana from Martinsville you can you come from New York you change how'd that play out in your personal relationship with the coach I don't think that really meant too much we both believe in a monotheistic religion and we're Americans the Constitution makes it possible for all of us to come together on a morality that we can all agree to ok the Constitution the Bill of Rights enables people of all faiths and colors and all descriptions to come together and we can agree on what's right and wrong and what is lawful and unlawful just despite our different religious backgrounds that's one hell of an achievement that's why America gets so much done because we're able to include the best of everybody and we got to keep working toward that in and could you share with us to the discussion that you would had culture yeah that you and coach had about your different faiths well you know coach wanted to know what motivated me to become Muslim huh he didn't he didn't challenge we were off a Catholic up Roman Catholic yeah and he didn't challenge me and tell me I was wrong but he want to know why and what my thought process was and you know if I come to that decision of the right way and you know it after talking to me he realized that I had we had an incredible discussion and at on the bus on a road trip well he Patterson focused on the yeah the center of that discussion right you know the state was in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and I know I've decided to chip in you know my take on it and you know we ended up for having a great discussion and coach kind of mentored it but you know he didn't try to dominate it or tell people how to think or what to think and it was good for all of us we I came together that that was a great moment can you describe the scene a bill suite at the end of the game in the tournament when he was supposed to go into the game right ended up in the locker room until I didn't seen it I was on the court you run the court you story I didn't see it at all I went down all the story you know the stories I tell the story tell the trailmen built me with this very cool dude on the team name is crazy and Bill was always doing stuff for example Bill dove into a pool up in Berkeley to win a bit from Jim Nielsen one of his teammates he said I bet you I I'll dive into the pool I bet $75 and we're going get ready to go to game bill dives in the pool oh but he had gotten into it would coach and wanted more playing time and people were like you know all intents about how much playing time they got and it was crazy so bill wanted to walk and he just got into a shouting match with coach he couldn't get into the locker room coach told him to leave he left couldn't get into locker room it ended up in limbo between the court and the bench he couldn't go to either place it was not I came in after the game and what's going on here and people are like somebody had coach wooden and was restraining him and sweet there was a couple guys between sweet you know with the hands out something but no listen we can't do this and I was like what's going on here but the next morning coach came out he he spoke about the fact that he respected us all and we had some work to do and we were going to do that and you know we got baskets on them what tell his story you mentioned male diamond and what was your relationship like with her first of all um no one was always very quiet on the side I never I never got to talk to or find out no she just would sit there she's like the why is old you know we were scared to death of her you hear oh my gosh we're scared to death of the coach I mean when you play with him you spend a lot of individual time with him when you played this no no no just well we would talk to coach mainly on on road trips on the plane training table stuff like that and then if he if he had a chance encounter with him on campus and sometimes or you see him in the morning when he was working out you talked about a family Nana and Jim what his nan said to you about the book man really likes the book she didn't know how I felt about her dad she knew Howard how coach felt about me she didn't know how I felt about him so she sees thank me for for spelling it out like that and she really appreciated knowing some of the stuff in there that she didn't have any details on share the story um when your parents were going down and what coach wouldn't would do to support them unbeknownst to you I'm not really playing for the Lakers um coaching or coaching over to Arizona or Oklahoma no no I'm coaching with the Lakers down the lane I have to take a hundred the Andrew Bynum danger yeah wonderful time yeah but no no but I had to go back and forth between here in Arizona and at times I had to put my dad in a assisted living home and coach would go see him and not tell you and he wouldn't tell me about you just he would go and just be supportive like that he was incredible and like you know I'd hear from him you know if I was in a tough spot and then you remember that time we were in Indianapolis and oh yeah that was that was rough for me and I know coach started to have to go to the hospital bill and I were in Indianapolis at the NC 2 way and we had to work and then coach goes down both of us we wanted to leave you know forget in the end and coach was a lot more important it was tough can you talk about what it was like to be in coach wouldn't the mansion on Margate the palace that he lived in Encino coach ever had all of his memorabilia all the stuff that was important to him out where he could see it and um this condo was where he lived with the woman of his dreams the love of his life and he wasn't gonna leave there so he had he was going to live there with their memories because that was the most meaningful thing to him and you know I I game coach was a big fan of Lincoln so I gave coach a half dollar commemorative coin from Illinois in 1918 that had a great portrait of Lincoln on it and he kept it on his son he kept it on his dresser Oh because feeling it was for me you know and then this one that told me that I didn't I didn't know that you were his favorite well that's a miscibility you you're did you desert I think I got my degree I didn't try to give them any problems and we won a few trophies Muhammad Ali share the story that you make definitely tell in this incredible book your life changing for me what about when Jim Brown called so many of you together in Cleveland every how long he had been Muhammad Ali refused the draft because he felt that the war was immoral and illegal and he was very happy with that position um he didn't care what other people thought that's what he thought and he was going to maintain that position but you know Coach wooden had volunteered in World War two he's very patriotic and he didn't appreciate Muhammad Ali's stance until later and then you know toward the end of the 1970s coach really understood that the war was immoral and illegal but the he spoke critically about Ali and he knew that I like golly so it was kind of a problem never mistake patriotism with militarism right two different things yeah they are but you know I that was in LA I like Darlene because you know when I was in high school and he was just he was wonderful you know I remember he went to Sonny listen to camping messed with Sonny's mind to the point where Sonny was chasing him around this training camp I knew that he was gonna lose the fight at that point because Ollie had missed his mind up sure enough he got listening got knocked down okay so but Davos Ali he had that charisma and um he was intelligent guy and he knew what he was talking about but you had this seminar really this gathering of you know very famous very powerful very important people in Cleveland and Jim Brown organized several it was like so it's not early almost to sit there and question Muhammad Ali well no we didn't necessarily question him in that you know hey why are you doing this but we want to understand you know we want to see if he was committed what his commitment while it was real and like I said he was he was fine with it and at that point we realized that he was going to go and fight the fight in the course which he eventually won how did you develop your focus discipline and commitment in all things that you do as the greatest player I've ever played against my farm thank you Bill ice by far I was thank you by far I mean there's nobody else even in the continent in the conversation by far I think that all the examples that I had in front of me of people who had the commitment and the fire and the desire to excel you know and kind of start with the Bruins there Jackie Robinson my hero when I was a kid you know so you know given those examples I ended up in the right place which players in the history of basketball have you come to respect and admire because let me just qualify it so that when you're Kareem abdul-jabbar you don't even acknowledge anybody else's existence that's what it was like playing against so I'm just telling you that well I I I didn't think you knew my name and he wrote me this I howdy-hi I would have to say you know Bill Russell certainly I learned so much for him how to play the game and how to conduct myself off the court and that that that's really unusual to have that kind of role model a very lucky to have a role model like that bill really enable me to understand how to to deal with some of the issues not to go out and attack people but to try to communicate um in a civilized and calm way your concerns about important issues you know and Bill you know the time to write books I don't know have you read the book about Bill and his relationship with Red Auerbach yes I think it's incredible read it me get rid of me and coach wouldn't me this is fantastic are you like I get that right but no I it was interesting to me because when bill finally was able his father was finally able to get his family out of Louisiana and they moved to Oakland and bill took Bill's mom took him by the library and said bill that's a library he's gonna be spending a lot of time there and he had he had up to that point living in the segregated south had never had access to a library and you know this is this was commonplace again you know people don't get that but bill went on all America at the University of San Francisco and the captain and leader of the greatest NBA team ever they won eight NBA championships in a row you talk about the Celtic side of course I just wanted to keep it clear that I got a chance to see play while I was in high school like I got a chance to to watch doubleheaders where Bill Russell played so I got a chance to learn the game and my high school coach was they able to explain to me how Bill dominating game and now if you had the right mentality how to use my talents on the court so I I owe him so much so he's got to be one of the people I would I would say that one of the great basketball players that transcends uh even the game I think Oscar Robertson did a great job for for the game his advocacy for us to be represented and have a union and all the all the advantages that we have benefited from from from Oscar's leadership of the Players Union Bill Russell came to your 70th birthday party recently Jabil Center yes he did God's not hearing any pictures yeah he's got a wonderful singing voice oh my god wilt when I was in college early 70s we used to go down to the forum and you were playing for Milwaukee and we'll quilt was the Center for the Lakers describe those battles and what it was like for uh till I began playing against wilt knowing wilt and then just the incredible human presence that he was well yeah what was literally bigger than life you know and just an incredible physical presence on the court and off the court he had to he he can't kind of like had to absorb all the light it was no life for anybody else it was all about milk and he was just that type of guy um he while he was playing for the 76ers he lived in New York this is all again the time without any pictures were in Philadelphia yes yeah so um but I see him a lot you know because he hung out up in Harlem and I see him and just to absorb his lifestyle well he lavender Bentley is that spoken with jealousy envy order or fear or all mixture of all but she's you know seeing how well someone in this position could live was a quite an incentive to want to play basketball so I didn't necessarily want to live like that but it uh I could do something with the dollars definitely I'm sure help these days Kareem I'm doing pretty good bill I look at vibing a cancer and some surviving answer you say yeah I'm surviving leukemia and Davis are you still play basketball no no what do you do for fun and exercise uh I jump rope and I do a little bit of yoga I'm building a swimming pool so get back in the water and what are you reading these days what what books do you jeezow my air today I read anything basically um I'm always waiting for the next novel from Walter Mosley um one of my favorite authors and you know I I read fiction and nonfiction I like crime fixing them you know Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett kind of got me hooked on it share with us please your experience with Langston Hughes and then the transformation of Coach wooden who came to that same Island well um Lexington's was one of the principal voices of the Harlem Renaissance he was a poet and extraordinary talent as a poet coach wouldn't enjoy poetry a lot and I was shocked to find out that someone that watched studied about as being part of the Harlem Renaissance was also one of Coach wooden sir favorite poets who any knew his poetry um gosh we had you know he coach wouldn't did things that you wouldn't think of you know coachman ever take a coxswain is very straight-laced guy you could see him giving um speaking at a church you know or maybe a politically but he also play professional basketball they played the Harlem the Harlem Globetrotters in Chicago and at the Chicago Savoy and coach what he usually would if they play in Chicago he'd get on the train and get back to Indianapolis that night he said I couldn't do it this night because the food was great and they had cam Calloway's band name so coach one stayed and hung out now for me to think about Coach wooden hanging out with the brothers on the south side of Chicago hidey-hidey-ho that's not how you think of coach and nil the Mills Brothers right that was that was their favorite was their favorite play later on their wedding night at the Mills Brothers so and coach wouldn't like swing swing big-band jazz give the audience a sense of sitting in coach's den in the biggest chair in there was half the size of that chair right here with the exception of the one right under the letter from Nixon 5:7 own accounts out of that couch but the one of your cancer spring brings it all I said on the gauntlet but you know you'd be sitting in coach had like pictures of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig that he had shined by them when they Barnstorm to Indiana and they were right there um just stuff from some of the most incredibly talented and well-known people in the world athletes and non-athletes heads of state um it's just laying around just haphazardly everywhere what frustrates you today you talk eloquently about the lack of social progress but things that frustrate you today in your daily life she said you know I I'm just waiting for the everybody get behind the push for education um you know the whole idea knowledge is power if we if we're going to have a powerful nation we have to educate our youth we have to be serious about that and that's not happening everybody's trying to save money by cutting back on the money that we spend on teachers and our schools and I think that is national suicide and I hope we get wise what about the burden of being Corrine burden of being the best responsibility of everything on you every day well you know I only had to try to be the best when I play professional basketball but I had competition and competition is good it's a healthy thing so you know I I always saw that as don't get too caught up on having to be number one just make sure that you can give your best effort and people will accept that what have been some of the most special moments on the book tour when did the book tour start where's it's been so far just basically have been in New York and here and on the phone with people all over the country on radio these past couple of mornings so the satellite page whatever they do every day when you get up and you call all these radio shows no laundry right so but this is what you do when you when you publish your book if you're going to sell it you sold a couple of yourself talk about the the process of putting this together the editor and publisher and how'd that all go how'd it come about uh basically people find out about a project different publishers and if they think that you can write they will bid for your services and if they don't think you can write you're a very lonely voice so but you're a proven success I've been very fortunate to have all 14 of the boats made it to the New York Times bestseller list no but a couple of men and I can make that claim what about microphones Mike Ross look Mycroft Holmes made it made it yeah what's the difference between that book in this book Mycroft Holmes is fiction it's a story about Sherlock Holmes older brother his backstory Arthur Conan Doyle didn't write too much about him so I figured that that was an opportunity for me to tell it tell a tale and people liked it I never surprised I knew that film that it was okay because the people from BBC came over to interview me about it and they were like a basketball player in America wrote a story and it wasn't bad you know I like that kind of acceptance is what authors live for you know you don't care how much money you make at that point if people think that well maybe you can write a little bit so I'll surely have a lot more than a basketball player I am but you know sometimes people get caught up in your parents's you know what is next for you a little bit of rest or an hour after I get through with the book tour taking the summer off uh some way I'm going on the Grateful Dead tour no are you yes start Saturday night mostly huh how many how many places do they go they're going for seven or eight weeks and I'll go to the first nine shows and then they had they head that way and I would say in here in California Oh Victor America or Europe or America just American okay Shaffer her see it so far seeing the things that excite me like Quincy Jones tells me about the first time he went to South America with Dizzy Gillespie's Band and he tells me stories about that and you know so I can't get into the Grateful Dead I'm sorry but I could tell me some stories about the Grateful Dead maybe her Sheldon I'm just I'm just your prop up here bill yeah what about your social stances as too many of us retreat you always step to the front where did that confidence pride and affirmation come from I think just the example that was provided for me by the by the heroes of the civil rights movement I had the privilege of seeing mr. John Lewis speak when or just a couple months ago just recently just recently and but he talked you know we got a chance to have some few questions about that day that he had to cross the bridge and you know they fractured his skull and he the man is not angry he's not bitter he's full of love and joy and he still wants to give he still wants to see progress made and he's not angry at anyone and when you see that that spirit it's humbling and it makes you understand that we have some very important work to do and he said that if you do not put your life on the line if you do not risk your health and all the things that you bought for to fight for your civil and political rights then you are not committed how have you changed since you first came to Los Angeles 1965 Oh see I lost all my hair you were so uh I'm kinda dead right there oh I think I've been able to grow and it's been just so incredible me part of this community you know I came out here from New York I didn't think I'd stay and the way things worked out I ended up here I've never regretted it for a moment what about the current state of the sport of basketball I think the game is very popular um the fact that it comes out you well again to a made college basketball what it is and you carry the NBA for 20 years what - no the game is involved and the more modern like we were able to beat on each other right night they can't beat on each other anymore so the game has changed a little bit but it's still a great game and now it's the long-range shooting game it seems the year that the Lakers beat this came from back east in 1985 but from from the first game of this thing I was Boston right I think so is up there so you won the final game in Boston yes we did and you were in voted that MVP of the playoffs the oldest player ever to do that at 38 yes I was but I referring to it to where the game is today today in in that year we made about 98 or so three-point shots from the first game of the season to the last game of the playoffs in 2015 the Golden State Warriors from the first game of the season to the last game of the playoffs made 1072 three-point shot the game exchanged building you talk about it right here hey-ya game is way before your time yeah the way things were talked about the incident in Washington DC when you were living in Milwaukee and you had bought home that some other people were limited well you know Bill I I was trying to support my Islamic community the guy that was in charge of it he ended up provoking a very ugly incident where some people tried to kill him in his family so you know it was very tough time and how did that ever play out in there over the rest of your life uh well you know the the upshot of it was some people were convicted of murder and sent to jail he later so they found me guys oh yeah I saw the guys and they were members of the black Muslims and they went to jail but the leader of the community he got became very unstable and he ended up taking over a building and stuff and it just wasn't very pretty and you know I had to get away from it that scene what was it like for six years in your walking uh-huh you'd have to have some serious thick wool socks long underwear there's tough place but the best fans in the world oh my goodness just great fans I don't know if it people ever see like Green Bay versus Chicago and the fans when they're rabid did not see me then if you play inside of the the lines of the state lines of Wisconsin they take you in and you're they're gone and that kind of support was wonderful um I still run into Milwaukee fans every place I go you know they're snowbirds said someone got to get out of there in the winter so they they go all over the place the great friends it was it was nice playing there uh but it was great getting back here in Southern California what was it like spending all that time with chick hearn chick was trick was wonderful and he he would challenge me you know because he'd like to do crosswords so I would help him a lot of time he'd be like eight letters were but he was a great guy and really understood the game I believe he had started with the Lakers while I was still in Minneapolis no he came here in 1982 lake a winter season Lakers came in six XP came in 62 you know because I remember I saw um I saw Jerry play is looking here in Minneapolis we are recording Jerry start here Jerry started here okay yeah I saw him play is working your I was at the game November 1960 where else he got 72 against the Knicks I was at that game I was 13 years old and I was at the game we call about 81 and then neither one I was on the team is the future of the Lakers I think they'll to think what do you want what are your dreams it's good that they got a high draft pick but they really need to be smart and they need to get lucky you know we got magic costs we were lucky so you need all of it but everybody moves for the Lakers now because we hate we spoiled them during show time and that's great can you come back and play I wish I could I wish I could drop about 40 years you know take us through them a coaching dream that you had that you tried and that you described perfectly in this book well you know I I finally figured out that I might want to coach in the mid 90s I've retired I was in my late 40s you know so that's a late time in your life to try to start coaching so I started coaching at on an Indian Reservation just to show people that I wanted to do it and that opened some doors for me I got some work with the Knicks a couple of the teams had to come and work with their big men and finally in 2005 Andrew Bynum wanted to learn for me and that enabled me to get a job with it with the Lakers and I coached Andrew for about six years it went well until I think he when he signed his contract 450 million dollars he decided I didn't know anything so that kind of shortened my stay with the Lakers but it was fun bill I enjoyed it I didn't get the shot at a head coaching job but you know you had to be involved in it a lot longer and more intensely than I was so you know like I can accept that I you know I didn't get a shot there was frustration on there yeah was there and there was resistance to you trying to chase that dream yeah and I coach was very supportive he was supportive but he heard Joe I had done things and affected people in ways that made people question me so you know I had to accept that and coach told me no that's the bed that you made you have to deal with it why do you think that was just too smart for me no no I just well I just thought you Rick Perry have had some other problems and you and Rick are very different but you're both incredibly intelligent and I I think that I see fear I on the other side maybe but I didn't let people know um my commitment or my knowledge you know I maybe I was too withdrawn to engage at the time that I needed to with the people who made the decisions I could very easily see that because I'm a pretty shy person you know I'm so am i yeah you were at one time and then I learned how to talk worst thing that ever helps people like me better when I couldn't talk that has given me the feet though something over there you tell me you want to do some questions from the audience here we got any questions out there yeah it's a time for questions for the audience real quick around here questions generally start with a w or an H sometimes a D they are typically short we do not believe in two-part questions only bill gets to ask follow-up questions tell us about your relationship with Magic Johnson my relationship with magic it was wonderful it was like all of a sudden they gave me a little brother you know and who could play the game at the best level and who knew everything while it was wonderful to play with him and he enabled me to get to a point where I could smell the roses everybody remembers the first game that we played against the Clippers in San Diego I hit this hook shot to win the game a 21-foot inch wins faced in swen leaders my my fellow groan but I had to put that one in right so magic went crazy right it's like home like we just won the World Championship the first game of the season so why not I had to have a talk with magic you know I because we're at this emotional level for every game that we win we're going to be wiped out by Christmas so but at that point I got a message from him that it's okay to enjoy the moment I I was not known for that right it was what it was wonderful knowing him he's great guy did anybody here had the privilege of hearing MAGIX speech at Kareem statue unveiling absolutely over-the-top magic spoke late in the last Speaker of the day Kareem has inexplicably lobbied for his own statue I couldn't believe that but then magic just absolutely just put it all together perfectly and it was just so fun and how does it today magic as the head of the Lakers he's brought back he's brought you back into the family on the octaves you into a more public role yeah and they want me to do some PR stuff and I also might work with the team whoo all right I have to go in the next couple weeks in the talk with the folks there to talk with Arvind and see maybe we can work something out where I even just make sure to remind them of the new ESPN TNT contracts they just sign the P heavy she's building that's got information yes in the white shirt back there or I what happened to Ted sorry I've got the mic bill you actually eclipse my question I was going to ask Kareem why you think it took so long as you call it billion explicable for the for the Lakers organization to get your statue or why it took so long for the Lakers um one more thing are they I mean it to coach and provider my I know the question was about why it took the Lakers so long to give you your statue I don't know I'm gonna go talk to gene okay next question over here why do you think Jon would even ever win did wait too long they did with you why do you think miss Levin never won end of the day j'arrive statue is perfectly placed right out in front it's the biggest of all the statues and in perfect detail he leads with that left elbow right in your face broken jaw broken teeth broken nose broken spirits oh my god what well I just remember some guys in red and white and black uniforms in 1977 they kick a little ass remember those good yeah we had Maurice Lucas and nobody else did why do you think coach would have never turned to a become a pro coach I don't think coach wouldn't wanted to be a pro coach he wanted to mold the lives of young men and a pro coach is about winning basketball games and being the face of the franchise it's a totally different gig from being a college coach who considers himself to be a teacher he he coach would no thought he was a teacher he didn't think he was all coach he was he was teaching us and he was teaching us life skills that really had a very strong moral base and he often seen this not a whole lot of morality in professional sports but he wanted to be your dad too well he went in look you share that sentiment of it that he was like your dad he was like a dad for us but I mean I he had it tuned right he did not go overboard and somebody wanted us to cut our hair every day and our next question can't say a thing up here Ted so you got it is the more serious quite over style people elderly in regards to white America you mentioned empathy and you also mentioned patience but I would say that patient has kind of led us to our current political situation and that inability to acknowledge the role that white America plays and oppression is costing the lives of black Latinos immigrants Muslims so how much patience is enough and when is it an endorsement of our own oppression patience is not an endorsement of our own oppression but patience is necessary to organize and motivate people until you have people that understand the issues and are willing to as John Lewis system put their life on the line are you not going to get anything done people have to have that that strong commitment so you know it's about commitment and that was the one thing that coach wouldn't start it out he didn't want guys that that weren't committed that didn't want to win that were just yeah okay lazy fair kind of people he wanted people that had that bit in their teeth and that fire in their eye we have time for two more questions all we got more time than that come on when's your next event Kareem not tonight where are you saying I can see dream thank you very much for your time tonight I had a quick question given the effectiveness of the skyhook and how dominant you were with it why is it over the decade it has been replicated why don't why don't more people employed given how successful what than it was uh if the simple answer is did the nobody's teaching kids how to shoot it it's not something that they want to learn how to shoot um somebody showed me a drill when I was in the fifth grade that was developed for George Mikan was the very first great Center for the Lakers I played in Minneapolis they won five NBA championships so I learned this drill and when I was in the fifth grade and by the time I was in eighth grade I had to hook shot down it's like more kids are taught that shot they'll use it because the can't be blocked it's very effective but kids are so caught up with the three-point shot you know that's what the everybody wants to put their toes on the three-point line and fire away and that that's dominating the game now so I guess it's it's fallen out of fashion but it is very effective so human physique has not changed you still can't block it as a follow-up to that he has a very unique body type he has the body type of a scottie pippen or a dr. J but who's eight inches ten inches taller and that's left leg of his which was the power the foundation the explosion to get to that skyhook with the elbow in the face that left leg belongs in the Smithsonian but but more importantly his mind his heart his spirit in his soul because that's what separates the champions and this is as great a champion who's ever lived you can talk about all the other guys there you go and if they're going to put the left leg in the Smithsonian I've got to figure out where they're gonna put the mind the heart the spirit of the soul because it's even higher than that Ted where are you over here hello whenever you were hurt or injured what did you tell yourself to get through that and do you remember any messages from say a physical therapist or a trainer cuz I didn't get hurt or indeed ever got hurt come on I gotta cut this off here I gotta wait a second there's a picture in the book here of coaching and Kareem and meet at Kareem 50th birthday party right and so I show up we get there fabulous I mean I surprised I got an invitation right I didn't think he knew who I was and so we get there and Karim's he's 50 years old it's just fiftieth birthday party and he hasn't played any ears and he's got a boot on and he's walking with a cane and I looked at him I said what happened to you a tall man like little toe was killing me so they were just carving on it the other day and it's just super sore I said well how did he surgery said you had now at 50 years old he said bill that was my first surgery I've had 37 orthopedic operations jealousy envy men I know it's evil but then I'm right there bill you know my my the question sorry for interrupting starting but my son is an orthopedic surgeon oh hey I was trying to take care a man please help me please help me all right listen to the last we never asked her to quit we never answered the question eyes question up there the question was what got you through the tough times Kareem what gets you through the tough times though if you get injured or something like that is the fact that you've dreamed about this career since you were a kid this is the type of thing that little kids dream about you know most young boys at some point in their life have some idea that maybe they could do something real slick on the field in the field of athletics and those of us who get the opportunity to do that or we were so we feel so privileged um it's something that you will work at to do as long as you can because it's not something you can do for your whole life a doctor takes his training he's a doctor until he retires you get to play professional sports it's a very finite time you know by the time you're in your thirties you're going to be thinking about doing something else for the rest of your life so I think that that's what it's all about it's such a privilege life and pace pretty good too but anyone who has ever known Kareem or been with him or watched him observed them always coaches always teammates all the broadcasters they will all tell you that nobody worked harder we live under the umbrella of John Wooden a mantra that fits right here is failing to prepare is preparing to fail and the amount of time that this guy put in to perfecting his game polishing his natural gifts and skills developing his mind opening his heart and soul which he has done just perfectly in this book in you to read this book you're going to have a completely different opinion because coming for some reason he is not over the course of the 51 years that I've been his fan he has not opened himself up until now here and then I'm just when I was reading this book I was just crying I say oh my gosh where has this been what was the question out there I'm sorry that's that's tough to follow but this fits a little bit with what you were just saying cream about you play for a certain amount of time and then you've got the rest of your life team sport which is how you excel from a young age all those champions and so on team team came and then you become a writer which is solitary what is that those two things like for in you and that transition oh that gives me an opportunity to tell people what I think and give them an insight that I might have and want to share that that's how I see it pretty simple yeah Kareem what are some of the things that you'd like to do different or to move in looking back saying man I wish I had done that different geez are you just perfect no I I wasn't perfect I the one thing that was all right you really want to know yeah I asked her the question I would have my freshman year coach Bush asked me to be on the track team because they wanted me to do the triple jump and I said I would I have no background in track of jokes it that's all right if you do the triple jump you got to get us points and but I didn't want to do it right and that was the best track team that UCLA ever had and I could have been on the best basketball team and the best track ha ha ha ha so and I still would only been like half of Jackie Robinson he was a for sport or sport Jackie Robinson was bo Jackson in 1940 okay he lettered in football basketball track and field and baseball and UCLA and it was like all America and all of them I don't know if he saw a Ken Burns a documentary on Jackie Ron's they showed his uh his footage from where he played at UCLA and Jackie Robinson still holds the record at UCLA four yards per carry from scrimmage he still holds the record off in football I mean you know that was like what does that say about our current team what they definitely don't have somebody like Jack running the ball that's for sure UCLA a Jackie Robinson and nobody else did so what were some of the things that you and coach would never could come together on she's nothing I could think of and you know I was with him keep and I saw him just a couple weeks before he passed and it was the same it's like no time in pants you know he's like any we're at a we're at a dinner that was honoring the Negro League umpires and some of the players that's in this book yeah and coach said he wanted to say goodbye so and I didn't get it till later it really bothered me that I missed that one but I got I was with him before he died though share with some people that um his memory his memory John Wooden maybe the ability to recall recites repeat chart with a he would um something would happen and he'd have a lesson to teach you and then he go back and remember something that his father said or or passage from Scripture or poem and he shared with you and then get into it he discussed with him and he it was always like the poem was like a pleasant distraction and he had your attention you know nanny he'd started and the mental gymnastics that you would get into with the coach oh yeah he's because he challenged you knowing and he had a whole lot of little things that he could trick trick you with he was amazing um in the sense of humor and he had a great sense of humor but he he asked me what time should why did the licen Hughes write such such short lines and um geez I don't know he said he was paid by the line so he figured if he wrote short eleven you'd have a longer poem and get paid more you know who would look up something like that and no idea tell it to you Ted you're not wrapping this up for you you know I think we've got to wrap it up oh man it's it earlier it's now we wait wait Kareem take us through the end of the book thank you the end of the book the end of the book the sadness and how how we can accept the greatest challenges on earth which I said is to take the worst things in this case John wouldn't passing and turn it into something positive and hopefully be able to make it better well you know Coach wooden taught us one of the first things he taught us that we had to accept life you know if you can't accept the way things are but you're not going to get anything done because your ambition is too unrealistic you have to accept the way things are and do things the right way so that you can achieve something with your life and you had to learn about that and it takes discipline and it takes patience and application and the one thing that he said that he didn't put in the pyramid but it is the beginning and the end it's the one four-letter word the beginning in the end is love if you don't have that love and compassion and commitment that loving commitment it's not going to work [Applause] and we love you Kareem and I hope you know that thank you Bill thank you for your life which has given us ours and thank you for this book which has explained so much and just given us a foundation a springboard to move on to this young lady's question and challenge to us all as to how how we can use the past to make a better tomorrow Thank You Kareem we love the great job [Applause] [Applause] and all of you for sharing this evening with us it's really special bill came up from wonderful things he has his own maritime fortune a scotch down there in San Diego but he came up here just to do this for me tonight thank you Bill I'm the luckiest guy in the world Little Billy from San Diego when watch on the black and white television shows with Dick Enberg call in the games KTLA listen to Fred Hessler on the radio reading Jeff Pro and Dwight Chapin in the LA Times and Jim Murray writing about this most incredible human being and then I got the chance to follow him at UCLA which was the ultimate privilege I went to UCLA because of him I wore number 33 in high school because of him as did magic as did Larry that's how special this guy isn't to be able to come here tonight and be a part of this and to read this book having lived so much of the stories my own self in the relationship that I had but to hear this and to read isn't that see my friend Kareem who I didn't even think he knew who I was I succeeded to see how this works this is a great book and I really hope that you buy it you you read it you passed around you buy more copies give it to everybody you know because this is what this book will change your life and the lessons in there that will make it happen for a better tomorrow and that's what Kareem has always stood for and that's why we love them as as great American hero as you're ever been and a true Kareem abdul-jabbar the crazy [Applause]

Channel: LiveTalksLA

Views: 168,419

Keywords: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, LA Lakers, John Wooden, UCLA Basketball, Boston Celtics, NBA, Skyhook, Lew Alcindor, Live Talks Los Angeles, Live Talks LA, Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Book Group, ESPN, TED, Tedx

Id: WMaQklN9wxs

Length: 82min 51sec (4971 seconds)

Published: Sun May 28 2017

Reddit Comments

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Bill Walton is a national treasure.