Hawai'i just like home for Abdul-Jabbar
• Abdul-Jabbar keeping busy
• Montego Joe's Caribbean Festival
By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writer
 |
| Ex-college and professional basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel, reflects on his Caribbean roots.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser |
This trick does not work with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
He's quite content to stare off into the exquisitely appointed space of the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel, patiently waiting until the next question is posed. Only then will he engage in eye contact.
The fact that he can't be stared down would explain why he was such a pro, not only on the basketball court, but on "Celebrity Jeopardy," too.
Since you don't know much about basketball ("He scored 44,149 points in his career? That's good, right?"), you decide not to leave a blank space big enough that he could ride through on one of the World War II tanks he's now writing about. (He's researching a book about the 761st tank battalion, a division of African Americans who served in the Battle of the Bulge and helped liberate several of the Nazis' extermination camps, Dachau among them.)
Instead, you keep the conversation flowing. For a guy who went to Catholic school in New York (where, he will tell you, he got a good education), played college ball at UCLA (where he also got a good education) and then became one of, if not THE, greatest in basketball history, Abdul-Jabbar actually can be quite pleasant. Engaging. Self-deprecating, even.
"Jim Murray wrote about me, 'No man is an island, but Kareem gave it a shot,' " he said. "He was right.
"I had to give that act up. My whole thing with my profession was to be solitary, to deal with it and nothing else. It was time to let that go."
The letting go after his 1989 retirement wasn't easy, said Abdul-Jabbar, stretching out his long, long self on the couch in the lobby just as the gray clouds of Thursday were passing over Kahala, leaving a light drizzle and keeping us from a planned walk along the beach.
At least he came by it honestly. "My dad could have been the black Gary Cooper — the strong, silent type," he said.
Which partly explains why Abdul-Jabbar has been described as reticent, and regarded in his playing days more than a decade ago as one of the toughest interviews in the league.
But perhaps he's a little more kicked back in Hawai'i, a place he admits feels like home. He's been visiting here for 30 years, raising his children in Kaua'i during the off season, making friends (including Henry Kapono, the Yardleys of Kaua'i and the Fernandezes).
But he has a business to shill right now. If the Montego Joe's Caribbean Festival benefit here this week goes well, he and his O'ahu-based partners may consider starting up a Montego Joe's restaurant in Waikiki, playing on the talents of James Palmer.
The Jamaica-born chef and friend of Abdul-Jabbar served most recently as executive chef at the Strawberry Hill Resort in Jamaica, where he was voted "Best Chef of Jamaica" by the Jamaican Observer for three consecutive years.
How well will Caribbean food play in a different set of islands?
"I think the people here will enjoy it because it's a lot less fattening," he said, noting that there are similarities in ingredients and connections between the South Pacific and the Caribbean. "Captain Bligh went to Tahiti to get breadfruit; they got the breadfruit to the Caribbean to feed the slaves. Breadfruit is a staple. They grow it here. They call it ulu.
"Everything that (chef Palmer) cooks is here."
Abdul-Jabbar's lanky frame stretches from his adopted home here all the way to the Caribbean, at least in his heart: His family hails from Trinidad, which with Tobago makes up a two-island nation off the coast of Venezuela.
"My grandmother lived in Brooklyn; dad and mom lived in Manhattan," he said. "When I went to live with my grandmother for a week or two in the summer, I was West Indian. When I went to town, I was a black American. I lived between two worlds that way."
During those West Indian times, he'd eat West Indian: oxtails, chicken and beef curry ("curry is big in Trinidad"), plantains.
The main difference between Caribbean cuisine and Island-style is spices, said his business partner, Sharon Smith.
And Abdul-Jabbar notes Caribbean food also has some West African touches.
But the less-fattening thing is something Abdul-Jabbar especially appreciates, now that he's down to 255 pounds from 270.
Besides his charity work, Abdul-Jabbar keeps busy with his writing: "A Season on the Reservation: My Sojourn With the White Mountain Apache," was published by William Morrow in 2000, telling the story of his days in 1998-1999 as assistant coach of a high school team on a reservation on the Natanes Plateau of Arizona.
But it's his autobiography, written in 1990, and "Black Profiles in Courage" that rate the highest reviews on Amazon.com.
The latter was a project he undertook for his children's sake: His son went to find a reference book for a report on a black figure in history and found there was no such thing.
For income, he also does lectures or "gets an ad every now and then," which "keeps me in comfortable retirement, because my kids are out of school now."
Four of his five children have either graduated or are about to: When he talks about his boys, Abdul-Jabbar seems to warm up, and swell to a size even bigger than 7-foot-2.
"Amir's on the dean's list at UC-Santa Barbara; he gets out in December," he said, after talking about their recent trip together to Israel and Greece. "Kareem was academic All-American. He went to Western Kentucky. I was really proud of that. That's something that's really satisfying."
An older African American fellow comes walking through the hotel lobby with his family and spots the familiar face, greeting Abdul-Jabbar like an old friend.
Abdul-Jabbar waves back and smiles: "Hey."
What's good about being Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: "Strangers will go out of their way to do incredible things, things I don't deserve. But that's life."
The bad: "People try to hold you prisoner" to your famous persona.
But back to "Celebrity Jeopardy," on which he's appeared on twice. "It was fun!" he said.
As a fan of the old "GE College Bowl," he still remembers the second answer in the bonus round: The question was "Who was Robin Hood?" and the answer was, "He traveled with a preacher and a giant and his girlfriend."
"You get mad at the (clicker) because it never registers when you want it to," he said. "... The thing is, you gotta beat these other people. What's nice is when somebody else gets it wrong, and you have time. (He lowers his voice, as if talking to himself), 'Oh yeah, I got that one.' "
But here comes the self-deprecation:
"Most people know the answers," he said. "The whole thing is recall. Getting it up (from your brain), getting it on your tongue, that's it.
"I tend to back off, I want to make sure I have it."
And suddenly, you feel as if Alex Trebek had given you the answer: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Finally, you finally know the question.
• • •
Things you may or may not know about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar:
Career: After retiring in 1989 from 20 years in basketball, he has given lectures, written books and made guest appearances. He has also appeared in movies and is now researching his next book, which also will become a screenplay.
He has actively sought a coaching position, but said that's not happening — "for whatever reason." The mostly likely, he says, is that he didn't court management when he was a player.
In college: Besides taking UCLA's team to three national championships, he majored in history and double-minored in English and geography.
Family: Not married. Has three children with Habiba, his ex-wife, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, his namesake, and one son with his former girlfriend, Cheryl Pistono. Adam, his youngest, is now 9, born to a woman in San Antonio.
His mother died in 1997. His senile father came to live with him in Los Angeles for a while but now is back in Brooklyn with an aunt and cousin. "Dad remembers everything before 1960, and my professional career."
Yoga: He has done it since high school. When he's in Hawai'i, he likes to swim and snorkel. His favorite spots: Kihei, Ka'ena reefs, Molokini ("Molokini is scary. The fish are aggressive: 'Come on, take our pictures!' I like that, though.")
"I have friends here. They don't know me as a basketball player. They know me as a bodysurfer, someone who hangs out on birthdays, and laugh and eat and have a good time with."
His own drummer: He plays percussion — during Carnival, no less, performing with "a real band," he said.
"I played drums and cowbells," he recalled. "I got tired. They're used to doing it for hours at a time. I got tired after doing it 40 minutes. (He mimics the wave they made to have him removed.) I had to get off the stage.
"It keeps you physically fit."
• • •
Montego Joe's Caribbean Festival
- Today through Aug. 26, with special Caribbean menus and entertainment
- All-Star Hawaii, next to Niketown, Waikiki
- A portion of proceeds go to Ronald McDonald House Charities Hawaii and Worknet, a culinary training program for at-risk youth.
- 945-9700
Today:
- Brunch, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar appears at 1 p.m. with Henry Kapono.
Other events:
- Ronald McDonald House Benefit: 6 p.m. Tuesday
- Magic of Caribbean Cooking: Class, $20, 2 p.m. Wednesday
- Worknet Charity Dinner: 6 p.m. Wednesday
Dinner shows:
($10 for entertainment only; $30 with buffet):
- Fiji with Sam and Lina Girl: 6:30 p.m. Friday
- AZ with FM 100 All Stars & Norm: 7 p.m. Saturday
