Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Coming to Arkansas. How In the World Did This Happen?

Before this week, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar never had reason to come to Arkansas. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer has been pretty busy, after all, winning six NBA championships, earning 19 All-Star team nods, making appearances on Full House, Different Strokes and Everybody Loves Raymond as well as writing eight books.

In recent years, the 67-year-old has advocated for an increased focus on STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – in public secondary school curricula.  He believes American children need to be more aware that investing time in these subjects will, on average, ultimately yield higher income than any other endeavor.

“So many young people, especially minorities, think they can only be successful in the area of sports and entertainment,” he said on The Buzz 103.7 last week. “So if they’re not Denzel Washington or LeBron James or Jay-Z, they don’t think they can be successful. And that’s not true.”

“There’s only 450 NBA jobs available at anytime. There are thousands upon thousands of engineering jobs. They can walk right off the stage when they get their diploma and be employed. That means a lot.”

Abdul-Jabbar discussed the relative lack of opportunity in the NBA job market during a panel discussion at the U.S. News 2012 STEM Summit in Dallas last June. Dr. Janice Sullivan, the former dean of academics at the  Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, listened to him there and thought his message would connect with Arkansas students.

She liked that her school’s STEM-based philosophy was very much in line with Abdul-Jabbar’s. So, back in Arkansas, ASMSA spokesperson Vicki Hinz began looking into the possibility of booking him for a speech at the Hot Springs school.

Hinz sent Abdul-Jabbar information about ASMSA, one of 15 public residential high schools in the country specializing in STEM education. She noted:

• 1,840 ASMS graduates have earned more than $149 million in scholarship offers
• 58 of 75 Arkansas counties are represented in 2012-13, however, since 1993 a student from every Arkansas county has attended ASMSA
• Tuition, room and board are free
• All ASMSA instructors hold at least a masters degrees and 27% have PhDs

Abdul-Jabbar and his camp wanted to accept the invitation for a November visit but timing became a problem. Hinz was notified that on the same date she’d targeted, Abdul-Jabbar was scheduled to attend a ceremony for the unveiling of his statue in front of the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The next day, Kareem’s business manager called back. “We’ve never done this before, but would you consider changing the date?,” Vicki recalled being asked.

The answer was yes.

****

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will arrive in Arkansas on Thursday, April 25, and visit Hot Springs High School that morning to talk to Garland County ninth-graders about why it pays to  study STEM subjects.

He’ll then head to Little Rock to be the keynote speaker for the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts’ Open Book Celebration. Abdul-Jabbar will continue to focus on STEM education during his hour-long speech, which begins at 6 p.m., but will surely also find time to discuss his wide-ranging interests in history.

Indeed, most of Abdul-Jabbar’s books are rooted in various historical fields, including military, Native American and science. His most recent book, On the Shoulders of Giants, documents the  Harlem Renaissance – one of  the world’s  two best pro basketball teams for much of the early 1900s.  Signed copies of the book will be given to those who buy tickets to the event. [correction: autographed books will be given to those who buy event sponsorships].

Abdul-Jabbar’s interest in history started as a child in New York City, where he often explored a Revolutionary War battlefield in his Manhattan neighborhood. “I would find musket balls, bottles and arrowheads” he told The Buzz 103.7.

Abdul-Jabbar, no doubt, has heard the link between Hot Springs and the Clinton Center isn’t pure coincidence. Former Arkansas governor Bill Clinton, after all, spent much of his childhood and adolescence in Hot Springs. In early September 1992, he chose the town as his final official presidential campaign stop in Arkansas before the November general election. A rally was scheduled to begin downtown, at the intersection of Central, Whittington and Park avenues.

At that intersection stood ASMS, which would open the following year. The site was selected to showcase Clinton’s stand on education.

Tickets priced at $150 are still available for Abdul-Jabbar’s 6 p.m. Thursday speech in Little Rock. A V.I.P. reception with Abdul-Jabbar in the Clinton Center’s Cafe 42 will be included. Contact Vicki Hinz at (501) 622-5110 or hinzv@asmsa.org for more information.

Demirel hasn’t yet been able to perfect his skyhook, but he does have a go-to blog and Twitter account.