Olajuwon, Hakeem, << oh LY juh won, ah KEEM >> (1963-…), ranks among the great centers in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Standing 7 feet (213 centimeters) tall, he became known on offense for his quick, graceful moves and accurate jump shot. Defensively, he was the leading shot-blocker in NBA history with 3,830 blocked shots. Olajuwon led the Houston Rockets to the NBA championship in 1993-1994 and again in 1994-1995. During the 1993-1994 season, he became the first NBA player ever to be named the league’s Most Valuable Player, defensive player of the year, and Most Valuable Player in the play-off finals in the same season.
Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon was born on Jan. 21, 1963, in Lagos, Nigeria. He played soccer and handball as well as basketball in Nigeria. He attended the University of Houston from 1981 to 1984, where he was a star player. The Houston Rockets selected him as the first player in the 1984 draft. Houston traded him to the Toronto Raptors after the 2000-2001 season. He retired in 2002 and was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. During the early years of his career, his name was spelled Akeem. He then changed it to Hakeem. Olajuwon became a U.S. citizen in 1993.
