Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Special to The Los Angeles Times
- In 1968 I was a 20-year-old college junior whose basketball success had made me famous. I’d been honored as most outstanding player in the NCAA tournament, named the U.S. Basketball Writers Assn. player of the year, and played the “game of the century” against the Houston Cougars at the Astrodome. So it wasn’t surprising that I was invited to try out for the Olympic basketball team to represent the U.S. in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Any other year I would have been proud and elated at the prospect of playing for my country against the world’s elite athletes.
But 1968 wasn’t like any other year.
