Kareem Abdul-Jabbar surprised some fans by appearing at a Jackie Robinson Day tribute at Dodger Stadium in a wheelchair.
The NBA’s second all-time leading scorer was shown arriving at the statue honoring Robinson being pushed in a blue wheelchair before getting up and posing for photos.
A blonde woman wearing a beige coat rushed over to help steady the 78-year-old as he got out of the chair.
The Lakers legend had successful hip surgery just 15 months ago after falling at a concert.
“One of the goats… hate seeing the bigfella who played into his 40s being fragile,” one fan commented.
“Poor Kareem. Dude is such a legend,” another wrote with a crying emoji.
Standing at 7-foot-2, Abdul-Jabbar attended UCLA 25 years after Robinson did, and the two had a relationship before Robinson died in 1972.
“People who were interested in that knew that one significant aspect of segregation had just been eliminated, and Black Americans were proud of it,” Abdul-Jabbar said via MLB.com. “My mom didn’t know much about the game. But because of all the attention that Jackie got, we started listening to the games on the radio when I was about 2 years old. And it was very important to me that Jackie’s team won.”
Abdul-Jabbar recounted a story during Robinson’s military time where he refused to move to the back of a bus, resulting in a court-martial and eventual acquittal.
After leaving the military, the Lakers legend said that Robinson “started getting ready to do what he had to do on the field for kids like me.”
Abdul-Jabbar, who grew up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan in NYC, made his professional basketball debut in 1969 while a member of the Milwaukee Bucks before forcing a trade to the Lakers in 1975.
In his post-NBA career, Abdul-Jabbar has spent his time in the arts, writing on Substack, while also working as a Hollywood Reporter columnist.
