A stunning portrait of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar snapped during his junior year at UCLA in 1968. Known then as Lew Alcindor, the future NBA legend starred on three national championship teams before he was the first overall pick by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1969 Draft.
In this 1968 Houston Chronicle photo, Alcindor is shown in his UCLA practice t-shirt, concentrating on a free throw. The reverse of the photo is covered with pencil notations and archive stamps. The dates of “1/19/1968” and “1/20/68” are noted in pencil.
Those dates coincide with the January 20, 1968 "Game of the Century" at the cavernous Houston Astrodome, where Alcindor's UCLA Bruins battled Elvin Hayes' Houston Cougars. That historic game was pivotal in the popularity of college basketball, especially college basketball on television.
The front of the photo shows overall toning and edge wear throughout. The corners have some rounding to them and there is some yellowing along the edge of the lower left side border. There are some surface abrasions to the image, particularly in the dark background but this does not significantly distract from the impact or importance of the image. The back is heavily toned and exhibits glue residue and some staining throughout.
The photo has been encapsulated and graded an Authentic Type 1 by PSA.