NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was among the first athletes to make movie cameos.
His came in 1980s when he played the role of Roger Murdock in the movie "Airplane." Abdul-Jabbar was a co-pilot who was noticed for his basketball skills by a young fan named Joey.
Their exchange went like this:
Joey says, "I think you're the greatest, but my dad says you don't work hard enough on defense. And he says that lots of times, you don't even run down court. And that you don't really try... except during the playoffs."
Murdock then breaks character, returning to the basketball player by saying, "The hell I don't! LISTEN, KID! I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my buns every night! Tell your old man to drag (Bill) Walton and (Bob) Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes!"
We bring this up because this legendary line once left Abdul-Jabbar delivering one of the most embarrassing moments in television game show history. In 1998, he appeared on an episode of Jeopardy!
The category was: "I Went To UCLA."
That's where Abdul-Jabbar attended, so most figured he'd know the history of the school. Things got even easier when the question was about one of his lines from Airplane!.
"Who is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar," Abdul-Jabbar answered.
He misunderstood the question because the answer was Bill Walton.
After Abdul-Jabbar face-palmed himself in embarrassment, host Alex Trebek said, "Embarrassing moments on Jeopardy.
Even Abdul-Jabbar couldn't help but laugh after he was asked to choose the next category.
"I went to UCLA ... almost," Abdul-Jabbar said, smiling.
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
Follow our coverage on Facebook
X: @BackInTheDayNBA