Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Breaks Scoring Record
Today in Black History
1984 – NBA superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks the all-time scoring mark for the National Basketball Association, surpassing the 31,419 mark set by the great Wilt Chamberlain. Jabbar broke the record after receiving a pass from team-mate Magic Johnson in the Los Angeles Lakers 129-115 victory over the Utah Jazz in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jabbar ended the game 22 points, five rebounds and three assists. He would end his career as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.
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1968 – Singer James Brown helped to bring calm to Boston, Massachusetts after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. a day before. The city was concerned that it would face violent unrest, as rioting was taking place in major cities across the United States. Brown, a major superstar at the time, had agreed to appear at the Boston Garden months earlier, but because of the aftermath of the Kin murder, the mayor of Boston, Kevin White, had contemplated cancelling the concert. Instead, Brown took the stage as planned and the concert was also broadcast live on WGBH television. With a huge amount of the population staying home to watch the concert, there was very little activity on the streets and the city enjoyed a calm in the midst a potential devastating storm. AT one point in the concert, several youth surged, trying to climb upon the stage and the police began to respond with force. Brown, however, addressed the crowd, saying “Step down, now, be a gentleman….Now I asked the police to step back, because I think I can get some respect from my own people.”
