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Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf - blackballed from professional basketball
Mahmoud was born Chris Jackson, the son of a white man and a black hospital cafeteria worker, Jacqueline Jackson. Young Chris, who never knew his father, grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi. During his years at Gulfport High, Mahmoud was honored two consecutive times as Mississippi Player of the Year.
Mahmoud excels as a point guard/shooting guard. As a freshman at Louisiana State (LSU), Chris was nothing less than amazing, setting a NCAA freshman record of 55 points in his fifth game against Florida.
During his elementary school years Chris started having symptoms of Tourette's Syndrome, although he was not put on medication until 1987. This ailment makes him a perfectionist, so that he often spends several minutes on routine activities. Like a ritual, he cannot leave the basketball court until he sinks several shots and they all go in perfectly. It is precisely because of this odd behavior that he became valued as one of the most accurate shooters in basketball. At the same time, he has suffered a good deal due to his involuntary outbursts because of people's incorrect assumptions. About his affliction he says:
I bless Allah for everything. I think Tourette's syndrome is a blessing because it enabled me to be a perfectionist. I didn't always think it was a blessing. When I was younger, I used to wonder what was wrong. It got so bad I just couldn't stop it, no matter how hard I tried. I'd finally just lie in bed and cry.
Eventually Mahmoud was drafted by the Denver Nuggets. During his first two years, he played terribly for a variety of reasons. However, during the third year (1992-93) he turned around and was voted the NBA's Most Improved Player. He had the NBA's best free-throw percentage in the 1993-94 season, and in fact he once almost broke the record. He is currently playing shooting guard/point guard and is the Nuggets' highest scorer.
Deeply religious since he was young, Chris embraced Islam during his second year with the Nuggets (1991) and subsequently changed his name to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Islam has given him more maturity and a new perspective on life:
I used to let basketball affect my day . . . . That can't happen no more. I play for Allah. . . . My strength comes from Allah. I have more strength than I ever had, and it's an inner strength.
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