A converted soccer goalkeeper from Nigeria, Hakeem Olajuwon learned most of his basketball skills at the University of Houston and then with the NBA’s Houston Rockets. When he entered the league in 1984, he and fellow seven-footer Ralph Sampson were the Rockets’ “Twin Towers.” They took Houston to one Finals series in 1986, but it was only after Sampson left that Olajuwon reached the zenith of his playing ability. That came in 1994, when he not only became the first foreign-born player to ever be named the NBA’s season-long Most Valuable Player, but he also became the first player also collect Defensive Player of the Year and NBA Finals MVP in the same season. In an interesting footnote, the center he faced in the finals was New York’s Patrick Ewing, who was born in Jamaica.
AARON HARRIS/AP
