Born for This
How Hakeem Olajuwon Proves Malcolm Gladwell Right.
By Noah Frazier | Psychology Major at Bethel University (St. Paul, Minnesota)
Hakeem Olajuwon extends his 7’6 wingspan toward the ceiling of The Summit in desperation. The ball lies in John Starks’ hands, and with it the fate of the 1994 NBA Finals. Starks and the Knicks held a 3–2 series lead over Olajuwon’s Rockets. For the last 47 and a half minutes, battle had waged between the teams with dunks, elbows, and hand checks as weapons. With the Knicks down by two, this three-point attempt could be the killing blow. Starks lifts the ball to shoot, but before it has a chance to seal the Rockets’ fate, the tip of Olajuwon’s finger brushes against it. The last hope of the Knicks falls short, the buzzer sounds, and the Rockets live to play another day (Thompson 12:35).
Hakeem Olajuwon’s abilities translate easily to legend. “All of a sudden, flying out of nowhere, comes Hakeem Olajuwon” (Thompson 12:08). Rockets broadcaster Bill Worrell recalls Hakeem’s Game 6 effort as a child would retell the ending to an Avengers movie. The game-saving block led to the first of two NBA championships for Hakeem, in a year when he won Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, and Finals MVP. Hakeem’s seven-foot frame, his swift feet, and his graceful movement brought him a nickname that solidifies his success as larger than life: The Dream.
In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell argues against this magical type of success. “People don’t rise from nothing” (19). Yet Hakeem’s story seems to defy Gladwell’s charges. Eye tests would conclude Hakeem’s successes derive from natural abilities, a gift only given to a privileged few. However, a closer look into the aspects of life which Gladwell magnifies in Outliers reveals Hakeem’s story as more intricate than it seems. Hakeem Olajuwon’s basketball successes exemplify Gladwell’s theories about the 10,000 hours principle, extraordinary opportunities, and cultural legacy.
A twelve-year-old Hakeem scans across the soccer field. He searches for two things: a potential breakaway from a particularly skilled dribbler on the opposing team, and any trace of his father’s black sedan making its way back from work at the end of the day. The appearance of the car signaled a white flag for Hakeem’s team in the casual daily games he played. Hakeem would abandon his post at goalkeeper, sprinting home to avoid discipline from his father. Even if he lost the race and received punishment, Hakeem would return as soon as possible to the field to hone his skills at the net. Young boys tend to find sports as their first love, and Hakeem did not deviate from that norm. He loved soccer, and would spend as much time possible working on his game (Christopher 4).
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell cites a Florida State University study to make a point that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to master any given discipline. In a follow-up to that study performed by the same researchers, they sought to find a more uniform definition of “deliberate practice.” The study found that the ideal way to practice involves having specific focuses on certain aspects of the desired discipline and then rotating to new focuses (Ericcson & Krampe 1–18). Hakeem inadvertently participated in this type of practice by his constant interest in different sports, such as soccer and handball. Hakeem put in many hours at goalkeeper, a position that demands graceful footwork and movement. Goalkeepers learn to control the length of their strides, using short steps to cover short distances quickly (Parker 3). Hakeem’s footwork transitioned easily into basketball where he used it in the post to shake off defenders, but it helped him in an even bigger way. People who are above average in height like Hakeem tend to have naturally long stride lengths, which leads to more pressure around the knees and ankles that leaves them susceptible to injury (Schubert, Kempf, & Heiderscheit 213). Extremely tall players such as Sam Bowie, Greg Oden, and Yao Ming have had careers cut short because of these types of injuries (Lewis 503). Hakeem’s early hours in soccer gave him better control of his stride length that kept him healthy on the court. His switch to handball gave him the hand-eye coordination and upper body strength that he would eventually need for basketball.
Hakeem spent as much time as possible improving at the games he loved as a kid. Before anyone could predict his ascent as an athlete to the NBA, or his literal ascent to being 7 feet tall, Hakeem’s passion for athletics gave him the early start he needed to master a sport. Even if that sport did not end up being his first or second love, those hours still count towards deliberate practice as they improved his athleticism, coordination, and footwork.
A 6’9 teenage stick figure palms the ball in one oversized hand as he scans for an opening. He flinches his shoulder, imitating the beginning of a shooting motion to lure a defender out of position. The real shot ejects from Hakeem’s hand a moment later, a horizontal rocket, making a crash landing in the back of the net. Hakeem dominates his teammates in practice, and looks forward to dominating some fresh faces at the upcoming National Handball Tournament in Nigeria. However, a lack of available teams resulted in the cancellation of the tournament, a recruiting opportunity for a basketball coach, and a critical crossroad in Hakeem’s life (Christopher 8).
Hakeem ignored Coach Ganiyu’s pleas for years. He devoted himself to soccer and handball, and didn’t want to switch sports so late into high school. Yet Ganiyu persisted, and finally won Hakeem over when officials finalized the handball tourney’s cancellation. Ganiyu knew Hakeem’s height and athleticism gave him great basketball potential. Hakeem benefited from extraordinary opportunity in one obvious way. Born in the second shortest nation in the world, with an average male height of 5’4, Hakeem grew nearly a foot and a half above expectations (World Population Review). But there are another series of opportunities that followed Hakeem’s switch to basketball that impacted his future in massive ways. In Someone to Lean On, Gary Smith shows the value that coaches can have in the lives around them. In the article, Coach Jones takes a mentally challenged man called Radio from the fringe to the center, giving him a home on the football team. Although Hakeem did not have the same needs as Radio, the coaches and mentors in his life were instrumental to his success. Coach Ganiyu, Hakeem’s high school coach, played point guard for Nigeria’s national team in his prime. This made him vastly overqualified to coach at an amateur level, and meant he had connections beyond those of any other local coach. One of these connections included Guy Lewis, the University of Houston basketball coach who brought Hakeem’s raw talent to the next level: America. The connections Hakeem made in Houston brought him to his next mentor, 13-time NBA All-Star and Basketball Hall of Famer Moses Malone. Hakeem’s skills were refined by the highest caliber mentors that were available to anyone at the places he received them.
International basketball scout Francois Enyegue states that in Nigeria, “the only people who play are people who coaches find” (Christopher 21). Natural gifts would not be enough for Hakeem by themselves. But the extraordinary opportunities came one after the other, through coaches and mentors that brought Hakeem from a high school team to an American Division I College, eventually to becoming the number one pick in the 1984 NBA draft. Hakeem had the potential, but the mindset he needed to capitalize on them came from another source.
Hakeem Olajuwon walks through the mountains that separate his home in the country from the capital city of Amman in Jordan. With the sun still hours away from making its appearance, Hakeem’s mind and body are already active. Personal devotions, prayers, and the reading of the Qur’an filled the first forty-five minutes of Hakeem’s day. The clock reads 4:30 AM, leaving a half-hour for Hakeem to complete his hike down to the mosque for the first prayer of the day. While this early morning scene of devotion may feel like it should be caused by some personal strife or a religious occasion, it reflects nothing but regular routine for Hakeem. He wakes up at the same time, hikes the same hike, and prays at the same mosque every morning. With his playing years becoming smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror, the hard work and dedication that made his NBA journey possible stay strong and present (Draper 1).
“Who we are cannot be separated from where we’re from,” Malcolm Gladwell writes in Outliers. Hakeem Olajuwon is from Lagos, Nigeria, a country with one of the highest Muslim populations in West Africa (World Population Review). Raised in a strict and religious family as part of the Yoruba people, Hakeem had deep cultural wells to draw his values from (Draper 1). These wells came in the form of books like the Qur’an, teachings and prayers at mosques, and Yoruba sayings and proverbs that could be found in any conversation. The Islamic religion sees hard work as vital to having a spiritually fulfilled life. The prophet says “Verily, Allah loves that when any one of you does something, he does it perfectly” and “The believer dies with his sweat on his brow” (The Qur’an). Perfection is the standard for the Muslim people, and hard work is the key to achieving it. Work and perfection are not the steps you must take for personal glory, but instead the virtues you hold to honor your family, your religion, and your God. One popular Yoruba proverb describes how “When a king’s palace burns down, the re-built palace is more beautiful” (Owomoyela 58). When all appears to have gone wrong, the Yoruba people do not give up or pity themselves. They try again, work harder, and rebuild until they achieve even greater feats than they planned. These sayings and teachings encapsulate the cultural legacies which would come to define Hakeem. Hakeem always had potential. Height, great coaches, and world-class mentors gave him a chance to succeed. But the devotion, the focus, and the dedication that were instilled in him from childhood were what gave him the ability to capitalize on the extraordinary opportunities he came by. The values were planted so deeply in him that they still can be seen long past his basketball playing days concluded.
The cultural legacies–the values, tendencies, and characteristics that are inherited from culture–that people carry can be a deciding factor in their success or failure. In Detour, Dan LeBatard shows how Danny Almonte’s background of poverty pushed his father to falsify his birth certificate to give him an advantage in the Little League World Series. Almonte’s cultural legacy changed the type of success he pursued from baseball trophies to financial stability, and unfortunately made him a villain in the public eye (Reilly 159–168). The mountain devotions that make up Hakeem’s daily routine are not a product of his individual devotion. “It doesn’t mean I’m religious, every devout Muslim does it” (Draper 2). Hakeem’s outstanding work ethic doesn’t mean he’s blessed with an individual drive to succeed; it means he is Nigerian. Hakeem’s determination despite switching from sport to sport doesn’t reflect innate characteristics; it means he is Yoruba. Hakeem’s singular focus on winning and perfection does not mean he came out of the womb with a killer instinct; it means he is Muslim. Rather than becoming a barrier to success like in Almonte’s case, Hakeem Olajuwon’s cultural legacy brought him the ability to capitalize on each of the extraordinary opportunities presented to him.
Three minutes before the Game 6 block, John Starks pounds his chest and lets out a war cry. A forced turnover, quick three, and a layup later, Starks has single-handedly kept his Knicks within striking distance. One Yoruba proverb states that “He who throws a stone in the market will hit his relative” (Owomoyela 22). This means that trying to solve problems on your own hurts the people who are on your side. John Starks has not heard it before. Starks’ teammate and Knicks costar Patrick Ewing recalls being wide open after he had set a screen for Starks (Berger 6). Down by 2, the Knicks could’ve forced overtime with an easier shot from Ewing in the middle. But Starks’ American cultural legacy, like Almonte’s, led him to make a detrimental mistake. He went for the glory: a game-winning three.
Hakeem Olajuwon did not come “out of nowhere” to block Starks’ shot as Bill Worrell recalls. His exact path can be traced in a slow motion view of the play. Hakeem shadows Ewing as he sets a screen for Starks. Starks breaks left and Hakeem reacts slowly to switch onto him. Instead of using a natural long stride to make up the ground, Hakeem takes three steps within a half-second before making his jump– the type of footwork only a former goalkeeper would employ. This method reflects the early part of his 10,000 hours of deliberate practice which came in the form of soccer. But even with perfect footwork, Hakeem barely gets a fingertip on the shot to deflect it. He needed the extraordinary opportunity of a seven-foot frame, and a wingspan the size of a giraffe’s neck. “These are the defining moments that only come for players who are born to play the game of basketball” the announcer exclaims (Thompson 12:44).
The biggest success stories in Outliers–the Beatles, Bill Gates, and world-class orchestra musicians– have an unnamed commonality. The people know exactly what they want to do, and they know it early. Even when Gladwell breaks down their success to a formula of hours, cultural legacy, and opportunity, it seems anyone who seeks success past the age of 15 is already too late to begin. Hakeem Olajuwon’s story shows another path to success. His early interests did not exactly fit his future career. It would have been easy to write off his early days of soccer and handball as useless once he changed course to pursue basketball. Hakeem may not have been “born” to play basketball–he had nearly reached adulthood before playing for the first time. However, Hakeem brought what he already had– the hours he put in, the skills he knew, the cultural legacy he carried– to bring his own style to a new game. The path to success is rarely straight. Instead of asking “What should I do?”, ask “What have I already done?”. Instead of writing off the hobbies, changed majors, and forgotten interests of the past, find ways to integrate them into the future.
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Thompson, Andy. “NBA Stories: Hakeem Olajuwon” NBA Stories. NBATV, Atlanta, 2006. Television.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Noah Frazier, a senior from Woodbury, MN, seeks an undergraduate psychology at Bethel University in hopes of someday finding a job that makes him happy. He spends his time watching pretentious French New Wave movies, playing acoustic guitar, and eating blueberry bagels.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED
To give the reader questions before you give them answers.
The circular nature of good narratives–ending where you started.
I was taught about avoiding passive voice.
“Is” and “was” are the grossest words to have in a sentence.
Reading the same book is the easiest way to spark a good conversation
Information is only valuable if you find application to the real world of your own life.
Editing is 101 times harder than writing.
The prerequisite of great writing is great research.
Malcolm Gladwell writes the same chapter over and over with different information.
Getting lost in a Google Hangout conversation about Big 10 Basketball and Tom Izzo can make you forget bigger problems for at least 30 minutes.
