Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Joins Los Angeles Register as Columnist

By: Press Release | Freedom Communications

As one of Los Angeles’ most beloved heroes and iconic figures, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is best known as the NBA’s All-Time Leading Scorer with 38,387 points. While many around the world consider him to be the greatest basketball player of all time, it is within Los Angeles where Abdul-Jabbar has made the most enduring impression and inspired a strong sense of pride in community.

Abdul-Jabbar continues to define his legacy off the court and inspire the citizens of Los Angeles through the pages of Los Angeles Register, which launched April 16 as a locally focused, community-building daily newspaper serving Los Angeles County. He brings a distinctive local focus and intellectual voice in his new role as columnist of Los Angeles Register, which includes covering interesting facets of life in L.A. – the people, places, pop culture, history and shared experiences.

Abdul-Jabbar’s first column, which ran in the inaugural edition of Los Angeles Register and on his 67th birthday, highlighted his favorite locally-set films that best define L.A. in categories such as top three private detective movies, top three films about the hood and top three film-business movies.

Abdul-Jabbar first announced his column to his 1.5 million Twitter followers on April 16 by saying: “Today is my 67th bday & I want my fans to know only my jersey is retired. My next gig: Columnist, LA Register.”

His second column, which runs today, answers the question, “is Arnold (Schwarzenegger) still relevant to California? His columns may also be found on losangelesregister.com.

“Kareem is providing his unique view of life in L.A. as only he can tell it,” said Ron Sylvester, editor of Los Angeles Register. “He is a thoughtful and engaging writer. The Los Angeles Register, as the new voice in Los Angeles, is thrilled to have one of the city's most recognizable voices in our pages.”

The 7-foot-2 Hall of Fame center, famous for his indefensible skyhook, dominated the NBA for 20 years. Prior to his professional career, Kareem led the UCLA Bruins to three consecutive NCAA championships and is the only player in the 75-year history of the NCAA to be named the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament three consecutive years. On November 16, 2012, a 16-foot bronze statue of Abdul-Jabbar was unveiled in front of Staples Center.

After his playing career, Abdul-Jabbar has excelled as a respected journalist, best-selling author, documentarian, lecturer, actor and ambassador of education.

Abdul-Jabbar has written multiple New York Times bestsellers on topics as varied as World War II, the Harlem Renaissance, and the impact of African-American inventors. His co-authorship of the children’s book, What Color Is My World, and the documentary On the Shoulders of Giants earned him two 2013 NAACP Image Awards. He is currently writing children’s books for Hyperion/Disney, as well as columns for Huffington Post and Esquire.

Abdul-Jabbar is also an active philanthropist. Each year, Abdul-Jabbar also helps 22,000 LAUSD schoolchildren attend Camp Skyhook, a hands-on, five-day outdoor learning experience in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) in the Angeles Forest, located 40 miles north of Los Angeles.

Abdul-Jabbar joins a Los Angeles Register roster that includes some of the top journalists in Southern California, including popular columnist Bill Johnson and acclaimed Los Angeles writers such as David Ferrell and Susan Carpenter. T.J. Simers and Mark Whicker are also among the nationally acclaimed sports journalists on staff.

The Los Angeles Register includes 50-60 pages during the week and 80-90 on Sunday. Single copies of Los Angeles Register are now available at more than 5,500 retail and news rack locations across Los Angeles, including major grocery and convenience stores such as 7-Eleven and AM/PM, for $1.50 daily and $2 for Saturday and Sunday editions.

Founding subscriptions to the Los Angeles Register are being accepted now at losangelesregister.com, and start at less than a $1 a day – $19.99 for four weeks. Home delivery service begins in early May.

Daily subscriptions will include full digital access and membership into Register Connect, which provides free benefits and experiences. Included are free four-packs of professional baseball, ice hockey and soccer tickets, amusement park and concert tickets, aquarium passes, meet-and-greet opportunities with celebrities, and many other benefits.

About Freedom Communications, Inc.
Freedom Communications, headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif., is a privately-owned company that publishes three daily newspapers - Long Beach Register in Long Beach, Calif., The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif. and the Orange County Register, and Los Angeles Register. Freedom also publishes more than 25 community newspapers that serve specific cities, audiences and geographic areas, including Spanish-language Unidos en el Sur de California, the Desert Enterprise in Coachella Valley, and the Easy Reader publications along the coast of Los Angeles. Freedom publishes highly designed glossy magazines and operates a custom publishing unit. The company's portfolio also includes news and entertainment websites and mobile applications. For more information, visitfreedom.com or contact Eric Morgan at emorgan@freedom.com.