About Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (born Christopher Wayne Jackson; March 9, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for nine years with the Denver Nuggets, Sacramento Kings and Vancouver Grizzlies. Abdul-Rauf played college basketball for the LSU Tigers from 1988 to 1990 and was a consensus first-team All-American both seasons he played. He was chosen as the 3rd overall pick in the 1990 NBA draft by the Denver Nuggets. Abdul-Rauf was selected for the NBA Most Improved Player Award in 1993, appeared in the Slam Dunk Contest at the 1993 NBA All-Star Weekend, and was one of the league's most accurate free throw shooters. After his NBA career, he played in multiple leagues around the world. During his early years with the Nuggets, Abdul-Rauf converted to Islam after being influenced by The Autobiography of Malcolm X and the Quran. He officially changed his name from Chris Jackson to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf in 1993. He sparked widespread media attention and controversy during the 1995–96 NBA season, when he refused to stand for the U.S. national anthem in an act of protest, because he believed that the flag of the United States was a symbol of oppression. Abdul-Rauf later agreed to stand, but only if he was allowed to raise his hands in dua during the anthem as a condition. In 2016, Abdul-Rauf's national anthem protest received renewed attention in the wake of Colin Kaepernick and the 2016 NFL kneeling protests. Having never played an organized game, Abdul-Rauf was discovered by a middle-school girls coach in Gulfport, MS during lunch period on the playground. He set the scoring record for a freshman, with 53 points against Florida.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.