His bio on the NBA's website starts this way: When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar left the game in 1989 at age 42, no NBA player had ever scored more points, blocked more shots, won more Most Valuable Player Awards, played in more All-Star Games or logged more seasons. His list of personal and team accomplishments is perhaps the most awesome in league history: Rookie of the Year, member of six NBA championship teams, six-time NBA MVP, two-time NBA Finals MVP, 19-time All-Star, two-time scoring champion, and a member of the NBA 35th and 50th Anniversary All-Time Teams. He also owned eight playoff records and seven All-Star records. No player achieved as much individual and team success as did Abdul-Jabbar."
It started at UCLA, when Lew Alcindor was selected as Player of the Year in 1967 and 1969 by The Sporting News, United Press International, the Associated Press and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. He was also named an All-American and the most outstanding player in the NCAA Tournament in 1967, 1968 and 1969. With Alcindor taking charge in the middle, Wooden and UCLA pocketed three national championships.
While a member of the Milwaukee Bucks, before the 1971-72 season, he converted from Catholicism to Islam and took the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, which means "noble, powerful servant." That year, he repeated as scoring champion (34.8 ppg) and NBA Most Valuable Player. Eventually, he was unhappy in Milwaukee, because in part of the lack of people who shared his religious and cultural beliefs. He requested that he be traded to either New York or Los Angeles, and Bucks GM Wayne Embry sent him to the Lakers in 1975 for Junior Bridgeman, Dave Meyers, Elmore Smith and Brian Winters. This was a Lakers teams in need of help, having finishing last in '74-'75 with a 30-52 record, two years removed from Wilt Chamberlain's retirement.
He brought about a 10-game turnaround in his first season with the Lakers and with 27.7 points adn 16.9 rebounds a game, won another NBA Most Valuable Player Award, his fourth in only seven years in the league. He was league MVP again in '76-77, but Portland and Bill Walton took care of the Lakers in the playoffs. In 1977-78 , he broke his hand hitting Milwaukee rookie Kent Benson in the season opener. When Magic Johnson arrived in '79, the team changed again. The Lakers reached the NBA Finals eight times in the 10 seasons between 1979-80 and 1988-89. They won five titles.
On April 5, 1984 against the Jazz in Las Vegas, Abdul-Jabbar took a pass from Magic and lached his trademark sky-hook. giving him career point No. 31,420, to go past Wilt Chamberlain as the NBA's all-time leading scorer.
Abdul-Jabbar's retirement after the 1989 finals loss to Detroit saw him with 38,387 points (24.6 ppg), 17,440 rebounds (11.2 rpg), 3,189 blocks, and a .559 field-goal percentage from a career that spanned 20 years and 1,560 games. He scored in double figures in 787 straight games.
"The '80s made up for all the abuse I took during the '70s," he said. "I outlived all my critics. By the time I retired, everybody saw me as a venerable institution. Things do change."

Runner up:
==Marcus Allen, USC football (1978-'81)

The 2000 College Football Hall of Famer won the '81 Heisman over Herschel Walker, Jim McMahon and Dan Marino, rushing for an NCAA record 2,342 yards -- the first to break 2,000 yards in a season. He was the first to ever have four 200-plus yard games in one season, and that included 289 yards and four TDs against Washington State on October 31, 1982. He led the nation in scoring, also taking the Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Award. In his first two seasons, Allen was a fullback leading the way for another Heisman winner, Charles White. As a starting running back in 1980, he ran for 1,563 yards, second in the nation to George Rogers. Allen shares the NCAA record for most 200-yard rushing games with Ricky Williams and Ron Dayne, with twelve games reaching the bicentennial mark. Coach John Robinson said simply of Allen: "The greatest player I ever saw."

Other No. 33s:
==Lisa Leslie, USC women’s basketball ('91-'94)
Three-time All-American, '94 Naismith winner, the Pac-10's all-time leader with 2,414 points and 1,214 rebounds
==Ollie Matson, Rams ('59-'62)
==Kermit Alexander, UCLA football ('60-'62)
==Karim Abdul-Jabbar, UCLA football ('93-'95)
==Marty McSorley, Kings ('88-'93, '94-'96)
==Ziggy Palffy, Kings ('99-'03)
==Eddie Murray, Dodgers ('89-'91), Angels ('97)
==Eric Davis, Dodgers ('92-'93)
==Tommy Hawkins, Lakers ('61-'62, '66-'69) (also wore No. 20)
==Aaron Bates, Lancaster JetHawks (hit four home runs in one game, '07)
==Seth Etherton, USC baseball
==Luis Tiant, Angels ('82)
==Willie Naulls, UCLA basketball ('53-'56)
==David Wells, Dodgers ('07)
==Steve Bilko, Dodgers ('58), also wore No. 36 that season

Sports Illustrated's choice for the all-time No. 33: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, over Larry Bird.

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