photo: thestartingfive.net
“I’m sorry Chris Jackson, You are for real!” -The Ali re-mix of the OutKast classic, Ms. Jackson
Every generation can lay claim to that one transcendant talent, a shooting star that scorched everything in his path en route to ascending the ladder of LEGEND. For some, their reign at the crescendo was long. For others, the view from the mountaintop was all too brief. For Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, the artist formerly known as Chris Jackson, his extraordinary spontaneous combustion during two remarkable seasons at L.S.U. was enough to tickle the memories of those who witnessed his exploits for a lifetime.
With an arsenal that included an impeccable handle, more shakes than a fervent Beyonce dance routine, a bananas vertical leap, an underrated assist game that was overshadowed by his prolific scoring, lightning hands that thieved like Bernard Madoff and a hiccup-quick release on a jimmy that was as dependable as Oprah, Mahmoud sizzled retinas.
Mahmoud was born as Chris Wayne Jackson, a child of poverty in Gulfport, Mississippi. The city’s white sand beaches betray the relentless hopelessness that simmers in the region’s oppressive heat. Less than 20% of Gulfport residents own a college degree as the median income level lags far behind the remainder of the country.
On the city’s playgrounds, the young man isolated himself from the unpleasantries that suffocated those around him. He played from dusk to dawn, shooting the ball for hours on end.
photo: pictopia.com
“I had the ball five seconds…four…three,” Mahmoud told Sports Illustrated’s Curry Kirkpatrick. “If I missed, I’d go back to one second left. I’d always pretend I had the quickest defensive man in the world on me to see how fast I could get the shot off.”
His mother Jacqueline was a single mother of three boys who often escaped into the abyss of alcohol. Working in the cafeteria of the Veterans Administration hospital in nearby Biloxi, she struggled from paycheck to paycheck.
Chris and his brothers, Omar and David, were not accustomed to three squares a day, often making due with syrup sandwiches and sugar water. At times, Chris consumed coffee in place of a nutritious meal.
photo: collectr.com
He failed the fourth grade and was placed on the Special-Ed track by the time he reached junior high school. He suffered from Tourette’s Syndrome, which was then undiagnosed, a nueropsychiatric disorder that is characterized by extreme physical and verbal tics. Sitting in class, he struggled through agonizing bouts as his neck snapped, jaw clenched and eyes blinked uncontrollably. Without provocation, strange sounds jumped out of his mouth.
“”It took all of my power just to not twitch or yell out,” Abdul-Rauf told Robert Sanchez of 5280 Magazine. “I’d sit there and pray, ‘God, don’t let me move, please don’t let me move.”
photo: jamd.com
On the asphalt, he was constantly challenged and when alone, he conjured imaginary defenders that stuck to him like velcro. He’d imagine being on the wrong end of hard fouls, then stationing himself at the charity stripe. He trained methodically, which was a byproduct of his Tourette’s. He practiced skills over and over, often setting unrealistic goals, until everything felt just so. The feel of the dribble, the way the ball left his fingertips on passes, the arc of the ball on the jumper – it all had to be flawless.
Those countless hours on the playground were in pursuit of perfection.
“Sometimes, it’s get so cold outside, but I refused to leave,” Abdul-Rauf told Sanchez. “I dribbled the ball around, shot from the outside, the inside. Step in, then back and POW! nail that shot. But it was so cold, I’d start shivering. My hands would freeze and it hurt to move them. After I was done, I’d dribble the ball home, through the legs, around the back. Keep the defender off me. Dribble down the street, people trying to sell you marijuana – ‘Hey boy, try this’ – ignore them, keep dribbling that ball. Don’t let it get away. Head up.”
photo: jamd.com
In high school, that meticulous preparation spawned an athletic prodigy. Many recognize him as the greatest prep basketball player in Mississippi’s history. On the court, the Tourette’s blended seamlessly into the game’s persistent motion, the uproar of packed gymnasiums and chirping of ref’s whistles.
While only a diminutive, high school freshman, Louisville was the first of many big time programs that came offering scholarships. By the time he made his college debut in ‘88-’89, the rest of the country learned what aficionados down south had already known – the lil’ fella was a hoops genius, a scoring machine, a revelation!
photo: si.com
In his third game at L.S.U., he dropped 48 against Louisiana Tech! Two games later, 53 against Florida, which set the NCAA freshman record! He scored 15 of his team’s final 17 points against Maryland, then every bit of L.S.U’s last 16 against Kentucky. Another 50, Fiddy!, against Tennessee, with 8 assists shortly after that.
In January, more than 54,000 people showed up at the Louisiana Superdome to watch him play against Georgetown. He dropped 26 in the 82-80 victory in front of what was, at the time, the largest live college basketball audience in history. Coach Thompson’s vaunted defense threw everything at Mahmoud, to no avail.
Peep those game highlights right here:
“”I never knew which way Chris was going,” then standout freshman and defensive wunderkind Alonzo Mourning told Curry Kirkpatrick of Sports Illustrated. “He puts you in a triple threat position. You don’t know whether he’s pulling up to shoot or to pass, or whether he’ll keep driving inside or what. Then, which side. Where? He’s everywhere. Give him one step and it’s over. And I think he’s the best shooter in the country.”
photo: jamd.com
With the game tied at 80 in the closing seconds, Mahmoud slithered through a triple team to make the pass. Although Russell Grant’s shot was blocked by ‘Zo, Ricky Blanton corralled the loose ball and made the wining layup.
“I wanted Chris to take that last shot, but I didn’t tell him he’d get gang guarded,” L.S.U. coach Dale Brown told SI. “I knew he’d get out of that trap, though. They locked up Houdini, and he got out, didn’t he. Chris dances. He skates. He evaporates. It’s like Shazam!”
photo: jamd.com
Georgetown’s Dwayne Bryant could do nothing but shake his head after the game.
“Jackson lulls you to sleep by drifting around with the ball,” Bryant told SI. “Then he explodes. He’s the next great college player.”
The thing about his magnificent frehsman year was that the remainder of the luminous recruiting class of Stanley Roberts, Maurice Williamson and Harold Boudreaux were Prop 48 casualties that had to sit out the season. So, in the finest season ever put together by a freshman in the illustrious history of college ball, Mahmoud singlehandedly elevated his team to his own spectacular level.
photo: jamd.com
He reminded many of another L.S.U. legend, the incomparable Pistol Pete Maravich. Illinois’ Kendall Gill called him, “the best guard I’ve ever played against.”
He surpassed Fly Williams’ NCAA freshman scoring record by averaging 30.2 ppg. After a similar sophomore campaign, he decided to turn pro after the bathroom sink collapsed in his dilapidated Gulfport home while washing his hands.
Mahmoud, who’d been named a 1st Team All-American for both of his college seasons, was picked 3rd overall in the ‘90 NBA draft behind Derrick Coleman and Gary Payton.
As a rookie with the Denver Nuggets, he injured his foot and gained 30 pounds. His 14 point average, followed by an abysmal 10 ppg the next year labelled him a bust. But off the court, his world was expanding. Never one to live the playa lifestyle, he read vociferously while his NBA cohorts revelled in debauchery. He built himself a library of Malcolm X’s speeches and texts.
He converted to Islam, changed his name, which in Arabic means “elegant and praiseworthy, most merciful, most kind”. He purchased a run-down crackhouse and built a mosque in his hometown. But he soon found that the world was not as welcoming to him anymore.
“I was laughed at by so many people,” he told Sanchez. “They just wanted the boy to dribble the damn ball. Don’t open your mouth, just dribble that ball. Don’t question anyone, just dribble that ball.”
With his spiritual journey in motion and his mind at ease, he lost 30 pounds, hit the courts for nine hours a day and came back to average 19 ppg, winning the NBA’s Most Improved Player award. He led the Nuggets in scoring again the next year.
photo: jamd.com
During the ‘95 season Mahmoud advised the Nuggets that he would no longer stand for the playing of the Star Spangled Banner. He said that recognizing the flag would be his participation in “a blindly patriotic nation ignoring its ignominious past.” In his eyes, to do so would be a sin.
The league handled it discreetly and for a while and Mahmoud’s silent protest was hardly noticed. He would stretch in the tunnel, then jog onto the court after the song had been played and join his teammates.
But when he found himself on the court in March and the national anthem came on, he sat down. And all hell broke loose. The hate mail poured in. He reached a compromise where he would remain standing, yet pray during the anthem.
photo: temple3.wordpress.com
He got booed everywhere he went, was traded twice, than unceremoniously kicked to the curb of obscurity. Mahmoud finished up his playing career overseas. In 2001, his 6,600 square-foot Gulfport home was vandalized and burned down.
He was castigated for being an ungrateful, young millionaire who was granted access to the American Dream.
“It only becomes the American Dream when more people are able to do it, when the disparity between the rich and the poor is lessened, ” Rauf told Sanchez. “Just because I can do it doesn’t make it a dream. The American Dream is when it’s fair. I know what it’s like to not have health care, to be starving when I’m in my house. Just because I made it, don’t think that it was because of America’s kindheartedness that I did it. I struggled every damn day of my life.”
Mahmoud was a savant, a basketball genius whose otherworldly exploits amazed even long-time observers and connoisseurs.
How good was he? He was the only individual who ever played on the same team with Shaq (they were teammates on the ‘89-’90 L.S.U. Tigers, Shaq’s freshman year) and overshadowed him!
photo of Mahmoud on the shoulders of Shaq and Stanley Roberts: northbynorthwestern.com
At a mere 5′10″, 165 pounds soaking wet, he was the true definition of mercurial, the greatest freshman ever to play college ball. And without the playgrounds of Gulfport, Mississippi, he never blazes through the hoops universe like a shooting star, too briefly but oh so brilliantly.
THE PLAYGROUND IS NOT THE PROBLEM. IT IS THE SOLUTION!
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:31 am
SupaStar24 says:
I have a friend who played with the Spurs during Rauf’s playing days. When asked who were the best offensive players in the game he simply stated three names: MJ, Hakeem and Rauf. Said those 3 were unguardable.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:40 am
g says:
i remember the best defensive guard in college at the time was charles smith from georgetown. i remember chris jackson stretching out on him at the superdome. during the postgame interviews,billy packer asked charles smith what he thought about c jack. at first charles smith who was then a senior was tempered,trying to be very pc and cordial. but thanks to the adlibbing of billy packer who was going in about how unstoppable c jack was and how he made so many tough shots,charles smith errupted! “Im a senior! go ask him about me!”…… whew! lol!
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:59 am
Caro says:
Thanks Ali, great article!
I had the chance to interview him 2 years ago while he was playing in Greece, he’s an admirable person and still got game!
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:00 pm
ali says:
mahmoud was definitely unguardable SupaStar24. Those youtube highlights are spine tingling. he was an unstoppable force of nature.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:03 pm
ali says:
i heard that he’s still gettin buckets, as we speak. hey caro, is mahmoud still playing in greece?
and indeed an admirable person. he stood up for his beliefs, regardless of the consequences. he’s much more than just a basketball player. he’s a man of principle who was not afraid to think and live for himself. props to mahmoud.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:08 pm
ali says:
g, i remember that charles smith was indeed heated. at first he said, “Jackson? He’s a real player, that’s all.” as the questions kept coming, he said, “Hey, I’m a senior, he’s a freshman. Go ask him about me. I’m tired of answering questions about Chris Jackson!”
no worries charles smith, everybody and their momma had to answer those questions during his college career. you weren’t the only one that got the kodak-insta-matic treatment.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:17 pm
g says:
indeed Ali,that was an “interesting” interview!
but let me ask,you think he (Chris Jackson) was a better freshman than Kenny Anderson @ Georgia Tech? scoring aside,cause clearly Chris Jackson’s point production wasnt matched by Chibbs at all. but impact? hmmm,Chibbs got them dudes to the final 4,and he didnt have Stanley Roberts and Shaq on the blocks….. and if Brian Oliver has a better shooting night to keep the double team off of Chibbs,they mightve made it to the chip…..
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:30 pm
ali says:
G, mahmoud’s freshman year, he did not have stanley roberts, who was a victim of prop 48. shaq came in during mahmoud’s soph year.
that’s a tough question. chibbs was the greatest freshman point guard i’ve seen. but he had dennis scott and b oliver with him in that crazy backcourt.
i’d have to say that mahmoud was, indeed, the best freshman i’ve ever seen. kenny was not far behind though. their games were vastly differnt but they were both geniuses. you could not look away from the tv when either of them were performing.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Caro says:
I don’t know where he plays now. After his season in Greece, I know he had contacts with some European clubs like Paris, but I also know that he wanted to spend time with his family in Georgia.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
g says:
Mahmoud is in Saudi Arabia now Caro…..
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Blk Caesar says:
This is like running into the living room on Xmas morning!!! I have been waiting for this one Ali…. C Jack was amazing in college. He was unguardable.. Let me repeat this to make it clear: UNGUARDABLE. and he was a freshman! That’s a great question about Chibbs, but remember he had a lot more help than Rauf his freshmen year and Kenny was not dropping 30 ppg.. Not doubting that he could b/c he was NY’s all-time leading scorer until Bassy broke it. Both were must-see TV but C Jack was one of a kind.
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:10 pm
ali says:
cease,
i know you were fiendin’ for this one. i had it in the oven, but when you asked about it last week, i put some double-time on it. running into the living room on x-mas morning? that’s a heckuva compliment brother. glad you could enjoy it to that extent. those mahmoud/chris jackson highlights are bananas!
for the youth that don’t know, now ya know!!!
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Caro says:
True g! Thanks!
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Dan the Man says:
I remember seeing him vs. UNLV and his great double-crossover moves ! Ali, you are simply marvelous in creating these articles ! But, I have to make mention that L.A. Legend Raymond Lewis was unstoppable too !
http://www.raymondlewis.com
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:57 pm
ali says:
Thanks Dan. raymond lewis was indeed unstoppable. if only he’d gone to play for tark at long beach state, maybe more people would have known about his abilities. there will be a future piece on ray lew, which fits in the joe hammond wing of “the playground gave us…”.
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Blk Caesar says:
Hey man.. I just call it like I see it Ali.. These pieces bring back great memories from watching ball as a kid and some of the players that became cemented in my mind. I am only a half a second past 30 so I only go back so far, but these guys/teams from the mid to late 80’s and the 90’s were the dudes that turned me into a certified hoops junkie and its cool to see them remembered and to have dialogue about them with like-minded people. Mahmoud was that dude though man..
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:22 pm
ali says:
he was indeed that dude cease. that was a great time for college ball. mahmoud, stanley roberts and shaq at lsu, d-coleman, larry johnson, gary payton, lionel simmons, hank gathers, bo kimble, kendall gill, zo, rumeal robinson, kenny and d-scott, doug smith, billy owens, steve smith, etc all in college at the same time. gracious!
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Buck says:
Thanks Ali!
I’ve been waiting for this piece on Mahmoud!
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Keyes says:
Dope article Ali!
February 4th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
steady b says:
Great article. I remember all the highlights of Chris Jackson when I was in high school. He was the man in MS. He definitely overshadowed Shaq at LSU. His NBA career was indeed cut short because of his beliefs.
February 4th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
c-stan says:
goat free throw shooter and one of my all time favorites…i suggest to anyone who hasn’t read the conversion of chris jackson to read it online…its one of the best articles I’ve ever read.
February 4th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
ali says:
no question c-stan. the conversion of chris jackson, by robert sanchez, is required reading for all mahmoud fans. it was one of the articles that proved useful to me in researching this piece.
February 5th, 2009 at 10:12 am
illest says:
that cat was so good he used to take limos to his high school games. one of the most exciting players ever.
February 5th, 2009 at 10:52 am
ali says:
illest,
i thought you were M.I.A. on this one. Cease posed a great question. Who had the best freshman season, kenny or mahmoud, in your opinion?
and mahmoud was one of the most exciting ever. they listed him as 6′1″, but dude was 5′10″ at best. and the things he did? incredible. exciting, as an adjective, seems to come up short when talking about how he played and the effect it had on anyone who saw him.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
illest says:
thats what the flu does to a cat. mahmoud had a better freshmen season but chibbs was so exciting. i could use a better adjective but i couldnt find one. son was so ill with the quickest release and illest basic dribble to shot move ive ever seen. im mad his nba career was shortened.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
ali says:
me too. and get better on the flu tip. and the bugged thing is that mahmoud was the greatest free throw shooter of all time, if i’m not mistaken, but you can’t find his name on any of those lists.
February 6th, 2009 at 9:29 am
illest says:
a great free throw shooter at like 96 percent. to play with tourettes is the most unbelievable thing. i remember him saying he had to make sure his laces were tied perfectly before he played and if they werent he wouldnt go on the court. he was just as exciting and must see as chibbs. so i dont know who was better.
February 6th, 2009 at 10:25 am
ali says:
mahmoud said it would take him an hour just to get dressed in the morning. the tourette’s, in my opinion, actually contributed to how great a player he was. he’d shoot over and over again until everything felt just perfect. like dude would literally be on the court for 9 hours, just shooting. his hands had to be in the right place on the seams, the ball had to come out of his hands a certain way, the spin of the ball in flight had to be correct, the rock had to snap the net just a certain way, etc.
amazing.
February 6th, 2009 at 10:32 am
illest says:
very scary and very precise. a joy to watch. and the tourettes definitely in a unique way helped him.
February 6th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
C.H says:
Til this day Mahmoud, is still NICE, during the summer and early fall before i went to play overseas, he was hoopin in LA fitness, in ATL. He still got it too, the dude barely misses a shot and his basketball IQ is up there too! It’s funny cause I watched him 1 game, as I watched 1 I saw the straight scorers mentality come out in him, when they was down he just took over, mind you damn near everyone in there plays or has played professionally on some level b4! POINT BEING THE DUDE STILL GOT, but u know we ran them off next game, NEXT,LOL
February 6th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
ali says:
yeah C.H.! thanks for that update. i heard he was still gettin buckets but it’s good to get it firsthand from someone who was not only there to see it, but from someone who sent his crew packin’. NEXT! that was hilarious.
February 7th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Nhamz says:
ali, you did it again!
Great article!!
This took me back to high school! I was one of the few fortunate ones back in the day to earn a scholarship to come over to the states to play prep ball from the UK (with the birth of the web, its far more common now!). When I got down south, I saw him play on TV at LSU his freshman year and instantly became hooked.
We all were.
He was so nice everyone on my team and at the local park used to do the tourettes shake at the line or at any break in the game because we thought it would make us play better. Imagine that. His game was so cold it made a serious condition fashionable!? (Note: Tourettes is no joke, and I’m not making light of those who suffer from its condition, just to illustrate the point that Chris Jackson was the player we wanted to be)
He was simply unstoppable and brought heat and electricity like Con Ed in mid-December. Left you feeling like you needed more of it in your life.
He had a crazy-quick release on the jumper and was cat-quick in the one on one.
Nice.
Thanks for this one.
Peace
Nhamz
February 7th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
ali says:
hey Nhamz,
glad you likes. my high school team played against steve bucknall, one of your UK contemporaries, when he was at governor dummer academy and he was a monster. dean smith said he was the best defensive player he’d coached at unc! in HS, his offensive game was ridiculous and i think he caught a cup of coffe with the lakers, if i’m not mistaken.
February 7th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Nhamz says:
ali, bro you’re right! Buck was a killer at the prep level. A McDonalds All-American and had a SOLID career at UNC, mainly as a defensive specialist. He averaged double figures in his senior year as captain at Chapel Hill and got a run with the Lakers during the Magic, Kareem, Worthy and Byron Scott era! After that went on to a long and successful career in Europe in Greece, France and England.
He’s a bonafide UK legend over here and one of the best to do it. Defensively he was world class.
Funnily enough, I saw the comments about Kenny Anderson Vs Chris Jackson. Did you know that another guard from England also was a main feature of that Georgia Tech team that went to the final 4? Karl Brown was that squads defensive stopper too, and Bobby Cremins called him the best defensive guard he had too!
Something about UK players and that lock down D…
Good times.
March 6th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Jason says:
Ali – thanks for this article. I was in Jr High the first time I saw him play at LSU. After that, I watched him every NBA game in Houston. I met him before and after each game. He was so codrial to our family – he signed, took pictures with me and talked to me. In the year he won most improved player, we met him for a game in Houston and he walked out of the hotel in a mob of people to signed autographs, looked directly for me in the back of the crowd and said ‘hey jason whats up’ – everyone looked at me like I was top dog. I have a picture of Mahmoud and I that he autographed and in arabic above his signature he wrote something and the next year I asked him what it meant – he said “it means god is greatest and don’t you ever forget that”
I was there when Calvin Murphy put a jinx on Mahmoud’s last free throw to where he would have had the record for free throw percentage in a season. what a cheap move.
Years later I went to LSU and played ball with Ronnie Henderson – who said he was cousins with Mahmoud. We would play ball at the LSU rec center for hours then we would sit and talk basketball and I would ask him tons of questions about Mahmoud. Ronnie told me Mahmoud was the best high school player ever.
Thanks for the article. I am always interested in how he is doing. His generosity has touched our family’s life and I am sure many others. I wish I could share the same court with him for a run sometime.
Thanks for the article.
April 8th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
muhammad abdul faruq says:
dear mahmoud my name is muhammad abdul faruq i was wondering which set of islam do you follow.i respect you sincerely , iwas told you follow the shitte sect.iwould like your response because i personaly belong to the sunni sect.and i was considering with further research,change over to the shitte sect.i was born and raised in jackson ms.i followed your career from high school to the pros.inshallah i would like a response from you.my address is muhammad abdul faruq p.o box 21494 jackson,ms 39289 assalamulakim