Solomon Hughes

Solomon Young Hughes (Hughes' full name is printed out on the title page of his University of Georgia PhD dissertation.) is an American educator, athlete, and actor known for his leading role as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty a sports drama television series on HBO.

Sports career Hughes stands tall. He played on the basketball team at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, California, graduating in 1997. At age 17, he signed a letter of intent to play for Tulane University, but decided not to enroll there, which subjected him to a two-year ban on playing NCAA basketball. He attended Fork Union Military Academy for the 1997–98 school year, then enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley, practicing with the California Golden Bears despite his ineligibility. Upon appeal, the NCAA reinstated his eligibility on November 3, 1998, and Hughes played his first collegiate game that night. Hughes played with the Golden Bears for four years and was a captain of the team.

He played for the Harlem Globetrotters for 13 games and tried out for the National Basketball Association in 2003. for his dissertation titled "Approaching signing day: the college choice process of heavily recruited student athletes”. Hughes is an instructor and faculty affiliate at Duke University's Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity. He was also a visiting instructor on the academic staff at Stanford University in HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. Playing Abdul-Jabbar was Hughes' first acting role, playing the iconic athlete for 17 episodes over 2 seasons. The show has since been cancelled, with the Season 2 finale acting as the series finale.

Filmography

Film

Television