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    1. About Dyckman Houses

      The public housing complex was built in 1951 and consists of seven 14-story buildings with 1,167 apartments housing an estimated 2,580 residents.1 Completed April 25, 1951, the 14.09-acre Manhattan complex is bordered by Dyckman and West 204th Streets, and Nagle and 10th Avenues.2 The development is located in the Inwood neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, along the Harlem River.

      🏀 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — NBA Legend, Author, Activist, Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient

      The most famous person to come from Dyckman Houses is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

      Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr., April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player.3 Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. was born in Harlem, New York City, the only child of Cora Lillian, a department store price checker, and Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Sr., a transit police officer and jazz musician.3

      Growing Up in Dyckman Houses:

      When Abdul-Jabbar was three, his father thought the area around Seventh Avenue and 111th Street was becoming too dirty and dangerous, so in 1950 he moved his family to the Dyckman Housing Project in Inwood, a section of northern Manhattan.4 Abdul-Jabbar first picked up a basketball and tried unsuccessfully to put it through the hoop. When he was eight years old his parents, devout Catholics, transferred him to Saint Jude’s, a private Catholic boy’s school nearby, where he was one of only two blacks.4

      The basketball great recalled growing up in Inwood’s Dyckman Houses in a 2013 New York Magazine profile: “The northern side of Dyckman Street was Irish, and the southern side was Jewish.”5

      Lew Alcindor, better known as basketball star Kareem Abdul Jabbar, played ball in the league as a young man from the Dyckman Housing Projects. Although he never made it to the major league, Alcindor earned a place in the Little League Hall of Fame in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.6

      Career Highlights:

      • He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Abdul-Jabbar won a record six NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards. He was a 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA Team member, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team selection.3
      • He was a member of six NBA championship teams as a player and two more as an assistant coach, and was twice voted the NBA Finals MVP. He was named to three NBA anniversary teams (35th, 50th, and 75th).3
      • Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Abdul-Jabbar broke the NBA’s career scoring record in 1984, and held it until LeBron James surpassed him in 2023.3
      • Abdul-Jabbar was known as Lew Alcindor when he played at Power Memorial, a private Catholic high school in New York City, where he led their team to 71 consecutive wins. He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, winning three consecutive national championships under head coach John Wooden. Alcindor was a record three-time most outstanding player of the NCAA tournament.3
      • ESPN named him the greatest center of all time in 2007, the greatest player in college basketball history in 2008, and the second best player in NBA history (behind Michael Jordan) in 2016.7
      • Abdul-Jabbar has also been an actor, a basketball coach, a best-selling author, and a martial artist, having trained in Jeet Kune Do under Bruce Lee and appeared in his film Game of Death (1972).3
      • In 2012, Abdul-Jabbar was selected by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be a U.S. global cultural ambassador. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.3

      His Return to NYCHA:

      In the summer of 1968, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — known at the time as Lew Alcindor, and just barely twenty-one years old — was already a basketball legend. Impossibly tall and incredibly talented, he had led New York City’s Power Academy to 71 straight wins before joining John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins. After a year on the “freshman team,” he had led the varsity to back-to-back NCAA titles, winning tournament MVP both times (he would add another title and MVP in 1969). And that summer, if you were a kid growing up in one of the New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) developments, you could meet the legend in person.8

      We know Kareem Abdul-Jabbar today as a brilliant activist and public intellectual as well as a basketball superstar, a man who was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. As historian John Matthew Smith wrote earlier this year, Abdul-Jabbar’s legacy “transcends the game; in the age of Black Power, he redefined the political role of black college athletes.”8

      🏥 Dr. Mary T. Bassett — Public Health Leader, NYC Health Commissioner, NYS Health Commissioner

      Another remarkable person who grew up in Dyckman Houses is Dr. Mary T. Bassett, one of the most prominent public health officials in the United States.

      Since 2014, Dr. Mary T. Bassett has made the health of New York City’s residents her top priority. A former NYCHA resident – she grew up at Dyckman Houses — Dr. Bassett has over 30 years of experience in public health.9

      Career Highlights:

      • Bassett received her B.A. in history and science from Harvard University in 1974, her M.D. from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1979, and her MPH in Health Services (Health Policy Research) from the University of Washington in 1985. She completed her medical residency at Harlem Hospital Center.10
      • Bassett lived in Zimbabwe from 1985 to 2002, during which time she served on the medical faculty of the University of Zimbabwe. She was appointed deputy commissioner of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in 2002.10
      • She served as New York City’s Health Commissioner from 2014 to 2018, overseeing the health of over 8 million residents.
      • In 2016, Bassett was awarded the Frank A. Calderone Prize by the Mailman School of Public Health. This prize was established in 1986, and is the most prestigious honor in the field of public health in the United States.10
      • In 2017, Bassett was elected to become a member of the National Academy of Medicine.10
      • In September 2021, New York Governor Kathy Hochul appointed Bassett as the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, succeeding Howard Zucker.10
      • In September 2018, Bassett became director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights (FXB Center) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.10

      ✊ Raul Cales — Military Veteran & Longtime Community Advocate

      That these conditions exist in housing mostly occupied by black and Latino families — with a median income of less than $19,000 — bothers long-time public housing resident Raul Cales. The 61-year old retired military veteran has lived in the Dyckman Houses since he was one year old.11 Repairs to the brick facing of two of Dyckman’s seven 14-story buildings is either underway or scheduled, according to Cales. But he suspects a lack of funding is why repairs have not commenced on the other five buildings, or to the leaky roofs in the 1,167 unit development.11

      Cales has been a vocal advocate for residents, speaking out about the chronic neglect and underfunding of NYCHA developments and fighting for improved conditions at Dyckman Houses.

      📝 Summary — Dyckman Houses’ Legacy

      Dyckman Houses holds a truly remarkable place in NYCHA and American history. Its most famous resident, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is not only one of the greatest basketball players ever to live, but also a celebrated author, activist, and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient who grew up in the development in the 1950s. Dr. Mary T. Bassett, who also grew up at Dyckman Houses, went on to become one of America’s most influential public health leaders, serving as both New York City and New York State Health Commissioner, and receiving the most prestigious honor in American public health.

      Together, Abdul-Jabbar and Dr. Bassett represent two vastly different but equally remarkable paths — sports and public health — both rooted in the same NYCHA development in Inwood, Manhattan. Their stories are a powerful testament to the talent and potential that exists within public housing communities.

      Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.)

      Born in Harlem on April 16, 1947, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar moved with his parents to the Dyckman Street projects in the Inwood neighborhood of Upper Manhattan at the age of 3 in 1950.1

      Career Highlights:

      Basketball Legend:

      • He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA, and played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins as a center, winning a record six NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards.1
      • He was a 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA Team member, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team selection, and was a member of six NBA championship teams as a player and two more as an assistant coach.1
      • Abdul-Jabbar broke the NBA’s career scoring record in 1984, and held it until LeBron James surpassed him in 2023.1
      • He led Power Memorial high school in New York City to 71 consecutive wins, and won three consecutive national championships at UCLA under head coach John Wooden.1

      Activism and Other Achievements:

      • Abdul-Jabbar was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, and his legacy “transcends the game; in the age of Black Power, he redefined the political role of black college athletes.”2
      • Abdul-Jabbar has also been an actor, a basketball coach, a best-selling author, and a martial artist, having trained in Jeet Kune Do under Bruce Lee and appeared in his film Game of Death (1972). In 2012, he was selected by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be a U.S. global cultural ambassador, and in 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.1
      • Growing up in the Dyckman housing projects in New York City, Abdul-Jabbar was exposed to the governmental neglect of, and targeted injustices toward, poor, Black people. Incidents such as the murder of Emmett Till in 1955 and the Harlem riots of 1964 sparked his ascent into racial politics.3

      Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time and has become equally renowned as a public intellectual, activist, and author.