Centennial Moments: Zaid Abdul-Aziz

In honor of 100 years of Iowa State men's basketball during the 2007-08 season, cyclones.com will publish weekly "Centennial Moments," featuring brief stories on former Cyclone players, coaches and teams. Check back at cyclones.com for more "Centennial Moments." Be sure to click here to see this week's video vignettes.

Zaid Abdul-Aziz

Zaid Abdul-Aziz, who played basketball at Iowa State as Don Smith from 1966-68, is without question one of the best basketball players to ever don a Cyclone uniform. An All-American selection in 1968, Abdul-Aziz is one of only two Cyclones in school history to earn first-team all-conference three times (Jeff Grayer was the other). As a senior in 1968, Abdul-Aziz was named Big Eight Player of the Year and was selected as the fifth pick in the 1968 NBA Draft. Abdul-Aziz and former Kansas All-American and NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain were the first two players in Big Eight history to score over 600 points in a season twice.

Abdul-Aziz was an automatic choice for the All-Century Team at Iowa State and it is an honor he is extremely proud of.

“To be on the All-Century team with all of those other great players is something I can't even explain to anybody,” Abdul-Aziz said. “Just to have your jersey hanging in the rafters with five other guys is just amazing. As you get older, you start to appreciate it a little bit more.”

Abdul-Aziz enjoyed a 10-year NBA playing career, playing for the Cincinnati Royals, Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle Supersonics, Houston Rockets, Buffalo Braves and Boston Celtics before retiring after the 1977-78 season. His jersey (No. 35) is one of six jerseys retired and hanging in the Hilton Coliseum rafters.

Abdul-Aziz recently wrote a book about his life and basketball experiences called, Darkness to Sunlight: The Life-Changing Journey Of Zaid Abdul-Aziz. He came back to Ames last year for a book signing and ISU honored him with a “Zaid Abdul-Aziz” Night" in Hilton Coliseum on Feb. 21 where he was a special guest in Cyclone Alley.

“The No. 1 memory of my Iowa State career is an easy one,” Abdul-Aziz said. “I have always been an extremely shy person. I guess it was my sophomore year when the announcer said, ?starting at center No. 35 Don Smith,' and the people got up off their seats and clapped and clapped and clapped. And then when I came out of the game, the people gave me another standing ovation. This happened every game throughout the rest of my career and it really made me feel special.”

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