Solomon Hughes (actor)
{{Short description|American educator, athlete, and actor}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Solomon Hughes
| image = Solomon Hughes next to Four Tops exhibit (cropped).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Hughes at the LBJ Library in 2020
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1979|02|28}}
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = {{flatlist}}
{{endflatlist}}
| years_active = 1997–present
| known_for = lead role of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
|alma_mater = University of California, Berkeley
(BA, MA)
University of Georgia (PhD)
| notable_works =
| module = {{Infobox basketball biography
| embed = yes
| high_school =
- John Wesley North High School (Riverside, California )
- Bishop Montgomery (Torrance, California)
- Fork Union Military Academy (Fork Union, Virginia)
| college = California (1998–2002)
| draft_year = 2002
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 11
| weight_lb = 225
| career_position = Center
| career_number = 14
}}}}
Solomon Young Hughes{{refn|group=Note|Hughes' full name is printed out on the title page of his University of Georgia PhD dissertation.}} (born February 28, 1979){{cite web|url=https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Solomon-Hughes/Summary/6766|title=Solomon Hughes|publisher=RealGM|accessdate=July 4, 2022}} is an American educator, athlete, and actor known for his leading role in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty a sports drama television series on HBO.
Sports career
Hughes stands {{convert|6|ft|11|in}} tall. His father, Ronald Hughes, played basketball at California State University, Fullerton and is a professor of sociology there.{{cite news |last1=Edelstone |first1=Steven |title=How a pro hooper turned PhD ended up on HBO's new Lakers show |url=https://www.sfgate.com/streaming/article/bay-area-hooper-cast-as-kareem-on-hbo-16973057.php |work=SFGate |date=4 March 2022}} He played on the basketball team at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, California, graduating in 1997.{{cite web|url= https://www.bmhs-la.org/apps/news/article/1296467|title=Solomon Hughes '97 to Play Lakers' Abdul-Jabbar in HBO Pilot|website=Bishop Montgomery High School|author=Staff|access-date=May 2, 2022}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Adams |first1=Bruce |title=Bears' Hughes finally solves NCAA's Rubik's cube |url=https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Bears-Hughes-finally-solves-NCAA-s-Rubik-s-cube-3053644.php |work=SFGate |date=20 December 1998}} Hughes played with the Golden Bears for four years and was a captain of the team.{{cite web|url=https://www.si.com/college/cal/basketball/solomon-hughes-hbo-series-on-lakers|author=Jake Curtis|title=Ex-Cal Basketball Player Solomon Hughes Plays Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in TV Series|publisher=Sports Illustrated|website=si.com|accessdate=May 2, 2022|date=April 4, 2022}}
He played for the Harlem Globetrotters{{cite web|url=https://www.harlemglobetrotters.com/world-tour/roster/all-time-globetrotters/|title=All-Time Globetrotters|website=Harlem Globetrotters|access-date=May 1, 2022}} for 13 games{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1bvHHFx9Xs|title=Wait…Winning Time's Solomon Hughes Was a Globetrotter?? And It Was Hard????|date=April 12, 2022|access-date=May 2, 2022|publisher=The Rich Eisen Show}} and tried out for the National Basketball Association in 2003. Hughes also played professionally in the United States Basketball League, the American Basketball Association, and in a professional basketball league in Mexico.
Educational career
Hughes graduated from the University of California, Berkeley earning a BA in Sociology and MA in Education. In 2013 he received his PhD in Higher Education and Policy Studies from the University of Georgia Institute of Higher Education{{cite web |url= https://ihe.uga.edu/news/stories/2014/institute-graduates-2012-2013 |title= Institute Graduates 2012-2013 (2013 Ph.D.)|website=Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education((University of Georgia))|access-date=May 1, 2022}} for his dissertation titled “Approaching signing day: the college choice process of heavily recruited student athletes”.{{cite web |last1=Hughes |first1=Solomon Young |title=Approaching signing day: the college choice process of heavily recruited student athletes |url=https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/hughes_solomon_y_201308_phd.pdf |publisher=University of Georgia |access-date=May 2, 2022 |date=2013}} Hughes is an instructor and faculty affiliate at Duke University's Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity.{{cite web |last1=Staff |title=Visiting Faculty - Solomon Hughes |url=https://socialequity.duke.edu/portfolio-item/hughes-solomon/ |publisher=Duke University |access-date=May 2, 2022}} He was also a visiting instructor on the academic staff at Stanford University as well as the assistant director of the EDGE Doctoral Fellowship Program at Stanford.
Acting career
Hughes was cast as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar{{cite web |date=September 12, 2019 |last1=Petski |first1=Denise |title=HBO's Showtime Lakers Pilot Casts Its Magic Johnson & Kareem Abdul-Jabbar |url=https://deadline.com/2019/09/hbo-showtime-lakers-project-cast-magic-johnson-kareem-abdul-jabbar-1202713449/ |website=Deadline Hollywood |access-date=May 1, 2022 |archive-date=March 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316203047/https://deadline.com/2019/09/hbo-showtime-lakers-project-cast-magic-johnson-kareem-abdul-jabbar-1202713449/ |url-status=live }} in HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. Playing Abdul-Jabbar was Hughes' first acting role,{{cite web|url= https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/college/article/Cal-alum-Solomon-Hughes-makes-acting-debut-as-16973405.php|title=Cal alum Solomon Hughes makes acting debut as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 'Winning Time'|author=Steve Kroner|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=March 3, 2022|access-date=May 2, 2022}} 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.{{Cite web |date=2023-09-18 |title='Winning Time' is canceled by HBO after ratings for Season 2 were nearly cut in half |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-09-18/winning-time-canceled-hbo-ratings-strikes |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}
Notes
{{reflist|group=Note}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://calbears.com/news/2013/4/17/208187258.aspx Golden Bears bio]
- {{IMDb name|nm10975381}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Solomon}}
Category:20th-century African-American male actors
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:21st-century African-American educators
Category:21st-century American educators
Category:University of Georgia alumni
Category:UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education alumni
Category:UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni