This week we shine the spotlight way up there onto 7-footer Houston Rockets' legend, Hakeem Olajuwon!  From the Immigration Updates blog:

Hakeem Olajuwon, born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1963, is considered by some to be the most famous continental African to have played in any sport in the entire American continent. At age 15, Olajuwon was 6’9″ tall and soon became the center for the Nigerian national team. From 1981-84 he attended the University of Houston, where he led his team to three consecutive NCAA Final Four appearances. In 1984, the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) drafted Olajuwon, and he developed into one of the dominant big men in the league. Nicknamed, “The Dream,” Olajuwon led the Rockets to the NBA championship in 1994 and 1995, and was voted the league’s most valuable player for the 1993-94 season. During the 1990s, sportswriters and fans considered him, and Shaquille O’Neal, as the NBA’s best centers. Olajuwon retired in 2002 after signing with the Toronto Raptors the previous year. “The Dream” became an American citizen in 1993.

You can see Hakeem's awesomeness in this YouTube video.  I am not sure which is more impressive, his amazing blocked shots against the likes of Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Larry Bird and Shaquille O'Neal or his legendary fade away jump shot.  You be the judge: