DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) Far removed from the glamor of the NBA, Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made his professional head coaching debut Sunday night in the southwest Kansas town made famous by the television series "Gunsmoke."

"No jitters, no jitters at all," Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's career scoring leader and an 18-time All-Star, said before his Oklahoma Storm played the Dodge City Legend in a United States Basketball League game.

With the 2,300-seat Dodge City Civic Center sold out, fans lined up hours before the game for standing-room-only tickets.

When the Storm was announced, the crowd gave Abdul-Jabbar a standing ovation.

"I'm glad people like the game so much that they want to come out and see me," Abdul-Jabbar said. "I'm flattered that they think it's worth their time."

Abdul-Jabbar, who turned 55 on Tuesday, led UCLA to NCAA titles in 1967, 1968 and 1969 when he was known as Lew Alcindor.

He played six seasons with Milwaukee, winning three MVP awards and leading the Bucks to the 1971 championship before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers before the 1975-76 season.

He converted to Islam and changed his name in the early 1970s.

Abdul-Jabbar won three more MVP awards and five more titles with the Lakers - in 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988. He retired after the 1989 season and was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 1995.

He was an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers for part of the 1999-00 season and worked with a high school team on an Apache Indian reservation in Arizona in 1998.

He wrote a book about his experience on the reservation, but has said he was disappointed by his stint with the Clippers because he could not relate to the players and found them fundamentally unsound.

The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.