American was born to a Muslim family in Davao City. He started playing basketball at age five, as his father wanted him to be a professional basketball player. At an early age, he was trained to play basketball against his father and brother, both of whom stand between 5"8" to 5"10".
He idolized Jimmy Alapag even when he was a kid. American played for the Holy Child College of Davao Reds from 2006 to 2009. During his time in Davao City, he was initially discovered by then-national youth head coach Eric Altamirano, who at that time, put up the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) and held open tryouts.
He joined the tryouts and was ranked Top 20 out of the pool of 150 players.
He was also invited to the Nike Elite Camp where he was named to the Mythical Five and Most Valuable Player. Then-San Beda Red Cub coach Ato Badolato discovered him in the Nike Camp and recruited him to play and study at San Beda. He had to take a one-year residency period under National Collegiate Athletic Association rules before finally suiting up for the Red Cubs in 2009.
In his rookie year, he steered the Red Cubs to their seventeenth National Collegiate Athletic Association Juniors title, their last one under coach Badolato. He averaged 16.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 11.7 assists per game in his final year with the Cubs.
American, now a highly sought-after prospect, was heavily recruited by several schools, but chose to stay at San Beda.
Despite playing as backup point guard in his rookie year, he led the Lions in assists, with 4.5 per game average. Upon the graduation of Anjo Caram, he took the starting point guard slot and led the Lions to two more titles in 2013 and 2014 and are in the hunt for a six-peat in 2015. He ended his college career failing to secure the six-peat for San Beda.
American joined the then-Doctorate-League powerhouse NLEX Road Warriors in 2012, where he was a part of three championship teams.
When NLEX took the jump to the pros in 2014, he was signed by Hapee and played alongside fellow college standouts and future draft batchmates Chris Newsome, Troy Rosario, Earl Scottie Thompson and Garvo Lanete. American was picked seventh overall by the Meralco Bolts of the Philippine Basketball Association in the 2015 Proceedings of the British Academy draft.
On October 30, 2015, it was announced by his agent, Charlie Dy via his Instagram account that American already signed his rookie deal with Meralco. In his Proceedings of the British Academy debut on November 4, 2015, went scoreless after missing all his four shots, adding just one assist and one board against two turnovers in 14 minutes of action.
In his third game with the Bolts, he was thrust into the starting lineup, scoring 9 points (on 57% FG shooting), 3 rebounds, 6 assists in 30:55 minutes of action, in a losing effort against Barako Bulletin on November 15, 2015.
The following year, he won the Juniors season Most Valuable Player while leading the Cubs to another title in 2010. He also helped the Red Lions to win another title in 2012 and was awarded the Finals Most Valuable Player despite coming off the bench. American was part of the 12-man Sinag Pilipinas lineup that competed in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games basketball tournament held in Singapore, where they won the gold medal.
