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10 Championships and 4 undefeated seasons in 12 seasons from 1964 to 1975
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00:03We'd come running out of the tunnel, yellow warm-ups, UCLA, we were it, we were the stuff.
00:09We were expected to win, and we expected to win.
00:13And they usually won.
00:15The game itself was a celebration of life.
00:21They were basketball royale.
00:24Everybody wanted to see it, everybody wanted to be a part of it.
00:28Such a joyful explosion of youthful enthusiasm.
00:34But it was a time of tremendous upheaval.
00:39Civil riots, Vietnam.
00:41This is the age of Nixon and Vietnam.
00:44The riots and black power, guys were coming back in body bags.
00:48That's not acceptable, but we're not going to let that happen.
00:51We didn't really become a boy anymore.
00:54That's only if there was enough left of them to put in a body bag.
00:59We were a microcosm of what the real world was like.
01:04And here was this centered Midwestern guy in this sea of insanity.
01:10We had no idea what he was teaching us.
01:13We thought he was crazy.
01:14Somehow he managed to sail a ship, which he should, year after year after year.
01:22How many people get to be involved in what they call a dynasty?
01:35From 1964 to 1975, the UCLA Bruins were a symbol of excellence.
01:43Their achievements on the basketball court, staggering.
01:48Ten NCAA championships in 12 years, including seven consecutive titles.
01:54Four undefeated seasons, 38 straight tournament victories, and a record 88 game winning streak.
02:01In establishing perhaps the greatest sports reign of all time,
02:05UCLA transformed college basketball from a regional game into a national spectacle.
02:12It was a dynasty built on the shoulders of a passionate and idealistic group of young athletes.
02:18Part of a generation increasingly concerned with the direction of the country,
02:22as eager to be active on campus as on the court.
02:26But while the world continued to change and the rosters turned over,
02:30one element at UCLA remained constant.
02:33John Wooden.
02:34The genteel-looking coach, who for over four decades led the Bruins to immortality.
02:41A former All-American and English teacher,
02:44Wooden's guiding principles never strayed far from the Indiana farm where he was raised.
02:50But...
02:56When we...
02:57When we...
03:00Did I get into this?
03:02It was rather frightening to me, to be honest.
03:05At a cocktail party, after he came, he would go to sort of hide in a corner.
03:10He was very much ill at ease.
03:11He didn't like to mix.
03:13He didn't really understand how.
03:16I was told by Dutch Ferring, a teammate of mine at Purdue,
03:20he said,
03:20Well, Johnny, you're going to find basketball a lot different.
03:23It's way down on the totem pole out here than it is back in Indiana.
03:27We shared the gymnasium with the gymnastic team.
03:30They had half the court.
03:33Basketball had the other half.
03:35Are you serious?
03:38And every time we'd want to play, Coach and I would get mops, and we have to mop up the
03:43floor because the gymnastic team use a lot of chalk.
03:48They called it B.O. Barn.
03:50The odors would come wafting up into the stands.
03:54You can imagine John Wooden, who played in state high school championship games in Indiana before 18,000 people.
04:02Now he's coaching at a supposedly big time college basketball institution, and the gym wouldn't even be suitable for a
04:08practice in Indiana high school.
04:10In addition to his loving wife, Nell, Wooden was accompanied to Los Angeles by a set of values instilled in
04:16him as a child by his unwavering and introspective father, Joshua.
04:23Don't whine, don't complain, don't make excuses.
04:26Make each day your masterpiece.
04:28Drink deeply from good books.
04:30These and other codes of conduct drove Wooden as a gutty All-American at Purdue and fueled his intellect as
04:37a teacher and coach in his years before landing at UCLA.
04:40He's in a solid shape.
04:42Absorbing these philosophies into coaching, Wooden quickly turned UCLA into a legitimate basketball program.
04:48In his first 15 seasons, the Bruins won more than twice as many games as they did in the 15
04:54years prior to his arrival.
04:55Something was building in Westwood, and the finishing touches came courtesy of an unlikely backcourt tandem.
05:03Gail Goodrich, a scrawny left-hander from Sun Valley, and Walt Hazard, a stylish playmate East.
05:09Hmm.
05:10Entering the 1964 season, Jack Hirsch, Keith Erickson, and center Fred Slaughter rounded out a quick but undersized team.
05:19Slaughter was UCLA's student body president, and at just 6'5", the Bruins' tallest player.
05:27To compensate, assistant coach Jerry Norman helped design a smothering and revolutionary defense.
05:33The reason why we were using a full-court zone press defense was we didn't have height. We had skilled
05:37players.
05:37So the game really ended up being played the way we wanted it played, not the way the other team
05:42wanted it played.
05:42When they had a zone pressing defense, and only 10 seconds to cross that center line...
05:47You'd see the panic on the guards' faces.
05:50In your face! I'm a backdoor man! Break on through to the other side, light my fire. Bam!
05:56What are you talking about?
05:57The attacking team could not dribble.
05:58What are you talking about?
05:59They had to pass, and sometimes when you have to pass, the ball sails into the 15th row.
06:04Some of them would go 4, 5, 6, 7 times where they'd lose possession of the ball.
06:11A lot of our offense really came out of our defense.
06:15UCLA would score baskets in bunches.
06:18They'd be 10 points ahead, and then suddenly they'd be 25 points ahead.
06:23Passets would happen now rapidly.
06:25Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.
06:28Those guys were passing, and running, and passing.
06:32Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.
06:34And finally there's the open man layup.
06:36Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.
06:39A shot, Gale Goodrich.
06:41Boom! Left-handed.
06:43Mmm!
06:47Walt has her passer ball handler.
06:50Just a genius man.
06:52The finesse, the grace, the ballet.
06:56Triggered by the zone press, the Blitzen Bruins held opponents to just 70 points per game
07:01during an improbable, undefeated regular season.
07:07After winning three close games in the NCAA tournament,
07:10UCLA was up against a much larger Duke team for the national championship.
07:16Before the game, Coach Wooden asked us in the locker room,
07:20he says, now, who remembers who finished second last year?
07:25Nobody.
07:26Nobody.
07:26No one raised a hand.
07:28The National Collegiate Basketball Championship is on the line at Kansas City.
07:33The game offers the rare spectacle of a team with a perfect record, UCLA, the underdog, because the experts...
07:40From the opening tip, Duke's size proved little match for UCLA's quickness.
07:45The unlikely hero was sophomore Kenny Washington, who came off the bench to add 26 points.
07:53The Bruins rolled to a 15-point victory to cap a perfect season from their first NCAA crown.
08:01Of course, it felt pretty good after winning our first national championship and going undefeated.
08:06But the next morning was Easter Sunday.
08:08We were waiting in front of the Mewbank Hotel, my wife and I, and a pigeon flew over and dumped
08:14right on top of my head.
08:15I thought, gee, the good Lord is telling me something there.
08:19I'm feeling too good.
08:19I must not let this go to my head.
08:22Humbled, perhaps.
08:23But John Wooden's good fortunes continued in 1965, as UCLA repeated his national champions.
08:33In the process, his electrifying...
08:35It was a sign that they were too good.
08:38Something bad has to happen to John Wooden.
08:42If it's from a pigeon or something, that's fine.
08:45Team changed the basketball culture in California to a generation of West Coast kids new to the game.
08:51Basketball was UCLA.
08:53Coach Johnny Wooden guided his basketball Bruins to their second straight NCAA title with All-American Gale Goodrich igniting their
09:01attack.
09:01Number 25, All-America Gale Goodrich is playmaker...
09:04It all came together for me that day, when I watched Gale Goodrich, Stumpy, race around that court.
09:10As they skinned the Wolverines, 91 to 80.
09:13Gale threw 42 points in Michigan's face in a Bruins rabbit hole.
09:19I said to myself that day, that's what I want to do with my life.
09:22I want to play like them. I want to play for UCLA. I want to play for Johnny Wooden.
09:26I want to be a part of a championship team.
09:33To be the scene of the most disastrous and the worst riot in the history of Los Angeles County.
09:41I didn't think Los Angeles had a ghetto.
09:45All the students there were driving cars and they had their own swimming pools in their backyards.
09:49And when the Watts riot broke out, I was terrified we didn't do those things in Kansas City.
09:58Thirty were killed in the first six days, over 800 injured.
10:02Here for successive days and nights, mostly in the nights, a long hot summer had erupted into violence.
10:09Less than five months after the Bruins repeated as champs, the Watts section of Los Angeles endured the most destructive
10:15race riot the nation had ever seen.
10:18The Watts uprising arose from the growing resentment felt by America's disenfranchised black citizens.
10:25It was just one of many issues bubbling to the surface in the mid-60s, as the free speech movement
10:30grew out of Berkeley, and opposition to the Vietnam War developed on college campuses.
10:40But for the most part, UCLA was shielded from the growing turmoil by an affluent surrounding community.
10:47In fact, while Watts was burning down less than 20 miles away, the newly erected 13,000 seat Pauley Pavilion
10:55was set to open on UCLA's idyllic campus.
10:59And to complement this state-of-the-art facility, the Bruins sought a state-of-the-art player.
11:05What were you majoring out there?
11:06I'm going to take liberal arts, either journalism or music.
11:10Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. was the most dominant high school player of the era.
11:15The Seven Foot Sensation led Power Memorial to three consecutive New York prep titles.
11:21Though he was recruited by over 50 universities, the honor roll student chose UCLA.
11:26Due in part to the school's proud lineage of African-American student athletes, beginning with Jackie Robinson.
11:33While he may have stood out in New York, at least he was home.
11:37In Westwood, Alcindor was on his own for the very first time.
11:40An 18-year-old oddity in an unfamiliar world.
11:44Unlike many stars, he is neither brash nor flashy.
11:48Instead, he is somewhat introverted, sensitive about his height, disturbed by those who poke fun at him.
11:54How's the weather up there? You know, or, uh, gee, I thought I was tall.
12:01They asked me if it's raining.
12:02But with all that, you don't mind it.
12:05Well, I mind it very much.
12:08He experienced things that you and I could never experience, watching him walk through an airport.
12:14He'd walk very fast in a rush and find the nearest sea.
12:18He'd try to sit down and slump so that he would be at the same height as everyone else.
12:22At times, the unwanted attention drove Alcindor further inward, giving him a reputation as being aloof.
12:30But he immediately showed he was anything but that on the court.
12:34The first major seismic event was the opening night of Pauley Pavilion, when they had the annual Freshman vs. Varsity
12:43game.
12:43Pauley Pavilion was absolutely packed.
12:46This great recruit that everybody had read about was going to play his first game.
12:53And he completely demolished.
12:56People around us were just going, oh my god.
12:59My gosh, we've got the number one ranked varsity team in the country, but they're only the second best team
13:05on the campus.
13:06After embarrassing the defending champs by 15 points,
13:10Lou Alcindor and the Brew Bays dominated their freshman foes.
13:13Alcindor led the way with 31 points per game.
13:17The Frosch won by an average of 56 points.
13:21And gave Bruin fans a glimpse of an emerging dynasty.
13:27Here he is, Lou Alcindor, 7'1", literally the biggest attraction in collegiate basketball.
13:36They banned Duncan for like 10 years after he left because of him.
13:41A sophomore from New York City makes his varsity debut for UCLA.
13:46The big man moves with amazing grace and he can make almost any shot appear as easy as this.
13:53I did something that in a way I'm a little ashamed of.
13:57I left him in and he scored 56 points.
14:00And I didn't purposely, I wanted him to throw a scare into other teams.
14:04Alcindor scores 56 points and it's only the beginning.
14:08He was bigger and better than everyone else.
14:12He could score 20 points before he got out of the locker room it seemed.
14:15Huh.
14:16He was so graceful.
14:18I remember him stealing a pass, taking three steps from the top of our key to the other,
14:23threw the ball down and smashed these guys in the first row.
14:27So all the players on both teams were just kind of standing there shaking their heads.
14:35Also, the way that we played our defense, we used the sideline and the baseline and him to cut off
14:42the middle.
14:43He would go up and instead of blocking, he would just catch it and tuck it.
14:47He would try to catch one jump shot every couple of games, lock it, and laugh.
14:53Don't bring any of that weak stuff in here, you know better than that.
14:58It's no wonder they compared him to Wilt Chamberlain coming out of college.
15:04It was very demoralizing.
15:05And that's why you saw people trying to do other things to compete with us,
15:09really be inventive on how we're going to stop this guy.
15:13The Washington State coach had one of the players standing on a chair trying to swat away shots
15:19to give the players a sense of what it would be like trying to drive the lane against Goliath.
15:23They had all types of strategies to stop Alcindor, but they couldn't stop Shackelford,
15:28they couldn't stop Warren, they couldn't stop me.
15:31Lynn Shackelford could shoot 20, 25-footers and make 9 out of 10 of them.
15:37And Mike Warren was so good, if they left him open, people would have to come at him,
15:41he'd just go around him because he was too quick and too good with the ball.
15:45They had an air about them that was frightening to a degree.
15:48Watching that team get off the bus, watching that team walk on the floor,
15:52they had a certain strut about them that just forced you not to like them.
15:56Their whole demeanor, you can't beat us, superiority, winners, champions.
16:03In 1967, junior Mike Warren and UCLA's sophomore studded lineup went undefeated to become the youngest team ever to win
16:11a college title.
16:13The team was so unstoppable that just three days after the final, the NCAA developed its own defense of Alcindor.
16:21Outlawing the dunk was a clear attack on Alcindor's dominance, but did nothing to stop the Bruins in 68.
16:27UCLA won its first 17 games of the season to run its record to 47-0 since Big Lou's arrival.
16:34The Bruins' dominance grabbed America's attention and posed the question, was UCLA unbeatable?
16:42February 20th, 1968, in what was billed the game of the century.
16:47It's the most memorable game of my broadcasting life, 50 years.
16:51It was the first time ever that a college or pro game had been televised in prime time.
16:57Along comes Eddie Einhorn, this young fella from the East, and he had his TVS syndicated network where he did
17:04occasional regional basketball games.
17:06Dynasties promote your sport.
17:09There's the Yankees, the Cowboys, and you're lucky enough to have it.
17:13You've got to take advantage of it.
17:15As great as they were, the world was not ready unless you had a good story.
17:20Here's UCLA, the defending champion number one.
17:22Houston, undefeated number two.
17:24We had the David and Goliath.
17:26They had 52,000 people in the Astrodome that was sold out.
17:29The largest paid audience to ever see basketball anywhere at any level.
17:34Where do you put the court?
17:36They decided to put the court exactly in the middle of the Astrodome.
17:40No one had a good seat.
17:42The sad thing was that Alcindor had scratched his retina, I believe, the week before.
17:47All during that week, Alcindor was in the Jules Stein Eye Clinic at UCLA, sitting in a dark room.
17:54He could have had four eyes, and there's no way he could have stopped Elvin Hayes that night.
17:58And Ribbon off to Hayes, the score!
18:00Hayes again!
18:01Alvin Hayes has 31!
18:04It's like two little kids.
18:06If that person have a red popsicle, you want it.
18:10You say, give me that, that's mine!
18:12Alcindor with Spain on him.
18:14Blocked by Hayes!
18:15Listen to the Texans!
18:18Stop!
18:19I've never seen anything like it.
18:20To this day, Lewis does not like Alvin Hayes.
18:24The Houston Tigers have left UCLA!
18:27That game was the platform from which the popularity of college basketball catapulted into the stratosphere.
18:36UCLA may have assumed the role of Goliath, but it was the American public who was smitten.
18:41A record television audience tuned in, proving college basketball could sustain nationwide interest.
18:49Even in defeat, UCLA provided the NCAA with its watershed moment.
18:55Two months later, with a healthy Alcindor, UCLA avenged its loss to Houston with a resounding 32-point victory in
19:02the national semi-finals.
19:03Yes, sir.
19:04On route to another Bruin...
19:05Oh, we...
19:06Who else sent a guy's revenge as Kareem in the NBA?
19:11Probably.
19:13Anyway.
19:14Gold championship.
19:16The Bruins were on top of the world.
19:18It was a world increasingly unstable.
19:21Just twelve days after UCLA won its fourth title in five years,
19:25the Reverend Martin Luther King was assassinated.
19:29The Civil Rights Movement was headed in a new direction,
19:33bringing UCLA's campus to a crossroads.
19:36The fact that they had the audacity to kill this man,
19:41they're going to stand out as opposed to get hit on the cheek and keep taking it.
19:46We've done enough of that.
19:47Old America is beginning to meet new America.
19:51I think that the real reason that they're firing me is not only because of my membership in the Communist
19:57Party,
19:57but because I have tried to involve myself as much as I could in the black liberation struggle in this
20:04country.
20:04Everybody was getting involved in writing some social, cultural, economic and political wrongs,
20:10and then you had the Mormon Civil Rights Movement change over.
20:15The whole movement had taken a turn to be more radical.
20:22And the Black Panthers had begun a concerted effort to exert their power influence on the campus.
20:32The issue was who was going to control the African American Studies Center.
20:37And that was a power struggle between the Black Panthers and an organization called US.
20:43There were some very confrontational meetings in an effort to intimidate.
20:47Something happened and guns got pulled and people got shot.
20:51In broad daylight in front of 40-some witnesses, they shot John Huggins and Bunchy Carter to death.
20:58John Huggins and Bunchy Carter were members of the Black Panther Party enrolled at UCLA.
21:04Their murders inside Campbell Hall in early 1969 illustrated the mounting urgency of the Civil Rights Movement
21:11and the vulnerability of the Westwood campus to its fallout.
21:14By this time, the struggle for Black identity had already aroused the core of UCLA basketball.
21:21We're looking out for the best interests of Black people as a whole in this country, you see.
21:26That involves men, women and children, you know, athletes, students, non-athletes, winos, everybody.
21:34If you're in a racist society and you're being discriminated against, it's up to you to do something for yourself.
21:40For the Black athlete of the late 1960s, participating in the Olympic Games was no longer a privilege, but a
21:47question of principle.
21:50Swayed in part by a proposed boycott amongst Black athletes,
21:54Lew Alcindor, Mike Warren and Lucius Allen rejected invitations to try out for the 68 Games.
22:01Their decision was both an expression of discontent and an assertion of identity.
22:08The Black Power movement was very important to us, particularly since we were so visible as a basketball team.
22:16We weren't the closest team off the court.
22:18We were a microcosm of what the real world was like.
22:22We'd go on the road and the black guys hang together and the white guys hang together.
22:26But we got on the floor and we were a machine.
22:31Despite the racial divides of the era, the players remained united on the court.
22:37Lew Alcindor completed his brilliant Bruin career with 37 points in the 1969 title game.
22:44UCLA's fifth championship was the third of the Alcindor era, during which the team won 88 of 90 games.
22:52The three-time collegiate player of the year graduated that spring with a degree in history, allowing coaches everywhere to
22:59finally exhale.
23:00The greatest center that anybody ever seen in college basketball.
23:04A lot of pent-up frustration with this doggone UCLA team winning year after year after year.
23:11And there was really a sense of...
23:12They're going to get their comeuppance now.
23:14People were finally relieved that...
23:16What they got was some guy named William Walton.
23:22Our dominance was soon to be coming to an end.
23:27Didn't happen.
23:27Didn't work out that way.
23:29Ha ha ha ha.
23:32We just thought that we were going to continue to win.
23:35Once you put on that UCLA uniform, you're UCLA.
23:38You're heads and shoulders above everybody else.
23:40This is what we thought.
23:41Knowing you have better history.
23:43It was just part of what we were supposed to do.
23:47Referring to the loss of Alcindor, John Wooden called his 1970 Bruins the team without.
23:54But the squad did possess a more balanced attack.
23:58Senior floor leader John Vallely teamed with sophomore Henry Bibby in the backcourt.
24:03Steve Patterson at center.
24:06Anchoring the Bruins in the frontcourt was Curtis Rowe and the irrepressible Sidney Wicks.
24:10As talented as Sidney was, he didn't always go with the game plan.
24:18Wicks was extremely undisciplined early on in his career when he came to UCLA.
24:21He didn't play a lot.
24:22Did he have his moments where he tested coach?
24:24Yeah, some of those are legendary.
24:26Very vocal with wood and chirping all the time.
24:29Oh, yes, he did.
24:30He didn't start me.
24:31And he would say to me,
24:32Hey, I should play. I should play.
24:34Coach, you know I'm better than Curtis and you know I'm better than Shaq. You know that.
24:38And I said,
24:41Coach, why not? I can do it.
24:43I don't think we can do it that way.
24:44Take this out, Coach.
24:45I said, Coach, well, Coach, I feel that.
24:48Okay, Coach, I want to start shooting from way out here.
24:51He said,
24:52No, we don't, Sidney.
24:54Why?
24:54You know why, Sidney.
24:56Oh, Coach, come on.
24:57He said,
24:58You know what?
24:59Finally, I said,
25:01Okay, Sidney, listen.
25:03Until you learn it's a team game and not a one-man game, they're always going to be ahead of
25:08him.
25:09His next two years, he was the best college forward in the country.
25:13Of course, he was telling you he was that other year, too.
25:16Huh.
25:17Yeah.
25:18Wicks became a force for the Bruins during a surprising 28-win season, but he never lost his swagger.
25:25Hmm.
25:25Early in the 1970 final, UCLA had no answer for Jacksonville's artist Gilmore, widely heralded as the next Alcindor.
25:34Future Hall of Fame.
25:35Trailing by nine in the first half, the two sides of Sidney Wicks aligned in perfect harmony.
25:42We didn't really have anybody to guard Hardis. He was 7'2", and our center, Steve Patterson, was 6'9",
25:49on a tall day.
25:50And Sidney was the one who said,
25:51Coach, you gotta let me play behind that guy.
25:54I said, you can't guard him behind. Sidney has sighted in this. I'll show you.
25:57He said,
25:58Alright, Sidney, go ahead and do that.
26:02Oh!
26:02Sidney dominated.
26:06Completely shut him down, swatted balls.
26:08Two, three things down, and I was completely intimidated.
26:12Sidney Wicks shut down Artis Gilmore for the last 30 minutes of the game, and the Bruins won handily by
26:1711 points, and the dynasty continued.
26:19The following year, the Bruins were as dominant as ever.
26:246'8", shutting down a guy half a foot taller than him.
26:28In the 71 championship game, Steve Patterson scored a career-high 29 points to give UCLA its fifth straight title.
26:35In the end, the so-called Team Without wasn't missing a thing.
26:44Manzarek and Morrison are writing songs, smoking dope, dreaming dreams of becoming this famous rock and roll band.
26:52We were the stoners. We were the people who had taken acid and smoked a little of God's Good Green
26:57Herb to expand the consciousness,
26:59open the doors of perception. That's where the name The Doors comes from.
27:03Throughout the 60s and 70s, America's youth was empowered by a counterculture that rejected the conservative establishment.
27:13While the movement sprouted in places like Berkeley, California, it eventually blossomed in Westwood, where student inhibitions went up in
27:22smoke.
27:22UCLA was just a hotbed of energy. The freaks were coming out of the woodwork at that point.
27:32People who were straight before all of a sudden started growing their hair and decorating themselves.
27:41We sat right on the campus and smoked pot and just dared anybody to stop us.
27:47And nobody did.
27:49It was a fun time on one level, but there were a lot of very serious issues that we were
27:55dealing with.
27:55It was our responsibility to change the world, because the world needed to be changed.
28:00I'm not coming back to school until we're out of Southeast Asia.
28:06Everything was driven by the war in the spring of 67.
28:10There were big rallies on campus, and then it just got bigger and bigger and bigger.
28:14And it all came to a head in May 1970.
28:18At the time, the campus shut down after the Cambodian bombing and Kent State shooting.
28:35The way that we thought about Kent State was, OK, that's it.
28:42Now you've pushed it as far as it can go.
28:44We were out there ready to just get arrested and beaten to hell.
28:49Some of us were more involved than others, but it was impossible to go to school in the 60s and
28:5570s
28:56and not be impacted by this tremendous upheaval that was going on on college campuses.
29:02You just couldn't go to school and act like it wasn't happening. It was everywhere.
29:07So it was almost surreal dealing with the realities of an anti-war march on campus,
29:13but, oh my gosh, I've got to be at practice at 3 o'clock.
29:15It was like two different worlds.
29:16It felt almost schizophrenic.
29:20The guys, almost to a man, felt that the war was the wrong thing,
29:24and we were sort of being held up as all that was right with America.
29:29And it just seemed obvious to me that this was a wonderful opportunity
29:34to make it clear that the people who were against the war weren't necessarily
29:38people that you could easily categorize as hippies and commies.
29:43Who's more normal than the UCLA basketball team?
29:46We, the undersigned, are 13 UCLA students who wish to express our disapproval of the genocidal war the United States
29:54is waging in Southeast Asia.
29:56So began a letter sent to Richard Nixon by the 1970 NCAA champion UCLA Bruins.
30:03It was a bold gesture, but restrained in comparison to the unyielding social fervor of the Bruins' newest star.
30:10I remember seeing this wild-looking guy.
30:18Bill Walton.
30:19Uh, well, interesting.
30:20Seven feet tall and redhead, and then on top of that I had a bicycle that he rode everywhere that
30:25had a seat that was jacked into Bolivia.
30:27I've never shot a single basket with my dad.
30:29Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
30:31whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
30:34The guy from NCIS played quarterback at UCLA?
30:40No way.
30:42I saw him run one time at the church picnic, but my parents were very involved in all the
30:49social issues of the day, and so they taught us to think for ourselves,
30:53question the authority, and be involved.
30:57I, I wrecked a boat for my life.
30:59I wrecked a boat for my life.
31:00He's 65 years old from Martinsville, and I'm 17 years old from San Diego, and this is the age of
31:06Nixon and Vietnam and rock and roll. And I was always arguing with him about every topic. Politics, religion, dress
31:17codes, heralding, you name it, I was on him.
31:22It crossed the line the day I got arrested at a peace rally, and Coach Wooden had to come down
31:28to bail me out of jail.
31:32May 9, 1972 kicked off three days of campus protests in response to Nixon's expansion of forces in Vietnam and
31:40Chancellor Charles Young's support of the ROTC.
31:44Joining the crowd as it marched from Royce Hall to obstruct traffic on Wilshire Boulevard was All-American Bill Walton.
31:55Walton was once again front and center two days later as tensions swelled back on campus.
32:02Very large demonstration that got very much out of hand. People began piling debris and wood and things at the
32:09entrances to the administration building.
32:18Gasoline and things.
32:20All the guys on the team had been at the peace rally too.
32:24But I was the one that went down at the conference.
32:26They said, that big guy with the red hair and the big nose, that's the one that we want.
32:31You know when Bill was arrested?
32:34He was going by in the paddy wagon. He gave me the finger and said, fuck you, Chuck.
32:40I have since apologized profusely to Chancellor Young.
32:43I have no problem.
32:45But I was an angry young man.
32:47And Coach Wooden, he's driving me back to the doors of his, he's in my face.
32:51He said, come on, what are you doing? You're representing UCLA.
32:54And lying down on Wilshire Boulevard with stop traffic, I pointed out to him, what if there was an ambulance
33:00rushing somebody to the hospital?
33:02I didn't think of that.
33:03I said, well, Bill, you ought to think of things like that.
33:06I'm back in his face saying, come on, Coach.
33:08All my friends are over in Southeast Asia and they're coming back in wheelchairs and body bags.
33:12That's not acceptable and we're not going to let that happen.
33:15So we are back and forth in each other's face and just going at it.
33:19He finally pulls up in front of the door and drops me off and he just says, I believe in
33:24the right to protest.
33:25All I say is stay open-minded.
33:27Don't deny others their rights just to try to use your own particular rights.
33:32If you're in the position of leadership, you've got to stand up for the things in which you believe.
33:37Once you start giving in to them, you're lost.
33:39I just remained true to one of the things I felt.
33:42That's it.
33:42So I didn't change.
33:44That's why I had my rule about hair and facial hair.
33:47I stuck to it.
33:47From the minute the season was over, the championship was won.
33:52Never cut our hair.
33:57The off-seasons were great.
33:59You'd grow your hair, your mustache, add your sideburns.
34:01You could express yourself any way you wanted.
34:04Do your thing.
34:08The tour was great from Dad, cruising around the country and backpacking the John Muir Trail and the Sierras.
34:16Once we got ready to start representing the university, we knew what we had to do.
34:21I had to get a cut.
34:22That's always true.
34:23And the funniest thing was you had this rule that couldn't be any longer than two inches.
34:27And the black eyes started growing natural.
34:30It was hilarious to watch the conversations.
34:34I had a big old fro.
34:35So during the summer, you would braid it and then pick it out.
34:39It was like this.
34:40And then when I came in for practice, the coach said, I said,
34:50I couldn't wait for practice to start.
34:52Coach Wooden comes in for inspection.
34:55What's this?
34:57He goes, what is this?
34:59It's unacceptable.
35:00What do you practice?
35:01I said, come on, coach.
35:03What's going on here?
35:04He told me after his Player of the Year and the National Championship team went undefeated.
35:09I didn't have the right to tell him he had to wear his hair a little shorter and couldn't wear
35:13facial hair.
35:14And I said, you're correct.
35:16Well, I don't have that right.
35:17I just have the right to determine who's going to play and we're going to miss you.
35:21In about 15 minutes, I'm not going to have you unless you go upstairs and get taken care of right
35:27away.
35:27He stood and looked at me.
35:30Finally, I said, 14 minutes.
35:33I'm out the door.
35:34Get on my bike and I ride as hard and as fast as I can.
35:37And I race down into Westwood and jump in the barge chair and say, just cut it all off.
35:43Give me a plastic razor and a glass of water.
35:47And I just rode right in and just dumped my bike right on the side of Paulie Pavilion.
35:51And I just stood at the back of the line and hoped that he wouldn't notice that I had missed
35:58the first five minutes of practice.
36:01Hmm.
36:04Leaders must be enthusiastic.
36:06You must maintain self-control.
36:08You have to have initiative.
36:10You must have team spirit.
36:12You must have poise.
36:13You must have patience.
36:14And we must have faith.
36:16Faith is believing that things are going to turn out as they should.
36:19And he never stopped with all the maxes.
36:22Be quick, but don't hurry.
36:24Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
36:26Never mistake activity for achievement.
36:28There's nothing stronger than gentleness.
36:30On and on and on.
36:33What's up with this?
36:34This is kind of weird.
36:35This is a silly old man.
36:36What's he talking about?
36:38What he was talking about was his Pyramid of Success.
36:42Part physical, mostly mental self-help guide he developed as a teacher in 1934 and modified over three decades as
36:49a coach.
36:50Of course, to his players at UCLA, the blocks weren't the only thing square about the pyramid.
36:57In a culture that encouraged its youth to turn on, tune in, drop out, the coach's homespun slogans were hard
37:04to take seriously.
37:06Not to mention his uncompromising attention to detail that always started from the ground up.
37:13I was born and raised in L.A.
37:16And played basketball in high school.
37:18And was able to walk on and play in the freshman team at UCLA.
37:23My average was 0.6 a game.
37:28When I first met him, of course, my heart was just thumping and all the guys were waiting for coach
37:33to come in.
37:33It's the first day of practice and here's the Wizard of Westwood and it's so quiet you can hear a
37:38pin drop in there.
37:39I mean, everyone's like, yeah, he's going to give us the pill.
37:43He's going to turn the key for us.
37:44And he said, now guys, we will begin by learning how to tie our shoes.
37:50Are you really looking?
37:52What is this?
37:53What are you talking about?
37:55I was an Indiana All-Star.
37:57We won a state championship.
37:58I had scored more field goals than Oscar Robertson in the state finals.
38:01I mean, it was like, now you're going to tell me how to put my socks on?
38:03Putting your socks on, gentlemen.
38:05There is a certain way that it has to be done.
38:08To take our socks and we gingerly over the toes.
38:11Start here on the little toes.
38:14On the little piggies.
38:15Pull them up.
38:16Pull it up real strong here.
38:18Nice and taut.
38:19Gotta just pull that up there.
38:20So that there's no wrinkles on the bottom of the socks.
38:23And you get wrinkles on the bottom of the socks, you get blisters on your feet.
38:27We knew the practice was going to start at 3 o'clock and it was going to end at 5
38:30.30.
38:31If they're not tense to start, they don't get to practice.
38:33They were incredibly efficient.
38:34And they were literally taken off a 3-by-5 card.
38:40Players would refer to me as the 3-by-5 man.
38:46We went from one drill to another instantly.
38:50On the other end.
38:51Coach ran the same drills with the same emphasis every day.
38:55The drills that we ran on October the 15th, the first day of practice, we ran on the night
39:02before we played for the national championship.
39:05So by the time the games came along, they just became memorized exhibitions of brilliance.
39:12When he wanted to correct a player, he had a very unique technique.
39:16The first thing he would do is he'd get your attention by saying your name.
39:19Not necessarily really loud, but really fast.
39:23Andy!
39:23He never swore.
39:24Coach Wooden never swore.
39:27I never heard him use the swear word, ever.
39:30But he could use other words.
39:32Goodness gracious sakes alive.
39:33Goodness gracious glory sakes alive, Sidney.
39:35If you say goodness gracious sakes alive, then you're really better for listening.
39:41I play basketball in Europe.
39:43I've been cussed out in many different languages.
39:45And goodness gracious sakes alive is a Midwestern cuss out of the highest order.
39:51Come on Andy, hit him.
39:52Gracious sakes alive.
39:53When you heard those words,
39:55Gracious sakes alive.
39:56You knew what all hell was coming next.
40:00When they'd hear me say goodness gracious sakes alive, they'd say that was my profanity.
40:04And they knew they'd better hop to it.
40:06Sometimes you just wish that he would be a lot quicker and how he got on you and just,
40:10you know, called you an a-hole or something and got it over with instead of going into
40:13these one long flowery deals.
40:17There was a way to do everything.
40:23You could have taken UCLA people who played in 55, 65, 70, and 75, put them on the same team
40:32and they would have been able to play with each other instantly.
40:34Sometimes we'd watch other teams practice.
40:36We'd start laughing.
40:38I mean, you'd watch this undisciplined mess and you're thinking,
40:42how the heck could they be a team?
40:44I mean, this practice is a joke.
40:47In the nine years that I called their games,
40:49I never heard Coach Wooden use the word winning or losing.
40:53Never talked about it.
40:54We've got to win this game.
40:54It's a big game to win.
40:56Never said we can't afford to lose here.
40:57Never used the words.
40:59The whole effort here is to find out what we're capable of.
41:04And if we can find out what that is and have peace,
41:07no conflict in our heart about our effort in this area,
41:10we'll be happy with the results.
41:13Success is peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction
41:17and knowing you made the effort to do the best of what you're capable.
41:21No one can do more than that.
41:24He may not have stressed winning,
41:26but that's all John Wooden's teams did.
41:28And the Bill Walton-led Bruins were no different.
41:32The enigmatic redhead gave Wooden all he could handle off the court.
41:35But between the end lines, he was every other coach's problem.
41:39The first time I ever saw him run down the court,
41:41I thought, there's no way he's 6'11".
41:43He did things that I just didn't think a 6'11 man...
41:46He actually wasn't 6'11".
41:48He was 7'1".
41:54The thing that was evident about Walton was the unbelievable, unfettered joy in just playing basketball.
42:01It was infectious, it was enthusiastic.
42:07There was spirit about him and that was fun to watch.
42:15Here he was, the greatest player of the era.
42:18He could do anything.
42:19And he reveled in that outlet pass.
42:22He could start the fast break and bolt.
42:24He would grab a rebound.
42:26He would be in the air and looking like this before his feet hit the ground and would release the
42:31ball.
42:31Boom, bingo.
42:32The ball would be gone.
42:34Almost before he got the ball off the backboard, it would be halfway down the court.
42:38That's very good.
42:39When that ball was put up inside the fate of Western civilization,
42:44the game itself was a celebration of life.
42:47Such a joyful explosion of youthful enthusiasm
42:51racing up and down this court celebrating the dream and the vision.
42:55A harmonic convergence of the highest order.
42:59Walton's superior play and zeal for the game
43:02easily rubbed off on teammates Greg Lee, Larry Farmer, and Keith Wilkes,
43:07a silky smooth sophomore from Santa Barbara.
43:09When raising UCLA's eighth championship banner,
43:13the 72 Bruins proved not all undefeated seasons were created equal.
43:25With an NCAA record 30-point average margin of victory,
43:29the Walton gang turned basketball into theater.
43:32A full-scale production with transcendent appeal.
43:36There were basketball royalties.
43:37There was no question about that.
43:39A different kind of atmosphere was like the Yankees had come to town
43:42or the Beatles had come to town.
43:44The band would go.
43:45The cheerleaders would go.
43:51They were all gorgeous.
43:52They all looked like they'd just come off the beach.
43:54It caused quite a stir, I remember.
43:58Many of us would line up outside Poly Pavilion,
44:00sometimes on a Thursday night.
44:02It was almost like UCLA basketball was an escape
44:04from everything else going on in the world.
44:06No matter what your political views, it was the place to go.
44:12People had their differences during the day,
44:14but when it came game time, none of that mattered.
44:17It was all UCLA basketball.
44:20They brought everyone together.
44:21It was a point of reference that everyone could agree on,
44:24whatever their differences were.
44:29A young producer, Bob Speck, said,
44:31we're going to try something unique.
44:32We'll televise all the road games live back to Los Angeles,
44:36but the home games we'll televise on a delayed basis.
44:39I said, that'll never work.
44:41Who's going to stay up until 11 o'clock at night
44:43to see a basketball game where they're going to know the result?
44:49Well, it not only worked, it got higher ratings
44:52than the Tonight Show and Johnny Carson on Friday nights.
44:55There's the All-American Bill Walton.
44:57We would go from the games back to our dorm rooms
45:00and watch them on replay.
45:02Gregovich with four fouls.
45:04You'd sit there with all the guys watching the game,
45:06and everybody was critical, everybody else.
45:07So if you went out there,
45:09they're just dying.
45:11And they would have a little pool
45:12to see how many times Enberg would say,
45:15oh, my.
45:15I bet we got seven, oh, my.
45:18Is that a dick tonight?
45:19Oh, my.
45:20There was a rhythm in Pauley Pavilion
45:22watching a basketball game during that time.
45:24I often refer to it as the Bruin Ballet.
45:27A sense of not just excellence,
45:29but almost perfection.
45:34Epitomize that near perfection
45:35in the 1973 championship game versus Memphis State.
45:40Walton made 21 of 22 shots,
45:43and his 44 points broke the final scoring record
45:46set by his childhood hero, Gale Goodlich.
45:50Incredibly, it was the Bruins' seventh straight title,
45:54its ninth in 10 years,
45:55and second consecutive undefeated season.
45:58It was three calendar years without a loss
46:01by the time the Bruins stretched their winning streak
46:03to an astonishing 88 games.
46:06But the 88 game streak was really remarkable
46:09in a lot of ways.
46:11We're reading about it constantly in the paper.
46:13I mean, it's just crazy.
46:16I feel a little tension to my players.
46:18They're getting it for the papers,
46:19and the media, and the alumni, and all that.
46:22And we're in 88 in a row now.
46:23As we got up in there,
46:25I don't want to get 100,
46:26but if they would have got 100,
46:27then it's so on and more.
46:29With the pressure on him,
46:30it was pressure from outside to beat him.
46:33It was UCLA, and then it was the rest of us.
46:36And so when you're one of the chosen ones,
46:38when you go out and play anything,
46:39it's their Super Bowl.
46:41Somebody's got to bring them down.
46:42That's the challenge.
46:44I wanted the kids to believe
46:45we're going to win this game on Saturday.
46:47So on Wednesday, after practice,
46:49I said, go down to practice,
46:51cutting down the nets,
46:51get it organized.
46:53Because Saturday, when we win this game,
46:55there's going to be 5,000 students on the floor.
46:57You're going to tell your grandchildren
46:58something about this moment.
47:02They're on their feet.
47:03Over 11,000 here at Notre Dame.
47:05After leading Notre Dame by 11 points
47:07with three and a half minutes to play,
47:09the Bruins turned the bowl over five times
47:11and missed their last six shots,
47:13turning Phelps' premonition into reality.
47:19The streak was gone,
47:21and with it UCLA's air of invincibility.
47:24The loss established a dubious trend
47:26for the rest of the 1974 season,
47:29which included a tournament collapse
47:30that ended the Bruins' title streak at seven.
47:33And in recalling an era of perpetual triumph,
47:37these rare defeats cruelly linger.
47:39We lost two games to Newark,
47:41in an Oregon state,
47:42within 18 hours of the chicken.
47:46And then March 23rd, 1974,
47:49at 14-point lead with four minutes to go,
47:51seven-point lead with 90 seconds to go
47:53in the second overtime,
47:54giving it away.
47:59I look back at my college career
48:02as one of frustration,
48:04disappointment,
48:05and ultimate embarrassment.
48:06For us to give four games away
48:10out of our last ten
48:11was just totally unacceptable.
48:15And I will never be able to
48:18erase the stigma and the stain
48:20from my soul about what could have been.
48:23It could have been perfect.
48:27Before season aside,
48:29UCLA enjoyed a decade
48:31deified by the sporting world.
48:33But even from its position
48:34atop basketball's Mount Olympus,
48:36the program was not beyond the reach
48:38of the ills that have long plagued
48:40college athletics.
48:42I still remember them all sitting here.
48:44They'd come here all the time.
48:46They came here on holidays,
48:48Christmas.
48:49I mean,
48:50it was a madhouse here.
48:52He was their father,
48:53their godfather.
48:55There was more of a street side to him.
48:57So a lot of the inner city kids
48:59felt that we could really go
49:00and talk to him about some things
49:02that you might not necessarily
49:03want to share with Coach.
49:04He was a big part of a lot
49:06of the players' lives,
49:07and I think that made him
49:08even more a part of the program,
49:10maybe more so than Coach
49:11would have liked.
49:12An overzealous fan.
49:13I wish he wasn't,
49:16but it worried me.
49:18I was worried all the time,
49:19afraid that he was going to do something
49:20that would be illegal to players.
49:22He was a guy that I always felt
49:24I could go and talk to.
49:26He'd get me transportation
49:27if I needed it.
49:28If I didn't have clothes,
49:30he'd figure out some way
49:31to have somebody give me some clothes.
49:33The way Sam explained it to me,
49:36it was within the rules,
49:37but, you know, it wasn't.
49:40Sam Gilbert,
49:41or Papa G,
49:42as the players affectionately called him,
49:44was a wealthy Los Angeles contractor
49:46who made no secret
49:47of his role as friend
49:48and advisor to many UCLA players.
49:52Did you ever provide players
49:54with cars or stereos
49:56or clothes or airline tickets
49:59or scalper's prices
50:00for their season basketball tickets?
50:02No, I did not.
50:04But despite the denials,
50:06he did in fact provide some Bruins
50:08with low-cost goods and services,
50:10and did so during the John Wooden era.
50:15UCLA was eventually put on probation,
50:18and Gilbert banished from the program,
50:20but only for violations committed
50:22after UCLA's illustrious run.
50:24To many,
50:26it seemed the NCAA's laissez-faire policy
50:28during the dynasty years
50:29was mirrored by the inaction
50:31of John Wooden
50:32and athletic director J.D. Morgan.
50:35While they never sought Gilbert's assistance
50:37in recruiting,
50:38their unwillingness to shield
50:39their players from him
50:40has called the sanctity
50:42of their program into question.
50:44The puzzle of Papa G
50:45remains the elephant
50:47in the UCLA trophy room.
50:50There's always been,
50:51and still is,
50:53that undercurrent
50:53of what Sam Gilbert
50:55was doing at that time.
50:57How much it really impacts
50:59the success of UCLA basketball,
51:01I'm still not 100% certain.
51:06The general consensus of opinion
51:08is that every school
51:09in the conference
51:09will be stronger
51:10than they were a year ago
51:12with the exception of UCLA.
51:13And of course,
51:14we can't be expected to
51:15with the loss
51:15of an all-time superstar
51:16like Walton,
51:17and of course,
51:18a real star
51:19in Keith Wills.
51:20But nevertheless,
51:22we expect to be
51:22in contention all the way.
51:24The summer of 1974
51:25witnessed Bill Walton's graduation
51:28and Richard Nixon's resignation.
51:30The war in Vietnam was over,
51:33as was UCLA's seven-year reign
51:35as defending champs.
51:37The 1975 season
51:38marked a new day indeed.
51:40I remember as a high school kid
51:42really being eager
51:43to get on the college scene
51:45so I could shut down something,
51:46burn something down.
51:47Let's go shut down
51:48Westwood Boulevard
51:49like Bill Walton
51:50and the guys used to do.
51:51And then when I got to UCLA,
51:53the war in Vietnam
51:54was de-escalating
51:55at that point,
51:56and I was kind of like
51:56the rebel without a cause.
51:59I mean,
51:59we were almost apolitical
52:01at that time.
52:02That team was a real hard-hat,
52:04baloney sandwich,
52:05blue-collar type of a team.
52:07I give a lot of credit to Dave Myers,
52:10who was our senior leader.
52:12Just scrappy dive on the floor,
52:14four burns,
52:15just do whatever it takes.
52:17Other than returning senior Dave Myers,
52:20John Wooden wasn't sure
52:21what he had to work with.
52:24But guards Pete Tergovich
52:25and Andre McCarter,
52:27center Ralph Drollinger,
52:29and forward Marcus Johnson
52:30played with a resilient style
52:32that offset the team's inexperience.
52:36The final scores were closer
52:38than in previous years,
52:39but the Bruins found themselves
52:41in familiar territory,
52:42playing in the 1975 Final Four.
52:45In the semis versus Louisville,
52:48Richard Washington's jumper
52:49with three seconds remaining
52:50in overtime
52:50put UCLA into the finals.
52:53But the night
52:54took an even more dramatic turn.
52:58What?
52:59Well, the game comes out Monday.
53:01I want you to know
53:02I've never had a team
53:04whom I've been more proud of.
53:07You haven't caused me a problem
53:08on or off the court
53:10this whole season,
53:11and that's a pretty nice thing
53:13to say about the last team
53:15you'll ever teach.
53:17That day was just quiet.
53:19Nobody knew it.
53:20My assistant didn't know it.
53:21I didn't know it myself
53:22just a few seconds before.
53:26The game against Kentucky
53:27would be his final game
53:28as a coach.
53:29He was retiring.
53:30Win or lose after that,
53:31the game.
53:34Look, man,
53:35there's no way
53:36we're going to let coach
53:37go out
53:37and not win
53:38a national championship.
53:40Coach,
53:41we're not going out
53:41and losing
53:42a championship game.
53:43Come on.
53:44You've got to be crazy.
53:44You know,
53:44it's not even
53:46fathomable
53:46to think that.
53:48It was a game
53:49in which things
53:50were almost surreal.
53:51You could almost
53:52see the players
53:53playing above the floor,
53:55almost like
53:55they were running
53:56in the air.
53:59It's like they were
54:00actually moving
54:01in space.
54:02You just can't
54:03not be absorbed
54:04in what you're seeing.
54:05More than history,
54:06it was something
54:07with the ages.
54:07It is one of the
54:08fantastic moments
54:10in sports history
54:11on UCLA's
54:12John Wooden
54:14in his final
54:15coaching game
54:16at UCLA.
54:17It's a team
54:18that responded
54:19magnificently
54:20and goes out
54:21a winner.
54:22The 10th NCAA title
54:24for UCLA,
54:26the final star,
54:27UC Davis.
54:2810 is such
54:29a perfect number.
54:30It's such a nice...
54:31Those are last
54:32for 20 years.
54:33Nice, round,
54:34even number.
54:37And Menelide
54:38still does
54:38to be able
54:39to send him out
54:40like he's supposed
54:41to be sent out.
54:47During UCLA's
54:48decade of dominance,
54:49the Bruins won
54:50335 games.
54:52They lost just 22.
54:55But for the players,
54:56the true essence
54:57of their achievement
54:58fell into view
54:59only years later
55:00as time transformed
55:02youth into wisdom.
55:04Each title endures
55:06as a moment
55:06in their coming of age,
55:08a living,
55:09breathing legacy
55:10of a teacher,
55:11his pupils,
55:13and the era
55:14in which they stood
55:15as the class
55:15of college basketball.
55:17Now, here comes
55:18the Bruins,
55:19led by Waltz
55:20and Eric McComney.
55:24It's one of the things
55:25where you're not able
55:25to grasp it
55:26because it was so big.
55:27That's a lot right here,
55:28a lot of heart,
55:29a lot of courage.
55:31They were always
55:32on top,
55:33and getting to the top
55:35is hard,
55:35staying on the top
55:36is almost impossible.
55:40people said,
55:41well,
55:41he won three championships
55:42with Alcindor,
55:43two with Will.
55:44Well, yeah,
55:45that means he won
55:46five more
55:46without either of those
55:47great players.
55:48Exactly.
55:50What UCLA accomplished
55:51was never going to be equal.
55:52It's never going to happen.
55:55It was just history
55:56in the making.
55:57They don't talk about me
55:58with the 76ers
55:59and winning that championship
56:00when I was with the Knicks.
56:01They talk about me
56:02being with UCLA.
56:03You talk about
56:0435 years ago.
56:07When you're part
56:08of something like that,
56:09it changes your life forever.
56:12It was the fans.
56:13It was the players
56:14that we had.
56:15It was the times.
56:18What it really was,
56:19was John Wood.
56:21Because this is really
56:22someone who was
56:23an intergalactic treasure.
56:25This is my little grandson.
56:35He sent so many players
56:37to the NBA.
56:38So many players
56:40to the NBA.
56:41Something kind of subversive
56:42about how he taught us.
56:44...on you
56:45in making certain decisions,
56:47how you carry it
56:47with you going forward,
56:49how you fall back on it
56:51when you get knocked
56:51on your ass.
56:56...on you.
56:57And as our children
56:58have chased down
56:59their dreams in life,
57:00whatever it is,
57:01I'm always barking out to them.
57:02Be quick.
57:03But don't hurry.
57:05Failing to prepare
57:06is preparing to fail.
57:07Happiness begins
57:08when selfishness ends.
57:10I'm writing on their lunch bags
57:11to never mistake
57:12an activity for achievement
57:14to the worst things
57:14you can do
57:15for the one you love
57:16are the things
57:16they could and should do
57:17for themselves.
57:21We love Coach Wood.
57:25Because he really did
57:26give us everything.
57:26He taught us
57:27how to learn.
57:28He taught us
57:29how to think.
57:30He taught us
57:30how to dream.
57:31He taught us
57:31how to be part of a team.
57:33He never told us
57:34the answers.
57:38He just told us
57:39how to get there.
57:41Mmm.
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