|
March 14, 2000 By Rob Miech SportsLine.com Staff Writer |
LOS ANGELES -- John Wooden walked into UCLA's locker room after beating Louisville in overtime of a national semifinal game at the San Diego Sports Arena in 1975, looked around and never felt more pride.
Wooden relayed to SportsLine.com what he said to the team that night.
"I don't know how we'll do Monday night against Kentucky, but I think we'll do well because I think we're quicker than they are and we have enough size to contend with them," Wooden said he told the Bruins. "I just want you players to know I never had a team I've been more proud of or give me more pleasure, and that's a nice thing to say about the last team I'll ever coach."
His players, assistants and longtime trainer Ducky Drake dropped their jaws and bulged their eyes.
"That really surprised them," Wooden, 89, said. His wife, Nell, didn't even know about John's spontaneous action.
Even Wooden had no inkling to change his plan of coaching two more seasons moments after defeating Louisville. Then he shook the hand of former assistant Denny Crum, Louisville's coach, and he started thinking en route to his locker room.
Nell's health had started to slip, and coaching was beginning to tire him, too. If I'm feeling this way, he thought, it's time to get out.
To no avail, athletic director J.D. Morgan tried convincing Wooden all evening to stay at UCLA.
"I just suddenly decided it," Wooden said, "and that was it."
Then the Bruins won one final trophy for the Wizard of Westwood, who hates that nickname. The morning after beating Kentucky for his 10th championship in 12 years, Wooden confirmed he had made the correct decision when he ran across players Marques Johnson and Richard Washington at breakfast.
Wooden told them a story. After winning the title, a fan approached Wooden and said, "Johnny, you did a great job. Last year, you blew it. But we got them this year!"
"He got tired of the expectations," Johnson told SportsLine.com. "He made it clear to us how hard it is to live with the fans' expectations. He made his point, and he said that was the kind of thing he'd had enough of. He was just tired of it.
"Coach Wooden always said he'd like to see his friends win one championship. For his enemies, he'd like them to win two or three. It puts that kind of pressure on you."
To a great degree, that was alleviated when Walton, Wilkes, Greg Lee and Tommy Curtis moved on after the 1973-74 season. Dave Meyers was a key returnee, and Wooden deigned him with only the third season-long captaincy of his 27-year career at UCLA.
Meyers led the team in scoring and rebounding, Washington was the ace shooter, playmaker Andre McCarter and Pete Trgovich were capable starters, and Ralph Drollinger had his moments off the bench, like when he played almost half of the title game against Kentucky.
Of all of Wooden's championship teams, the 1974-75 squad is the most unassuming. Statistically, nothing those players did as individuals or as a group sticks out relative to Wooden's nine other champions. All they did was give Wooden a perfect exit.
"I think coach Wooden was looking forward to our team, because we were a bunch of young guys and didn't have all the baggage that came with being 'The Walton Gang,'" Johnson said. "We had great leaders in Meyers and Trgovich, and that's how it started."
For those reasons and more, Wooden said his final season was one of the most rewarding of his career.
"There was never a sign of any player on that team giving me one ounce of trouble, on or off the court," Wooden said. "I've never had a team give me more pleasure, and I was so proud of them."
And those were his feelings before the national final.
Meyers, Washington, McCarter and Trgovich played all 40 minutes against the Wildcats. But once Wooden subbed Drollinger in for Johnson, Johnson became a spectator as Drollinger hit four of his six attempts and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
So that season ended how it had started for Johnson, who was diagnosed with hepatitis, a viral infection of the liver, two days before the start of practice in October and spent most of the ensuing two months recovering.
During the season, UCLA went 23-3, losing at Stanford, at Notre Dame and at Washington. It was completely void of stress or expectations, and Johnson often noticed that Wooden was more relaxed than he had ever seen his coach.
Before one practice, McCarter juked and jived to the tunes from a nearby radio. Wooden slinked behind him and mimicked his every move. When McCarter turned, he found a stone-faced Wooden contemplating life. When McCarter returned to his routine, so did Wooden.
Killing time in a billiards room by the cafeteria once, Johnson was stunned when Wooden, having just lunched, walked in with a toothpick in his mouth. Saying nothing, Wooden grabbed Johnson's cue and ran the table, which had four or five balls left.
 | |
| John Wooden retired on top in 1975 after winning his 10th and final national title.(AP) |
Wooden said he spent a fair amount of time in a pool hall back in Indiana, and he relished games with former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Walter Alston, who also hailed from a small Indiana town and held an edge against Wooden on the felt.
"I think I did have fun that season, yes," Wooden said. "The season before, I actually put more pressure on my kids to keep the streak (seven consecutive NCAA titles) going, keep it going, keep it going. Now, we had lost four starters, and two superstars. There weren't any expectations. Nobody knew much about them.
"I think it was a little less strenuous on the players, and possibly on me. Possibly."
In the NCAAs, the Bruins wouldn't have won one game if Michigan's C.J. Kupek had hit a medium-range jumper to break a tie with 4 seconds remaining in Pullman, Wash. The Bruins then sped away from the Wolverines in overtime to win by 12 points.
They then squeezed by Montana 67-64 in a West semifinal despite 32 points by Eric Hays. Against Arizona State in the West final, Johnson powered UCLA with 35 points.
In the national semifinal against Louisville, Cardinals guard Terry Howard walked to the line with a one-and-one situation and 20 seconds remaining in overtime as his team cradled a one-point lead. Howard had hit all 28 of his free throws that season, but this one bounced off the rim.
Washington grabbed it and wound up hitting the game-winning 12-footer at the other end. Minutes later, Wooden stunned many with the announcement of his imminent retirement.
"And he said the Kentucky game would be his last," Johnson said. "I was young, 18 or 19 at the time, but it was almost like life would move on. It wasn't as devastating, I think, as people thought it would be. At the same time, we talked and said there's no way we would let him go out without a championship."
UCLA, which made nearly half of its field-goal attempts, held Kentucky to 38.4 percent shooting. The Bruins won the battle of the boards and had more precise passing, and their lack of depth belied their impeccable chemistry.
Wooden has no regrets about leaving the game 25 years ago, and all he misses are the practices. He and his staff would expend more time arranging the detailed sessions than it took to run them.
His name adorns the game's most prestigious player-of-the-year award, and he's a prominent luminary at the McDonald's All-America prep game. He also received a Vince Lombardi Award of excellence, which President Bush and comedian Bob Hope have won, two weeks ago in Green Bay.
With two children, seven grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren within 60 miles of his Encino, Calif., home, Wooden feels rich. So do UCLA players when they walk inside Pauley Pavilion and gawk at the national championship banners that hang from the rafters, which hit a nice, even 10 in San Diego 25 years ago.
"That year, I think he knew it was the end for him and that he'd have fun," Johnson said. "He's always talked about those years with Bill and those guys. They were successful. But in terms of fun, Bill and that crew wore on him. Fortunately, we were able to win it for him."