Walt Hazzard ✝

Mahdi Abdul-Rahman (born Walter Raphael Hazzard Jr.; April 15, 1942 – November 18, 2011) was an American college, Olympic and professional basketball player and college basketball coach. He was best known for his association with the men\'s basketball team at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), having been a star player for that team when it won its first national championship in 1964 and having served as the team\'s head coach in the 1980s.\n', ' Hazzard attended Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, where his teams went 89-3 and he was named the city\'s player of the year when he was a senior. Hazzard then went on to UCLA, where he became a key player on the varsity basketball team. In Hazzard\'s first season on the varsity squad, the UCLA Bruins made their first Final Four appearance in the 1962 NCAA Toournament. They lost 72-70 to Cincinnati, the eventual champion, in the semi-finals.\n', ' UCLA\'s first undefeated season of 1963–64 was in no small part due to Hazzard, his backcourt partner Gail Goodrich, and the team\'s coach John Wooden. The team won its first NCAA Championship, and Hazzard was selected by the Associated Press as the tournament\'s Most Valuable Player. Following UCLA\'s victory in the 1964 tournament, Sports Illustrated featured a cover photograph of Walt Hazzard dribbling the basketball up court and the headline, "UCLA Is The Champ. Walt Hazzard Drives Through Duke." Hazzard was chosen as an All-American and also selected as College Player of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). His number 42 jersey was retired by UCLA in 1996 in Pauley Pavilion, but Hazzard gave his permission for stand-out recruit Kevin Love to wear the number.\n', '