SPECIAL REPORT / Final Four / Seattle, 1995 : The Wizard’s Wonder Years : John Wooden Looks Back on UCLA’s Incredible String of 10 NCAA Championships in 12 Seasons

It has been a busy week for John Wooden, who has found it necessary to screen his telephone calls or else talk to every reporter with the ability to type and chew gum at the same time.

“Fun, but a bit hectic,” Wooden said.

It isn’t easy being an icon. Twenty years after Wooden coached UCLA to its 10th NCAA championship, the Bruins have a chance to win another and Wooden won’t have to design a play to counteract a full-court press.

“You know, I’ve had so many calls about the 20 years, ‘Is UCLA back?’ Why, where have they been? They’ve been in the Final Four three times since I retired. That’s not too bad.”

Maybe not, but it isn’t even close to what Wooden achieved in his 27 years of patrolling the sideline, waving his rolled-up program like a baton, conducting the greatest performances in the history of college basketball.

Winning and Wooden were the only constants at UCLA, where the Bruins won 10 championships in 12 years, seven of them in succession, all of them unforgettable.

Count the banners at Pauley. Wooden remembers how they got there.

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I--1964

“It was our shortest team to ever win. Our center, Fred Slaughter, was the tallest and he was only 6-5. It was a hustling group that used an exciting pressure defense that caught some teams by surprise. We played Duke in the final and we trailed before the half, but then our defense turned the game around (a 16-0 run in less than three minutes) and we won.

“It was also exciting to win that first one because it was the first as well as our not being ranked in the top 50 before the season. I suppose we changed some people’s minds as a result of our undefeated season (30-0).”

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II--1965

“We had only two returning starters, (Gail) Goodrich and (Keith) Erickson back, but we didn’t return a big man. To repeat again when we were underdogs against a very strong Michigan team was very gratifying. Erickson had a groin-muscle pull, but Goodrich scored 42 points and in my opinion played the very finest championship game that anyone has ever played.

“When I thought about it, in repeating, it made UCLA one of a very few schools that had repeated. Oklahoma State with (Hank) Iba, (Adolph) Rupp at Kentucky, USF and Ed Jucker at Cincinnati were the others.

“What these first two championships did, well, they changed my mind. I thought it was impossible under the conditions we had. No home court, practices in an old gym on the third floor. I mopped the floor myself before practice. We had to share the floor with gymnastics and wrestling. We had no dressing room, no shower, just a huge room with metal lockers. To me, the first two championships were downright amazing. I had almost given up hope we could do that well.”

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III--1967

“Backing up a bit, the two titles attracted the second-highest profile high school player of all time--Lew Alcindor. (Wilt) Chamberlain was first. Alcindor’s high school coach (Jack Donohue) noticed I was speaking at a clinic in Valley Forge, Pa., and told me Alcindor wanted UCLA to be one of the five schools he would visit, which he did. Then we showed him the clincher, Pauley Pavilion.

“So the first year Alcindor was eligible for the varsity we now had something special. First we had our shortest championship team, then we had the first to repeat, now we had the youngest. We had four sophomores--Alcindor, Lucius Allen, Lynn Shackelford and Kenny Heitz--one junior, Mike Warren.

“We played Dayton in the championship game and finished a 30-0 season. But what also should be pointed out is that it made UCLA the second team to win at least three championships and we were very proud of that. Rupp had four.”

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IV--1968

“We defeated North Carolina in the final after defeating Houston in the semifinal. This was the same year that Houston ended our winning streak of 47 games by beating us in the Astrodome. We were ranked No. 2 behind Houston in the last poll of the regular season.

“Our victory over North Carolina was our fourth championship in five years, but that was not the only noteworthy aspect. UCLA became the only school to ever win back-to-back championships on more than one occasion.”

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V--1969

“As soon as Alcindor came, I made the statement we would have our foot in the door. So did Kansas have its foot in the door when Chamberlain came, and they didn’t win any. Having your foot in the door doesn’t mean it won’t get slammed on you. We played Purdue in the championship game and Alcindor was the leader on offense with 37 points. And as fine a game as he had, Kenny Heitz had as fine a game on the defensive end where he defended Rick Mount.

“It was our third straight title with Alcindor. We did what we were expected to do. We became the first team to win three in a row and we became No. 1 all-time with five championships.”

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VI--1970

“Everyone said, ‘Wait till the big guy is gone, they’ll get their comeuppance.’ Well, we had (Steve) Patterson, (Sidney) Wicks and (Curtis) Rowe and they just wouldn’t be beaten. I called them the Team Without--without Alcindor.

“We played Jacksonville with Artis Gilmore in the championship game. We led by five points at the half and Wicks had blocked five shots by Gilmore. We won, 80-69, and it was our fourth straight championship. It was just very gratifying.”

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VII--1971

“Wicks, Rowe and Patterson were back and as it turned out, the season went much like the year before. Our players just wanted to win so badly. We played wonderfully well as a team. Henry Bibby was a junior guard and the leader in the backcourt. We played good, hard defense, which I liked because defense wins championships. It’s more reliable.

“We defeated Villanova in the championship game. Villanova used a zone and perhaps we made a mistake by holding the ball and trying to force them out of their zone. We sort of lost our intensity. We let them make a game out of it, but we were able to win our fifth championship in a row.”

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VIII--1972

“We had a young team again, but our young players were sophomores Bill Walton, Keith Wilkes and Greg Lee. Once I saw Walton and Wilkes, I thought they were destined to be superstars, and they were. We played Florida State in the championship game and Walton scored 24 points and Wilkes scored 23 and we won by five points.

“It was our sixth straight championship. It was also another undefeated year for us, our third. We were 30-0.”

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IX--1973

“Our winning streak reached 75 games that season and we played Memphis State in the championship game in St. Louis. Most people remember that game as Walton’s best game. I have said since that Bill Walton has played better basketball games, but he made 21 of 22 field-goal attempts. He was getting in position very routinely and we were successful in running our offense. Many of the shots he made were very easy shots. Memphis State fronted him defensively, hoping for someone from the weak side to help out, and that was a big mistake. He just got away from them completely.”

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X--1975

“We defeated Louisville in the semifinal game in overtime and I announced my retirement afterward. We were to play Kentucky in the championship game. I had no intention of announcing it until five minutes before I did. I had intended to coach two more years. About my decision, nobody knew. My wife didn’t know. I was accused of trying to give my team more incentive to win, which is ridiculous. If you have to fire them up for a championship game, you haven’t been doing your job. I knew Nellie was going to be happy. I knew Mr. (J.D.) Morgan (the athletic director) would try to talk me out of it, and he did try. But I had made up my mind.

“With our victory over Kentucky, we did the unexpected that year. We had one returning starter, David Meyers. And we had lost two superstars, Bill Walton and Keith Wilkes. I thought that we would beat Kentucky. I thought we would do all right, that we were quicker than them. We were.

“All of these championships are great memories. I do not like to compare teams or players. Each was special in their own time and way. I think the tournament now is too big. Sixty-four teams, that’s a farce. They ought to let everybody in. Start a week earlier and divide the proceeds and give a share for each game a team plays.”