UCLA Showed Wizardly Skills for the First Time

John R. Wooden had been coaching basketball at UCLA since 1948, but not until 35 years ago tonight did he truly become “The Wizard of Westwood.”

It was with possibly the most remarkable of all his 10 national championship teams that Wooden won the first of his NCAA titles, overwhelming a much taller Duke team, 98-83, at Kansas City.

Most remember that Wooden’s 1963-64 team had no starter taller than 6 feet 5, yet few might recall that those Bruins weren’t outrebounded once during their 30-0 season.

And so it was against Duke, a team with two 6-10 starters. UCLA, whose tallest starter was Fred Slaughter, outrebounded the Blue Devils, 51-44.

Wooden’s was an explosive, cat-quick team. After falling behind, 30-27, in the first half, the Bruins made a 16-0 run, converting several steals into fastbreak baskets. Two of the steals were by Jack Hirsch, who took the ball from Duke All-American Jeff Mullins to start breakaways.

During the run, Duke was 0 for 10 from the field and had three turnovers. For the game, Duke had 29 turnovers, UCLA 19.

Hirsch also had a blocked shot and a rebound in the run. The score was 50-38 at halftime and Duke was never close in the final 20 minutes.

UCLA’s Keith Erickson fouled out early in the second half and was replaced by super sub Kenny Washington, who scored 17 of his 26 points in the second half.

Loudest cheers of the night from the 10,864 in Kansas City Municipal Auditorium were for slick UCLA guard Walt Hazzard, who fouled out with 6:14 left and UCLA leading, 86-70.

Afterward, Kansas State Coach Tex Winter, talking about how a much smaller team could outrebound the Blue Devils, said: “Yes, they’re shorter--but they’re also quicker, and that’s more important.”

Also on this date: In 1941, heavyweight champion Joe Louis stopped lumbering Abe Simon in the 12th round at Detroit. . . . In 1970, the Los Angeles Rams announced the hiring of Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch as the team’s general manager.