Walt Hazzard

Walt Hazzard (1942-2011)

Teams coached: UCLA Bruins
UCLA record: 77-47 (.621)
Overall record: 77-47 (.621)

Career Accomplishments:

• NCAA National Championships:  0
• NCAA Tournament Appearances:  1  (1987)
• NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen:  0
• NIT Championships:  1  (1985)
• NIT Appearances:  2  (1985, 1986)
• Pac-10 Regular Season Champion:  1  (1987)
• Pac-10 Tournament Champion:  1  (1987)

Awards:

• Pac-10 Coach of the Year:  1  (1987)
• Oscar Robertson Trophy:  1  (1964)
• AP All-American:  2  (1963, 1964)
• NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player:  1  (1964)

Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):

1984-1988

UCLA

Walt Hazzard Facts

• Walter Raphael Hazzard, Jr.
  • Changed name to Mahdi Abdul-Rahman for religious purposes, but kept using the name Walt Hazzard professionally
• Born April 15, 1942
• Died November 18, 2011
• Hometown: Wilmington, Delaware / Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Alma Mater: University of California, Los Angeles (BA, 1964)
• Starred at Overbrook HS in Philadelphia before going on to play for John Wooden at UCLA
  • Helped build Wooden’s Bruins into a national power; part of the program’s first NCAA Final Four appearance in 1962 and led the Bruins to a NCAA National Championship title (their first of ten under Wooden) in 1964
  • Won the Oscar Robertson Trophy in 1964 as the nation’s best player and was a consensus All-American
  • His number #42 is was retired by the Bruins’ men’s basketball program
• Was a territorial pick for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1964 NBA Draft, kicking off a ten-year pro career
  • Played for the Lakers, Seattle SuperSonics, Atlanta Hawks, Buffalo Braves and Golden State Warriors
    • Head coaches he played for: Fred Schaus, Al Bianchi, Richie Guerin, Dolph Schayes, Al Attles & Bill Russell
• Returned to UCLA in 1984 to be the head coach of the Bruins, his first coaching role at any level
  • Won the 1985 NIT in his first year and returned to the NIT in 1986
  • Went 25-7 in 1986-87, winning the Pac-10 title and reaching the NCAA Tournament; won Pac-10 COY honors
  • Fired in 1988 following a 16-14 season, one of the Bruins’ worst finishes since the 1950s
• Later worked for the Los Angeles Lakers as a college scout and special consultant
  • Remained a Lakers’ employee for the rest of his life, even when health issues kept him away from the team
• Passed away in 2011 at age 69 due to complications from heart surgery
  • Survived by his wife, Jaleesa, and their four children, Yakub, Jalal, Rasheed and Khalil

Walt Hazzard Coaching Tree

• coming soon