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Walt Hazzard

Walt Hazzard
Walt Hazzard (UCLA).jpg
Personal information
Born (1942-04-15)April 15, 1942
Wilmington, Delaware
Died November 18, 2011(2011-11-18) (aged 69)
Los Angeles, California
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight 185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school Moton (Easton, Maryland)
Overbrook (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
College UCLA (1961–1964)
NBA draft 1964 / Round: Territorial pick
Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers
Playing career 1964–1974
Position Guard
Number 42, 1, 44
Career history
As player:
19641967 Los Angeles Lakers
1967–1968 Seattle SuperSonics
19681971 Atlanta Hawks
19711972 Buffalo Braves
1972–1973 Golden State Warriors
1973–1974 Seattle SuperSonics
As coach:
1985–1988 UCLA
Career highlights and awards
As player
As coach
Career statistics
Points 9,087 (12.6 ppg)
Rebounds 2,146 (3.0 rpg)
Assists 3,555 (4.9 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Walter Raphael "Walt" Hazzard Jr., later Mahdi Abdul-Rahman (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.

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.

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.


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Wikipedia

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