Walt Hazzard’s place among college basketball’s elite is now set for permanent recognition.
UCLA announced Monday that Hazzard, the 6-foot-2 shooting guard who anchored the school’s John Wooden era, will be inducted posthumously into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City. Hazzard died in 2011 at age 69.
A two-time All-American in 1963 and 1964, Hazzard started for UCLA for three seasons from 1962-64 and helped define one of the sport’s most dominant runs. His biggest college season came in 1964, when he led UCLA to a 30-0 record and a national title with a 98-83 win over Duke, the first of 10 championships in 12 years under Wooden.
Hazzard averaged a career-best 18.6 points per game that year and earned Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors along with Player of the Year recognition from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.
He also won a gold medal with the U.S. team at the Tokyo Olympics that same season.
Hazzard’s game was built on balance and control. His midrange jumper, ball-handling and feel for defenses helped make him one of the era’s most complete and respected guards.
He went on to play 10 seasons in the NBA, where he posted a career-high 24.0 points per game and, during the Seattle SuperSonics’ inaugural season in 1968, averaged 6.2 assists per game while making the NBA All-Star team.
After his playing career, Hazzard returned to UCLA as head coach from 1984-1988 following coaching stops at Compton College and Chapman University. In his first season, he guided UCLA to its first NIT National Championship.
Hazzard becomes the 10th UCLA figure in the Hall, joining Wooden, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Gail Goodrich, Sidney Wicks, Marques Johnson, Jamaal Wilkes, David Greenwood and Dave Meyers. Wooden, Abdul-Jabbar, Walton and Goodrich were part of the Hall’s inaugural class in 2006.
He will be inducted with Villanova coach Jay Wright, former Kentucky coach Tubby Smith, Kansas coach Ted Owens, former BYU forward and two-time NBA champion Danny Ainge, and Michigan’s all-time leading scorer Glen Rice.
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