RIP Walt Hazzard

TigerVols · Nov 18, 2011

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/college/basketball/view/20111118former_ucla_basketball_player_walt_hazzard_dies/srvc=home&position=recent

MTM · Nov 18, 2011

RIP to one of the first great Bruins.

jackfinarelli · Nov 18, 2011

I remember him from Overbrook High School in West Philly...

RIP.

old_tony · Nov 19, 2011

Didn't he at one time change his name to Abdul Rahman or something close to that?

SoCalDude · Nov 19, 2011

Yes, Mahdi Abdul-Rahman. A former highly respected SI correspondent who was close friends with Hazzard told him that if he ever wanted a major college coaching job, he better stick with Hazzard or he would never get hired. That was good advice.
I covered Hazzard's teams at UCLA, he was not a good coach, but he could recruit like a mother.

old_tony · Nov 19, 2011

SoCalDude said:
Yes, Mahdi Abdul-Rahman. A former highly respected SI correspondent who was close friends with Hazzard told him that if he ever wanted a major college coaching job, he better stick with Hazzard or he would never get hired. That was good advice.
I covered Hazzard's teams at UCLA, he was not a good coach, but he could recruit like a mother.

Thanks for that info. I wondered why he went back to Hazzard.

Drip · Nov 19, 2011

RIP to an Overbrook High legend and a Philly great. It's been said that Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Andre McCarter (another Overbrook High School legend) wouldn't have come to UCLA if it weren't for him.