Former UCLA Hall of Famer on his Relationship with Cal: `I Wanted to go to Berkeley So Badly

The former UCLA Hall of Famer died Monday at the age of 71, following a battle with cancer.

With the sad departure of Bill Walton today, I am reminded of the first time I interviewed him in 1994. Among other things, the former UCLA star centre told me, “I wanted to go to Berkeley so badly.”

I was working at the Oakland Tribune and we published a series of stories titled, “What if . . .”

The premise was how things might be different if one moment in Bay Area sports history was altered. For instance, would the 49ers still have become an NFL dynasty if Dwight Clark didn’t make The Catch?

My contribution to the series was to explore what might have happened if Cal had hired John Wooden as basketball coach when Pete Newell stepped down after the 1960 season. After all, it was Cal — not UCLA — that was the national basketball powerhouse at that time.

Could Wooden have translated his later success at UCLA — 10 national titles in a span of 12 seasons between 1964 and ’75  — to Cal?

I spoke with Wooden, then 84 years old, and he said he would have adjusted to the move from Westwood to Berkeley. “Does that mean we would have won as many championships?” he said. “I’m not saying that.”

But Walton, who died Monday from cancer at the age of 71, wasn’t the least bit hesitant to speculate on what Wooden could have achieved with the Bears.

“He would have done perfect in Berkeley,” Walton told me. “If he had been there, they’d probably have a brand new beautiful gym instead of playing in Harmon. And they’d have lots of championship banners up there.

“He was the reason people went to UCLA. He was the reason we won.”

Walton won two NCAA titles with undefeated seasons in 1972 and ’73 under Wooden, fueled an 88-game win streak and was the national college player of the year all three years on the Bruins’ varsity team.

A free spirit to the end, Walton often challenged Wooden on topics ranging from protesting the Vietnam War to his hair length to smoking marijuana.

“I probably had more run-ins with him than most of the players,” said Walton, who loved his coach. “But he always resolved it with one quick conversation by saying, `Bill, we sure enjoyed having you at UCLA and we’re sure going to miss you.’

“The team and the school always came first.”