Biography

Walt Hazzard

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Born
April 15, 1942 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Died
November 18, 2011 · Los Angeles, California, USA (complications following heart surgery)
Birth name
Walter Raphael Hazzard Jr.
Height
6′ 2″ (1.88 m)

Mahdi Abdul-Rahman (born Walter Raphael Hazzard Jr.; 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.
- IMDb mini biography by: NBA
Walt Hazzard is an American professional basketball player and college basketball coach.

He played in college for the UCLA Bruins and was a member of their first national championship team in 1964. He also won a gold medal that year with the US national team at the Tokyo 1964: Games of the XVIII Olympiad (1964). Hazzard began his pro career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Los Angeles Lakers, who selected him a territorial pick in the 1964 NBA draft. He was named an NBA All-Star with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1968.

After his playing career ended, he was the head coach at UCLA during the 1980s.
- IMDb mini biography by: Bazza the Beast

Member of UCLA's 1964 NCAA championship basketball team, and the 1964 Olympic champion basketball team. #1 overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1964 NBA draft.
He played basketball for Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he was born and raised before attending University of California at Los Angeles.
He played basketball for the University of California in Los Angeles and for the Bruins' first N.C.A.A. championship basketball team in 1964 and later coached the team for four seasons in the 1980s. He was co-captain of Coach John Wooden's first championship team. As a coach, the team was 77-47. In 1985, he led them to their first N.I.T. title. In 1987, they won the Pac-10 title and the league's first post-season tournament led by Reggie Miller. They finished 25-7 losing in the second round of the N.C.A.A. tournament. But the team slumped to 16-14 record. He was replaced by Jim Harrick in the 1988-1989 season.
He suffered a stroke in March 1996 but made a strong recovery. He had become less publicly active.
He also helped the United States Basketball team win the Olympic Gold Medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. He played ten seasons with the N.B.A. including with the Los Angeles Lakers who made him a first round selection and four other teams including Seattle, Atlanta, Buffalo, and Golden State.

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