GREENWICH, Conn. — Gail Goodrich twists the fingers on those massive hands that fit perfectly around a basketball, such big hands for a 6-foot-1 body. He twists the fingers and looks up to the ceiling. His eyes close.
What is Goodrich seeing? The way Walt Hazzard would fake a shot and dish to Goodrich, who would drive and score? The way the UCLA Bruins ran their offense with synchronized brilliance, a silent choreography with the ball never seeming to touch the floor, the players seeming to fly above the court?
Whatever Goodrich sees, it has stopped him from speaking and brought tears to his eyes.
Finally, after three hard swallows, Goodrich whispers, "Yes."
Yes, he will cry today. Yes, he will be proud today.
Finally, years after his induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, after having his jersey number retired by his high school, Sun Valley Poly, and by his pro team, the Lakers, Goodrich will stand at center court in Pauley Pavilion where his UCLA No. 25 will be hoisted to the ceiling.
John Wooden, his coach; Jerry Norman, the UCLA assistant who was the first to be wowed by the skinny, left-handed guard at the city tournament; and Keith Erickson, teammate and friend, will join Goodrich. They will recall Goodrich as an excellent shooter, a fearless competitor who drove on players eight or nine inches taller and 100 pounds heavier, eager for the collision so he could shoot free throws. And Goodrich will cry.
"This means a lot to me," Goodrich said. "It's something I didn't think would happen."
It almost didn't.
Goodrich, 61, will become the seventh UCLA men's basketball player whose number has been retired, joining Hazzard (42), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, formerly Lew Alcindor, (33); Bill Walton (32), Sidney Wicks (35), Marques Johnson (54) and Ed O'Bannon (31).
"I know Coach Wooden doesn't really believe in having numbers retired," Goodrich said, "but I think he put in a good word for me."
In 1990, UCLA decided to retire the numbers of two men and two women -- Walton, Abdul-Jabbar, Ann Meyers-Drysdale and Denise Curry -- who had been the Bruins' only three-time consensus All-Americans. In 1996, the school expanded the criteria to include those who were consensus national players of the year and retired the numbers of Hazzard, Wicks, Johnson and O'Bannon.
Goodrich's absence from this list was glaring, though.
"He belongs of course," said Erickson.
