Gail Goodrich

Gail Goodrich, who 40 years ago was the leading scorer on UCLA's first two national championship teams, was never going to play college basketball anywhere other than in Los Angeles. The City Section player of the year after leading Sun Valley Polytechnic High to its first and only section championship in 1961, the scrawny left-hander was recruited by UCLA and -- belatedly and only halfheartedly, he said -- by USC. His father, Gail Sr.

UCLA will retire Gail Goodrich's No. 25 jersey during halftime of the Bruins' basketball game against Michigan on Dec. 18. Goodrich helped UCLA win NCAA titles in 1964 and '65 under Coach John Wooden. He also won an NBA championship with the Lakers in 1972. "This is just a wonderful and tremendous honor to have my UCLA jersey number retired," said Goodrich, now an analyst for NBA TV. Goodrich will be the seventh men's basketball player to have his number retired.

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?

Gail Goodrich might be the greatest basketball player ever born and raised in Los Angeles. He helped UCLA win its first two NCAA championships, in 1964 and 1965. He led the Lakers in scoring during their championship season in 1971-72 when they won 33 consecutive games. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996.

The Wilt Chamberlain stories just keep coming. Here's one former Laker teammate Gail Goodrich told Wednesday: "It's the day of Game 5 of the 1972 NBA Finals at the Forum, and we're up on the Knicks, 3-1," he said from his home in Greenwich, Conn. "I'm driving to the game and go past Inglewood High. I see on the marquee that Wilt is scheduled to be there at the high school two days later for a volleyball exhibition.

His size--small for his former profession--earned him the nickname "Stumpy," but Gail Goodrich cast a large shadow over basketball in Los Angeles. Barely 6 feet, Goodrich never let his physical limitations prevent him from achieving greatness in a sport ruled by giants. Armed with a feathery, left-handed shot that former Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke once described as "fairy-like," Goodrich was a champion at every level.

Two Southland standouts have been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, it was announced Monday. Gail Goodrich, a star at Los Angeles Poly High, played on UCLA's first two NCAA championship teams, 1963-64 and 64-65, before embarking on a 14-year NBA career. George Yardley, who learned the game on the alley hoops of Balboa Island in Newport Beach during World War II, later played at Stanford before his seven-season NBA career.

Former coaches John Wooden and Bill Sharman and one-time teammates Wilt Chamberlain and Walt Hazzard joined family members and several other luminaries Wednesday night at the Forum to salute Gail Goodrich as his uniform No. 25 was retired during halftime ceremonies. Goodrich's jersey was unveiled in the 13-minute tribute and now hangs alongside that of James Worthy, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor.

Gail Goodrich, the 1961 Los Angeles City Player of the Year at Polytechnic High who went on to stardom at UCLA and with the Lakers, was among the inductees to the Basketball Hall of Fame Monday night. The others were George Gervin, David Thompson, early jump-shot specialist George Yardley, Olympian Nancy Lieberman-Cline and the late Yugoslav star Kresimir Cosic.