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Continued from Preceding Page sides, I had a great love for UCLA because Jackie Robinson went there." Hazzard went west, but he could not get into UCLA as a freshman because his marks were too low for out-of-state admissions requirements. So he spent a year at Santa Monica. lazzard was not a ballhandler at Overbrook, but he went on to become possibly the greatest i from 6-8 McDonald's All-America Craig Jackson, of Denver. He also has put UCLA back in the in sweepstakes for 6-8 John Williams, of Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, the best player on the West Coast. "What we want to establish, like John Thompson does at Georgetown, is that we want our talent to stay home," Hazzard said.

"But we have to cultivate the relationships with the people out here, coaches, service groups. I've been visible with them over the last 10 years because I've worked with them, coached with them, helped them to raise money, taking their teams across the coun-try." Hazzard is aware of the problems at UCLA. He just wants a chance to solve them. "It's a different age and time," he said, "but we're still dealing with some very talented and gifted young men. I think we have some good athletes on our team right now, but you have to have some self esteem and feel good about yourself and right now some of our players donl feel that good.

"I cant account for what actually went on in the program before. All 1 can say is that I've had the responsbi-lity at home of raising four children and so I think I'm going to bring a fatherly image and a fatherly type spirit to these kids. "What's a young kid going to say to me when I tell him. This is the way it's done." What kind of argument does he have? My comeback is, 'Hey, son, I've been where you want to go. I know what it takes to get lit mem? UnWaxSpotial to the DHy News New UCLA basketball coach Walt Hazzard relaxes with his wife, Jaleesa, at home in LA Hazzard knows he could be walking into a towering inferno.

The Bruins have talent, but figure to be fighting an uphill battle against Washington and Oregon State in the Pac-10, losing forward Kenny Fields and guard Ralph Jackson. Center Stuart Gray is back and 'could be a factor if he maintains his weight. And 6-11 backup Brad Wright has said he is committed to staying. Forward Reggie Miller and guard Montel Hatcher could also help. Recruiting is up in air and, for a while, there was speculation that Hazzard might ease the pain by hiring assistant coach Terry Kirk-patrick away from Houston.

Hazzard denies that. Hazzard already has one signature CI IP THIS COUPON. playmaker in UCLA history. "From the very first day 1 walked on the court, John Wooden gave me the Hazzard said. "lie made it known to the players on the team that I was the player who should handle the ball and.

if they worked to get open, they would receive the ball. At first, they resented it. You know, Gary Cunningham, John Green and Pete Blackman were all seniors. But, after about a week, when they started getting layups and getting hit in the head when they weren't ready to receive the ball, they started believing." Hazzard's greatest moment at UCLA occurred when the Bruins blitzed Duke, ontscoring the Blue Devils 16-0 at one point midway through the first half to blow the game wide open. "1 have to tell you the truth," Hazzard -said.

"Those were the days of segregation. When we saw lall-white Duke, I thought about all the fellows back on the schoolyards who had never gotten an opportunity. And. it was like a way for me to vindicate their lack, of opportunities to achieve." Hazzard went on to play in the pros with five different teams, including the Lakers. His return to UCLA signals the end of a long search.

"This job wasn't just dropped on me," he said. "I've been out there in the trenches, suffered the disapoint-ments, having the wind knocked out of my sails, knocked down, having to get back up. Hey, we paid to get to this dance." There was a time when Hazzard couldn't even get a coaching position. He was just another ex-pro who kept getting doors slammed in face because he never graduated from college. "It was a variety of things," he said.

"I had gone through this thing where I had changed my name Ito Mahdi Abdul-Rahman and it was complicated by the fact that I did not have a degree." Hazzard went back to UCLA in 1976-77 and completed requirements for his degree in kinesiology at age 35. He broke into coaching with the West Side Blazers, an AAU team in Los Angeles. But he got his first real break in 1980 when he was hired at Compton (Calif.) Junior College by former All-Pro running back Don Perkins. Hazzard coached Compton to a 55-14 record in two years. But his success was somewhat tainted.

During Hazzard's first year at Compton, he had to forfeit 21 games for using an ineligible player. "We had some kids come in from out of state," he recalled. "The previous coach did not do his paperwork. He was fired and the kid's name wasn't included in the participation list from the year before and so, as far as I was concerned, he was a red-shirt. Then, right in the middle of the season, somebody sends a note to the commissioner that this kid had played three games and they had the scorebook.

I had no clue." During Hazzard's second year at Compton, he was accused of renting it i I a house for several players and was ordered by the court to pay $1,540 in back rent. "The Community College Committee cleared us," Hazzard said. "They said I was subsidizing them. But, if I was, I must have been doing a pretty poor job because they were evicted before our first playoff game. If anything had come of that, they would have eliminated us from the junior college tournament and we ended op losing in the finals." Hazzard went from Compton to Chapman College in conservative Orange County two years ago.

He changed his name back for professional reasons and then took a previously unknown Division II school to 22-8 and 22-6 seasons before moving There had been rumblings that Hazzard and Hirsch, his assistant, would surface in some capacity at UCLA as early as midseason. Both had orginally been penciled in as Farmer's new assistants. At the time of Farmer's resignation, there was heavily speculation that the two were being forced on him by influential booster Sam Gilbert Farmer has since denied those rumors. Hazzard contends he had no inkling a change might be in the wind. After all.

Farmer had just signed a two-year extension five days before he resigned. "As a matter of fact," Hazzard said, "he was excited we were going to work together. He said. This is going to work. It's going to be great for That's the last words 1 had with him.

Then, Hazzard was hit with the bombshell. "Peter Dalis (UCLA's athletic director! called me and said. Think about the head and I started sweating," Hazzard recalled. "And my son, who is a sophomore at Stanford, was there and he said, 'What's And, I said, 'I think there's the possibility that I may be in line for the next head coaching job at UCLA. "And he said, "What?" I called my wife at her job and she screamed into the telephone.

It took me about an hour and a half to get myself together." Hazzard escaped for a meeting with Dalis just before his house in Los Angeles was surrounded by camera crews. "We talked. He said he had other candidates but he wanted me," Hazzard said. "I accepted on the spot." I -'7Tr A 76ers vs. Detroit Pistons 7:35 pm, Wednesday, April 11th at The Spectrum FREE Sixers basketball to the first 4,000 kids 14 and under.

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