Walt Hazzard was a college, Olympic, and professional basketball player and college basketball coach, now retired. He was born Walter Raphael Hazzard Jr. on April 15, 1942, in Wilmington, Delaware.
After attending Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, Hazzard went to UCLA, where he became an important player on the varsity basketball team. UCLA's undefeated season, 1963-64, was in no small part due to Hazzard and the team's coach John Wooden. The team also won the NCAA Championship, and Hazzard was selected by the Associated Press as the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Hazzard was chosen as an All-American and also selected as College Player of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).
Hazzard earned a spot on the 1964 Olympic basketball team for the U.S., which won the gold medal. He later played in the NBA, first with the Los Angeles Lakers from 1964-1967, then the Seattle SuperSonics, the Atlanta Hawks, the Buffalo Braves, and briefly for the Golden State Warriors. He retired from professional basketball in 1974.
While a professional basketball athlete, Hazzard became a Muslim. He changed his name in 1971 to Mahdi Abdul-Rahman.
In 1984, he returned to UCLA as its men's basketball coach. That same year, he was inducted (as Walt Hazzard) in to UCLA's Athletic Hall of Fame.) He coached for 4 seasons, winning 77 out of 125 games.
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Last updated: 08-29-2005 08:27:06
