When we were young, we …
I enjoyed reading that basketball is popular again among the
students. Back in the early ’70s, before you were even in
diapers, students routinely camped out at Pauley to get their
favorite seats, even for Washington, which was a doormat in those
days (But their coach, George Raveling, was so much fun to
torment!) There were several of us from Rieber who came down with
our books at the crack of dawn (either on game day or the day
before), thinking we would actually get some homework done.
The big moment came when officials opened the doors and started
taking tickets. They always cautioned us not to run, but it was the
Land Rush all over again. Two or three minutes and all the midcourt
seats were gone, all the way up to the promenade. And that was just
the opening act before our national champions took the floor to
blow out another opponent!
Steve Gregory UCLA alumnus
Bruins have been doing it all along
I was able to relate to (those camping out) in this way.
You said, “Before then, when UCLA was down 30-9, I’d
be lying if I said I didn’t have thoughts of strangling my
friend next to me while shouting at the top of my lungs, “˜I
was out here at 5 a.m. for this?'” in your column
“Victory feels sweeter after late-night vigil at
Pauley” (Jan. 11). I thought the very same thing to myself at
that point in time, except my train of thought was, “I camped
out at 5 p.m. in the cold and rain for this?” I knew we had
it all along though. I kept it to myself, though, in order not to
jinx it.
Tommy “Capeman” Ursano