Continuing path of athletic excellence

From playing catch out back to watching Thanksgiving football, from bike rides to swim lessons, from mini-golf to Wii Tennis ““ sports and family have been intertwined in an inseparable fashion since the first time we played home-run derby with Dad’s autographed baseball or forced Mom to play goalie on a driveway hockey rink.

The pantheon of UCLA athletics reads like a family tree in many respects: siblings playing together here, kids following in their parents’ footsteps there and a culture of athletic success and familial affinity fostering everywhere.

With our school’s annual Parents’ Weekend upon us, there is no better time to appreciate the umbilical connection that binds family to UCLA athletics.

Rachael Kidder, one of the nation’s top volleyball recruits coming out of high school, received offers from every major program in the United States and then some. But when it came down to the two schools in the closest proximity to her home in Moorpark, USC and UCLA, the daughter of former UCLA offensive lineman John Kidder let her bloodline do the decision-making.

“Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to come to UCLA,” the freshman outside hitter said. “I have always looked up to my dad and being a student-athlete at UCLA has always been a dream of mine.”

The Kidders’ story is one of many similar tales of Bruin athletes both past and present where the family name is brought back to Westwood for another generation of athletic excellence. That so many children of past stars can also meet the standards of UCLA athletics and academia is a testament to the legacy of the school and its sports.

In the historic and impressive lineage of Bruin men’s basketball, perhaps the basketball program’s most praiseworthy accomplishment is that it boasts the only father-son combination to win a college basketball national championship at the same school. Marques Johnson took home the title as a member of the 1974-1975 squad and 20 years later saw his son Kris cut down the nets after winning the program’s most recent championship in 1995.

The elder Johnson’s championship-winning run was the 10th and final title overseen by coach John Wooden, whose own legacy lives on at UCLA.

Tyler Trapani officially became a part of UCLA basketball when he walked on to the team a year ago as a freshman, but he’s had a unique connection to the program his entire life.

As the great-grandson of coach Wooden, Trapani is honored to be a part of something that one of his relatives had such a crucial hand in manufacturing.

“I enjoy playing because it keeps the family tradition going here at UCLA,” Trapani said. “This experience is a privilege, and I am going to take every day one day at a time and as he (coach Wooden) would say, “˜make each day your masterpiece.'”

Like Trapani, Kidder is grateful for the chance to follow her family to UCLA. And although she is well on her way to making a name for herself on the volleyball court, she isn’t about to forget that her father paved the way.

“It’s great to follow him,” she said. “I couldn’t have asked for better footsteps to follow than my dad’s.”

If you’d like your kids to wind up in Westwood someday, e-mail Eshoff at reshoff@media.ucla.edu.

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