What is the best way to fully grasp the aura of UCLA sports?
How does one encapsulate 103 NCAA team titles, the most of any intercollegiate athletic program?
Take a stroll down Bruin Walk, beneath the speckled shade of overhanging branches, past the cathedral of college basketball that is Pauley Pavilion and into the J.D. Morgan Center.
There waits the UCLA Hall of Fame, home to hundreds of names, trophies and artifacts that make the UCLA legend real.
Sure, the 11 national championship banners hanging in Pauley’s rafters recollect the dynasty of UCLA basketball, but the Hall of Fame celebrates the achievements of each UCLA sport.
Want to see the only Heisman Trophy ever won by a UCLA player (by quarterback Gary Beban in 1967) or a basketball signed by John Wooden?
How about the baseball cards of alumni in the Majors, including Troy Glaus, Chase Utley and Eric Karros? All of this can be found tucked away in glass cases open to Bruin fans.
These artifacts illuminate a proud tradition of Bruin athletics that spans decades. Jackie Robinson called Westwood home, gracing its diamond, gridiron, track and court with all-American prowess. Lew Alcindor ““ later the NBA’s all-time leading scorer as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ““ roamed the basketball court as the centerpiece of three NCAA championship teams at UCLA, later becoming the author of several books. Troy Aikman, Arthur Ashe and Karch Kiraly are all decorated former Bruins, and each is represented at the Morgan Center.
Lisa Fernandez, one of the greatest softball players in history, fired rocket after rocket from the Easton Field pitcher’s circle. Women’s water polo great Coralie Simmons terrorized opponents in the pool.
Track and field star and Olympic gold medallist Jackie Joyner-Kersee blazed around the track at Drake Stadium before gaining international fame.
The Hall of Fame captures this heritage in a few rooms of awe-inspiring collections. One needs merely to spend 15 minutes inside to begin to understand the significance of UCLA athletics, not just intercollegiately, but nationally and internationally. To look upon the newspapers commemorating John Wooden’s final games as head basketball coach is to become absorbed in a fantastic past. More importantly, it allows an individual to become indoctrinated into the UCLA family, and to realize the major role Bruin athletes play in campus life.
Athletics are, for many, a major part of the college experience and serve to unite UCLA students behind one cause.
Case in point: In December 2006, dining halls and dorm rooms broke out in 8-claps and choruses of fight songs when UCLA football stunned crosstown powerhouse USC, 13-9.
The party in Westwood lasted throughout the night, with students climbing light fixtures, high-fiving strangers and showing off true blue and gold for weeks to come.
UCLA’s three consecutive Final Four berths are a constant source of pride for a deserving fan base attuned to greatness.
What the Morgan Center’s treasures represent, then, is a source of pride in a UCLA sports community that is unsurpassed anywhere else in the country.
The 103 NCAA team championship trophies say it all.
E-mail Salter at ksalter@media.ucla.edu.