The men's

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

program of the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA) was founded in 1920 and is known competitively as the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

. The Bruins have won 11

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) Division I national championships, the most of any school. UCLA players have been assigned jersey numbers ranging from 0 to 78 in the team's history. The school no longer issues nine retired numbers in honor of 10 former players. To qualify, a player must have been a three-time consensus All-American, a consensus national player of the year, or been inducted into the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

. The retired numbers are displayed in the rafters of the Bruins' home arena,

Pauley Pavilion Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion, commonly known as Pauley Pavilion, is an indoor arena located in the Westwood Village district of Los Angeles, California, on the campus of UCLA. It is home to the UCLA Bruins men's and women's basketball teams. Th ...

. UCLA's legendary coach

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, nati ...

generally opposed having numbers retired.

History

Numbers retired by UCLA were originally limited to three-time consensus All-Americans. In 1990,

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( ; born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. , April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player. He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Associatio ...

, known as Lew Alcindor during his UCLA career, and

Bill Walton William Theodore Walton III (November 5, 1952 – May 27, 2024) was an American basketball player and television Sports commentator, sportscaster. He played college basketball, collegiately for the UCLA Bruins men's basketball, UCLA Bruins an ...

were the first to have their numbers retired. The ceremony was held in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of Pauley Pavilion. Wooden valued team play over individual accolades, and he opposed retiring numbers. "What about the fellows who wore that number before?" Wooden asked. "Didn't they contribute to the team?" Wooden did think highly of Abdul-Jabbar and Walton. "If such a thing can be deserved, it'd be Alcindor and Walton. But I don't think it would be anyone else," said Wooden. UCLA in 1996 expanded the requirements for retiring numbers to include players who were consensus national players of the year. This allowed the jersey numbers of

Walt Hazzard Mahdi Abdul-Rahman (born Walter Raphael Hazzard Jr.; April 15, 1942 – November 18, 2011) was an American professional basketball player and college basketball coach. He played in college for the UCLA Bruins and was a member of their first natio ...

( 42), Sidney Wicks (35),

Marques Johnson Marques Kevin Johnson (born February 8, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player and character actor who is a basketball analyst for the Milwaukee Bucks on Bally Sports Wisconsin. He played as a small forward in the National B ...

(54), and

Ed O'Bannon Edward Charles O'Bannon Jr. (born August 14, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a power forward (basketball), power forward for the UCLA Bruins men's basketball, UCLA Br ...

(31) to be retired. In 2004, UCLA also allowed players inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame to be eligible, enabling the retirement of Gail Goodrich's No. 25. Three Bruins were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012, and UCLA retired their numbers in 2013— Jamaal Wilkes (52),

Reggie Miller Reginald Wayne Miller (born August 24, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, played his entire 18-year career in the National Basketball Assoc ...

(31), and Don Barksdale (11). It was the second time No. 31 was retired, O'Bannon's being the first. Eight of the players honored were members of NCAA championship teams, and seven of the players were coached by Wooden. Although Hazzard's No. 42 was retired, he allowed Kevin Love (2007–2008) to wear it. Johnson's retired No. 54 was worn by his sons,

Kris The kris or is a Javanese culture, Javanese asymmetrical dagger with a distinctive blade-patterning achieved through alternating laminations of iron and nickelous iron (''pamor''). The kris is famous for its distinctive wavy blade, although ma ...

(1994–1998) and Josiah (2001–2005). In 2014, UCLA announced that No. 42 would be retired across all the university's sports in honor of

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first Black American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the Baseball color line, ...

, a four-sport star at UCLA who went on to a

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

career in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

after breaking the

baseball color line The color line, also known as the color barrier, in American baseball excluded players of black African descent from Major League Baseball and its affiliated Minor League Baseball, Minor Leagues until 1947 (with a few notable exceptions in the 1 ...

. While Robinson wore several different numbers while at the school from 1939 to 1941, UCLA chose to honor the iconic No. 42 that he wore during his career with the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...

. The announcement had no impact on the men's basketball program, since the number was already retired for Hazzard, who had requested No. 42 as his college number to follow in the footsteps of Robinson, his childhood idol. Robinson also played basketball for the Bruins, but he wore No. 18.

Retired numbers

Notes

References

{{Retired numbers in sports Basketball players with retired numbers Retired numbers Lists of retired numbers

History

Retired numbers

See also

Notes

References