Links

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Men's Basketball and the 88 Game Win Streak

John Wooden's Retirement and NCAA Championship #10

Purchasing Tickets for the Game: 1970s Style.

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UCLA 1972-'74:
         The End of the Golden Years

by Alice Chen, Sammy Fayed, Max Nagano

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The University of California, Los Angeles was well on its way to being one of the top academic institutions by the early 1960’s. By 1972, the institution had developed a reputation for its well established research facilities and excellent athletics. By 1972, basketball Coach John Robert Wooden had led the team to seven NCAA Championships, and there were still three more to come within the next four years. Equipped with outstanding players such as center Bill Walton and athletes from exceptionally diverse economic backgrounds (unusual at the time), Wooden helped the team achieve two perfect seasons in 1972 and 1973, achieving a 88 consecutive-win streak. The team’s astounding 88-winning streak beat University of San Francisco’s 60-game streak by a long shot, but came to an unfortunate end on January 14, 1974 with a close loss to Notre Dame (71-70). Other sports excelled as well. UCLA men's track team won its fifth NCAA championship in 1973, the same year UCLA’s on-campus track got its official name, Drake Stadium, from Elvin "Ducky" Drake, UCLA's track coach, head athletic trainer, and trainer emeritus. Furthermore, the advent of Title IX helped establish UCLA as a powerhouse in women’s sports, home to notable athletes such as Ann Meyers. These years were truly remarkable for UCLA athletics.

1972-74 also featured a tide of increasingly anti-authoritarian activism, led by radical groups such as Students for a Democratic Society and Worker-Student Alliance, who began to call for a “working-class revolution” rather than “liberal protest.” These years brought disillusionment to many, with some activists growing so cynical that by the time Watergate was fully exposed, they were not surprised or incensed enough even to respond. From May 9-11, 1972, a series of protests against Nixon’s escalation of conflict in Southeast Asia culminated in the arrest of 52 UCLA students for failing to disperse from in front of Murphy Hall on the 11th. Among those arrested was varsity center Bill Walton, whose presence in such activities was the most conspicuous aspect of the protests. UCLA faculty still remember May 9 when Walton sat down in the middle of the intersection Wilshire and Veteran in front of a line of LAPD officers during a march into Westwood. That year also saw the suspension of SDS, whose provocative and confrontational tactics grew more disorganized and unpopular in the early seventies following the fragmentation of the organization into more radical factions (Weather Underground, Revolutionary Action, etc.). In response, SDS launched a campaign against Chancellor Young, decrying their suspension as a “wave of repression.” Later, in July of 1973, distrust amongst UCLA activists would manifest itself in the protest of the Center for the Study and Reduction of Violence (also known as the Violence Center or Violence Project). The impact of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange had a direct impact on this particular action against “psychosurgery” and “human experimentation,” with flyers explicating a litany of exaggerated claims. In addition, 1972-74 brought a number of prestigious, historically important speakers to promote activism amongst students such as Cesar Chavez and Jane Fonda.

UCLA was a vibrant and exciting place to attend from 1972-74. During this time on-campus housing was given less emphasis, with affordable nearby apartments adequately meeting the school’s housing needs. Perhaps this was appropriate, as dorm life was quite a bit different then, with complains of terrible food, asbestos, and unclean bathroom. At the same time, “socialization” in coed dormitory life increased heavily with the advent of the morning-after-pill, controversial for its supposed health dangers at the time. During this era, eighteen-year-olds were made eligible for California residence, which lowered out-of-state fees for many students, something that people would blame partially for the continuing budget crisis UCLA. However, Gov. Reagan’s refusal to restructure Proposition 13, passed later in the decade in 1978, was a more direct cause for this predicament; with the UC System subject many fiscal cuts. (Graduation rate fell 28.2% to 23.8% in one year). This situation left many students and faculty vocally angry at the conservative Governor. In these same years, registering for classes became significantly easier with the introduction of the HAL system, pioneering computer technology that helped students find out class workload and plan their schedules more efficiently. The school was facing much change, but the years from 1972-74 still comprise an especially exciting time to go to UCLA.

For more information about Ucla Athletics, student activism, and student affairs, click on the one of the links to your left.

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