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I guess you either gotta be old or real familiar with college basketball details....
and there's a remote Bradley link to this story...
Sadly -- ex-UCLA star Edgar Lacey just passed away but he has an odd place in history....
Just when Lacey was playing well and helping his 1967-1968 UCLA team to record after record....
UCLA played the "Game of the Century" in the Houston Astrodome vs. Houston -- a matchup of Lew Alcindor & Elvin Hayes..
Lacey started the game and was assigned to guard Elvin Hayes -- who scorched UCLA for 39 points that night...but about 10 minutes into the game, with Hayes having his way --
Lacey was yanked by Head Coach John Wooden and did not return nor play again the rest of the game---
this angered Lacey who took it very personally and never forgave Wooden and felt he was unfairly blamed for the UCLA loss -- after all, Hayes ended up scoring 39 points...
28 of which were scored on the other UCLA defenders after Lacey was benched.....
Lacey was very upset and then quit the team, never to return....even making some very unflattering and negative comments about HOF'er John Wooden...
"Lacey quit the team three days later, telling the Los Angeles Times "I've
never enjoyed playing for that man," referring to coach John Wooden.
"(The Houston game) was the last straw," Lacey said. "It all started in my
sophomore year when he tried to change the mechanics of my shooting.
"And now I have no one to blame but myself for staying this long. He has
sent people by to persuade me to reconsider, but I have nothing to
reconsider. I'm glad I'm getting out now while I still have some of my pride,
my sanity and my self-esteem left."
link
so -- here's the remote Bradley connection....
The outcome of this legendary and historic game that resulted in an upset by Houston when Lew Alcindor played poorly due to being hampered by eye problems...
was affected by a Bradley player..........
even though it was widely reported that a different player had recently poked Alcindor in the eye - a week earlier - a player on Cal - resulting in a scratched cornea for Alcindor..
But it was not the only eye injury that season....Alcindor had struggled to get over a previous eye injury that occured early in the season when UCLA played Bradley.
In that 1967-1968 season, Bradley center Greg Berry had also (accidentally) poked Alcindor in the eye -- contributing to the lingering eye problems Alcindor had that were severely aggravated by the 2nd eye injury a week before this historic game.
and there's a remote Bradley link to this story...
Sadly -- ex-UCLA star Edgar Lacey just passed away but he has an odd place in history....
Just when Lacey was playing well and helping his 1967-1968 UCLA team to record after record....
UCLA played the "Game of the Century" in the Houston Astrodome vs. Houston -- a matchup of Lew Alcindor & Elvin Hayes..
Lacey started the game and was assigned to guard Elvin Hayes -- who scorched UCLA for 39 points that night...but about 10 minutes into the game, with Hayes having his way --
Lacey was yanked by Head Coach John Wooden and did not return nor play again the rest of the game---
this angered Lacey who took it very personally and never forgave Wooden and felt he was unfairly blamed for the UCLA loss -- after all, Hayes ended up scoring 39 points...
28 of which were scored on the other UCLA defenders after Lacey was benched.....
Lacey was very upset and then quit the team, never to return....even making some very unflattering and negative comments about HOF'er John Wooden...
"Lacey quit the team three days later, telling the Los Angeles Times "I've
never enjoyed playing for that man," referring to coach John Wooden.
"(The Houston game) was the last straw," Lacey said. "It all started in my
sophomore year when he tried to change the mechanics of my shooting.
"And now I have no one to blame but myself for staying this long. He has
sent people by to persuade me to reconsider, but I have nothing to
reconsider. I'm glad I'm getting out now while I still have some of my pride,
my sanity and my self-esteem left."
link
so -- here's the remote Bradley connection....
The outcome of this legendary and historic game that resulted in an upset by Houston when Lew Alcindor played poorly due to being hampered by eye problems...
was affected by a Bradley player..........
even though it was widely reported that a different player had recently poked Alcindor in the eye - a week earlier - a player on Cal - resulting in a scratched cornea for Alcindor..
But it was not the only eye injury that season....Alcindor had struggled to get over a previous eye injury that occured early in the season when UCLA played Bradley.
In that 1967-1968 season, Bradley center Greg Berry had also (accidentally) poked Alcindor in the eye -- contributing to the lingering eye problems Alcindor had that were severely aggravated by the 2nd eye injury a week before this historic game.