Pierce passes on, but his memory will not

Pierce passes on, but his memory will not

When UCLA’s men’s basketball team hoists its 11th national
championship banner to the rafters of Pauley Pavilion next year, a
standing-room-only crowd will be on hand to watch.

Larry Pierce, a man who spent his lifetime standing up for the
people in that crowd who could not, will be sadly absent from the
audience. Pierce, 47, died last week, and a part of the Bruin team
passed with him.

Pierce had spent nearly 30 years on this campus as an advocate
for the disabled, serving in UCLA’s compliance office for the
Americans with Disabilities Act. He was responsible for increasing
access to disabled students all over the campus, from Bruin Walk to
Murphy Hall, and that is his most enduring legacy.

But that isn’t all. He was remembered yesterday at Pauley
Pavilion by a host of speakers and hundreds of friends who talked,
not coincidentally, of the same things: his unceasing optimisim,
his love of UCLA, his fight, his perspective, his goals …

Pauley was the perfect place for such a gathering. It was on the
floor of the legendary building that Larry spent the end of each
day watching the close of Bruin practices. The floor, understand,
was off limits to almost everyone. But as head coach Jim Harrick
explained yesterday, the team carved out an exception for
Larry.

It was rare, in fact, not to see Larry at the end of a weekday
session flanked on either side by Harrick and at least one player.
He was, as one co-worker put it, a fixture ­ but it wasn’t
just his presence that caused the UCLA team and its players to
regard Larry with the same fondness as he regarded them.

It was the words of support, the love of the team and the belief
in their ability to succeed. It was, as Ed O’Bannon said of his
recovery from a knee injury, Larry asking how he was doing every
day of his rehab. Not physically, but emotionally.

Everyone got that treatment, which is why the walk from practice
to the locker room never passed without a hello and a word to and
from Larry.

My own experience with Larry pales in comparison to the hundreds
who were there, but it took me all of about one meeting to
understand what they were talking about.

I first met Larry through a mutual friend ­ this after
seeing him dozens of times on the floor of Pauley Pavilion, holding
court and talking hoops.

Like it was with so many others, talking basketball with Larry
became a ritual, and he knew his stuff. I’d see him before every
game at his seat just to the left of the television cameras,
usually stop by at halftime, then breakdown the game the next day
somewhere on campus, which he knew inside and out.

I stopped to talk to Larry at the Wooden Center before the
Bruins played USC at Pauley at the beginning of March. The team had
edged the Trojans at the Sports Arena a month earlier, but without
point guard Tyus Edney. In the interim, the team hadn’t lost and
had been elevated to No. 1 that week.

"Whaddya think, Larry?" I asked him.

"19 points," he said, indicating how much we’d win by. "It’ll be
close early, but it won’t be close at the end."

The final? UCLA 85, USC 66. It was typical.

* * *

Larry was a person everyone knew, even if they didn’t. One
friend mentioned that all it took was a description for someone to
remember who he was. Few can say they hadn’t seen Larry, making his
way across campus in a wheelchair that did nothing to curb his will
to get where he wanted to go.

And he wanted, more often than not, to beat UCLA. Many
remembered the sheer will that got him here, tredging through the
rain, down busy streets, whatever it took. He passed, appropriately
enough, on his way to work.

The dim shadows that rolled across the floor of Pauley Pavilion
did nothing to dim the memory of Larry rolling across the floor,
smiling and ready to offer a word of encouragement.

I should probably take back what I said about Larry being absent
from the banner-raising celebration next year. I don’t think he’d
miss it for the world.

Doug Martin, his long-time friend and co-worker, hit the nail on
the head:

"The tragedy is not being disabled. The tragedy is not being
included because you’re disabled."

Larry Pierce, tireless fighter, will forever be included.

Contributions in memory of Larry can be made to: The UCLA
Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, 90095 for "The Larry Pierce Memorial
Ramp to the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center."