Former Bruin Erickson remembers an old friend and coach

Keith Erickson admits that when he played for Coach Wooden, he was a “pain in his side.”

“I didn’t always listen to him,” Erickson said. “Years later I thought, “˜I wish I had listened, and I heard what he had to say.’ I’m sure it was good stuff.”

Fortunately, the starting forward on John Wooden’s first two championship teams got another opportunity to benefit from his coach’s wisdom.

“Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to go back and read all about it,” Erickson said. “And then I spent time with him and had him tell me again what he said before that I didn’t hear.”

Though Erickson might have been a pain off the court, he did play a role in elevating the Bruins from just another NCAA Tournament team to the legendary winners they would become. Erickson was on the 1963 team that won the Pacific Coast Conference title, but the team went on to lose to Arizona State in the second round of the NCAA tournament that year.

He didn’t know it then, but the next year was the beginning of a dynasty.

“We didn’t think there was anything special about it,” said Erickson of the undefeated 1964 team. “Lo and behold, we come down to the end of the season, we’re going into the NCAA finals, we’re 28-0 and we haven’t lost a game all season.”

Coach Wooden’s ability to get his players to focus solely on the task at hand helped the team stay perfect the whole year. Wooden focused on motivating his players to play their best basketball whenever they stepped on the court.

Erickson also played baseball and volleyball at UCLA, and Wooden once called him the finest athlete he had ever coached. His athleticism suited the Bruins’ stifling 2-2-1 zone press, which helped the team go on decisive scoring runs every game. Erickson said the Bruins expected those runs, and it was only a matter of time before they pulled away.

Erickson became close to his coach after he won the first two of Wooden’s many championships.

“We’ve been friends all these years,” he said. “And I relish the times when I could go out and spend time with him at his little place, just the two of us, just talking about our families.”