SCP Auctions is proud to present one of the most important pieces of basketball history ever offered at public auction, The Original (1965-82) UCLA Pauley Pavilion Center Court Section (Jump Circle). Measuring 12 feet in diameter, this original round section of the Pauley Pavilion court was ground zero for one of the greatest dynasties in all of sports for 17 seasons. Home to Bruin athletic teams since 1965, the original court was the home of nine NCAA Men’s National Championship teams and UCLA’s first Women’s NCAA National Championship team in 1978.
Pauley Pavilion saw its first basketball game played on November 27, 1965. The scrimmage saw the Bruin varsity team, led by guard Mike Warren, lose to an amazing freshman squad featuring (then) Lew Alcindor, who came to UCLA in large part due to the construction of a new arena. In the decades that followed, some of the top names in the history of college basketball, such as Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Bill Walton, Ed O’Bannon, Sidney Wicks, Marques Johnson, Reggie Miller, Baron Davis, Ann Meyers, Denise Curry and Pete Maravich and coaches such as John Wooden, Dean Smith and Denny Crum have graced the court at Pauley. Nothing enhanced Pauley’s reputation as perhaps the nation’s most famous collegiate sporting facility more than the tenure of legendary coach John Wooden. “The Wizard of Westwood” as Wooden was known, built an incomparable basketball dynasty at UCLA against which all others are compared, and usually pale. His teams at U.C.L.A. won 10 national championships (nine on this original court) in a 12-season stretch from 1964 to 1975. From 1971 to 1974, U.C.L.A. won 88 consecutive games, still the N.C.A.A. record. Four of Wooden’s teams finished with 30-0 records, including his first championship team, which featured no starters taller than 6 feet 5 inches. Three of his other championship teams were anchored by the 7-foot-2 center Lew Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Two others were led by center Bill Walton, a three-time national player of the year.
The original jump circle offered by SCP Auctions remained in Pauley from its opening in 1965 until its replacement in May of 1982. During those 17 seasons, the most memorable events in UCLA basketball history, and some of the greatest records in NCAA sports were set. These include:
• Nine of ten of UCLA’s NCAA championship seasons under Coach John Wooden including seven consecutive (1966-73)
• A combined record of 148 wins to only 2 losses under Coach Wooden
• A stretch of 98 straight home victories for UCLA men’s basketball
• John Wooden’s last coaching appearance at home on March 1, 1975
• UCLA’s first Women’s national basketball championship in 1978
Since its replacement in 1982, the original Pauley Pavilion jump circle has been carefully preserved in storage. In 1998, it was brought out as the centerpiece for an event held in Pauley Pavilion, attended by Coach Wooden and dozens of former UCLA greats, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Sidney Wicks and Walt Hazzard. Coach Wooden and each of the players in attendance signed the original jump circle, knowing that it would be later be sold at auction. A large portion of the proceeds from the sale are dedicated to funding medical research.
