Page 199 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Make Greatness Attainable by All
When UCLA decided to retire the numbers of Bill Walton and 181
Lewis Alcindor, Jr.—numbers 32 and 33, respectively—I strongly
objected and joined the ceremony at Pauley Pavilion only as a cour-
tesy to my former players. It would have been an insult to them to
do otherwise. But, I was against it. They both understood why I
felt the way I did, in part because they were consummate team
players.
Both Lewis and Bill always put the team ahead of personal glory.
Certainly there is no question about the contribution each one of
them made to his respective team. But others also wore those same
numbers and contributed to their own teams, working hard to give
everything they had for the welfare of UCLA basketball. Others
achieved personal greatness wearing numbers 32 and 33. All those
other players, in contributing to their fullest capacity, achieved per-
sonal and competitive greatness just as Bill and Lewis did.
For example, Steve Patterson played at center on two UCLA na-
tional championship teams in 1970 and 1971. He wore number
32, just before Bill Walton was assigned that number as a varsity
player in 1972. How could number 32 eventually become Bill’s ex-
clusive property?
Likewise, Lewis’s number 33 was worn previously by Willie
Naulls, who was a UCLA All-American in 1956. Nolan Johnson was
not an All-American, but he wore number 33 the following year.
The number on a uniform always belongs to the team, never to
an individual, just as all glory belongs to the team, not the coach,
not the player. I sought to build a team of individuals, each seek-
ing greatness in his own role—big and small—in whatever way it
best served the team. I clearly stated in my teaching how this goal
is accomplished: “In whatever role I assign you, accept and execute
your responsibilities to the very best of your ability.”
Whether a player served as a nonstarter or was a star, I called on
him to seek his own potential. For an organization to succeed, all