USC Coach Turns Down Lakers' Offer

"Who Wants a Dumb Artist Around Who Can't Even Keep Out of Trouble?"

The Lakers offered their coaching job to a very successful college coach who wouldn't even have to relocate. No, not John Wooden. USC Coach Bob Boyd turned down the job after meeting with owner Jack Kent Cooke and general manager Fred Schaus. "We expect to have an improved team next winter and should be representative in the Pacific-8 Conference," Boyd told The Times' Mal Florence. Boyd might have been overshadowed by Wooden but he was an outstanding basketball coach. USC was 216-131 during his tenure from 1967-79. Who knows how well the Trojans would have fared in the NCAA tournament if more than one team per conference had been able to advance, as is the case today. So the Lakers' search went on. Boyd apparently preferred facing the Bruins rather than the Celtics. --Keith Thursby

The Fabulous Forum

Los Angeles Times file photo Nov. 21, 1968: Chick Hearn in a Forum luxury box.

Art Rogers / Los Angeles Times Dec. 31, 1967: Usherette Patricia Sanderling wears a "mini toga" at the new Forum. The Times ran a long story by Bob Oates questioning whether Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke was planning to sell the Forum, the Lakers and the Kings. I remember the Forum as an exotic place, far from home after a long jaunt down the 405, where the Lakers of Wilt, Jerry and Elgin played. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen--a little bit of Vegas glitz to my 12-year-old eyes. So Oates' description of the Forum caught my interest and stirred some memories: "The lobbies are a bit small, the concession stands few, the hallways narrow, it is said to be a costly building to operate and the ice machine hasn't always worked. The negatives, however, are overmatched by the Forum's plus factors--the touches of Cooke: the colorful carpeting, the theater environment, the short-skirted usherettes, the neat directional signs." Cooke, of course, eventually did sell it all and the Lakers and Kings moved to Staples Center. --Keith Thursby

Teacher Puts the Broom to Process Server in Communist Probe; Meet Wilt Chamberlain

"Terry, What's Wrong?"

Police have few leads in the beating of boxing promoter Jackie Leonard, who was left partially paralyzed. Leonard had testified before the State Athletic Commission on corruption in prizefighting. Kindergarten teacher Ruth Adair Bishop, 54, whacks Grant P. Lewis with a broom when he tries to subpoena her to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. A B-24 Liberator that vanished on a bombing run on Naples, Italy, on April 4, 1943, is found in the Libyan desert with no sign of its crew: 1st Lt. William J. Hatton; 2nd Lt. Robert F. Toner; 2nd Lt. D.P. Hays; 2nd Lt. John S. Woravak; Tech. Sgt. Harold S. Rispslinger; Tech. Sgt. Robert E. La Montte; Staff Sgt. Guy E. Shelley; Staff Sgt. Vernon L. Ford; and Staff Sgt. Samuel R. Adams.

Our favorite Pasadena gun shop has muzzle-loading shotguns. I can't imagine there was much demand for them, but maybe they looked good hung on a wall. Jews prepare to observe Shavuos. Frank Finch says Walter O'Malley didn't bring the Coliseum fence close enough.

Dick Shawn, best known today as L.S.D. in "The Producers," performs at the Cocoanut Grove. Akron has Hakata figures.   The women's club convention takes on a controversial subject: portrayal of women in American culture. Unfortunately, our story is vaguely written and incomplete. Mrs. Walter Magee contended that the " 'loss of such a priceless possession' (respect for women) results from mass media downgrading of woman through overemphasis on bodily measurements and presentation of lower moral standards of conduct." It difficult to be sure, but the resolution evidently called for some sort of boycott, which was strongly opposed by California delegates because the movie industry was a strong supporter of the women's clubs federation. The resolution was amended to remove the call for a boycott. Vincent Price delivers the closing speech!

Long before he became a Laker, Wilt Chamberlain was part on Los Angeles history. Chamberlain would be part of the first NBA game played in the new Sports Arena Oct. 1. His Philadelphia Warriors would play the St. Louis Hawks in an exhibition game to help open the arena. It would not be Chamberlain's first pro appearance in L.A. He played a game with the Harlem Globetrotters. --Keith Thursby

Lakers Looking for New Coach?

Stories about coaches being hired or fired are tricky. If things aren't finalized, there's every reason for caution. So it's not unusual to read a story that says a team is close to hiring a coach or is expected to fire a coach. This story about the Lakers' search for a new coach was a little different. Bill Sharman, the coach of the ABA's Los Angeles Stars, was expected to be named the Lakers' new coach, according to sources. What's weird abut Mal Florence's story was the quote from Sharman: "I keep hearing things through the back door. But I've had no contact with the Lakers--anyway nothing direct." You don't often have the potential coach go on the record like that. Maybe Sharman was campaigning for the job, or perhaps he was that close to being hired. Sharman eventually got the job, but had to wait a couple more seasons. He went with the Stars when the franchise moved to Utah and they won the ABA title in 1970-71. The next season he was back in L.A. and led the Lakers to an NBA title. Makes one wonder if the Lakers missed a chance for a couple more championships. --Keith Thursby

U.S. Calls for Release of POWs; Lakers' Coach Quits, May 20, 1969

Richard Nixon and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu agree to meet. View this page

The soap opera that was the 1968-69 Lakers had at least one more teary chapter. Butch Van Breda Kolff resigned, headed to Detroit after two seasons as coach of the Lakers. His decision "for the best interest of all concerned" came after the Lakers blew a 2-0 lead in the finals to the Boston Celtics, losing in seven games. The Times' Dan Hafner left no doubt why the coach was leaving: "Apparently Van Breda Kolff's days were numbered from the day the club acquired [Wilt] Chamberlain from Philadelphia." Player and coach didn't get along, and when that happens the coach almost always loses. Speaking of  Wilt, he was called out by the Celtics' player-coach, Bill Russell, for leaving Game 7 with an injured knee. Van Breda Kolff wouldn't put him back in, saying later that the Lakers were "doing well without him." Russell said in a May 22 story, "Any injury short of a broken leg or back isn't good enough." Wilt's response, a day later: "He is a man and I suppose subject therefore to his own opinion. Why he has chosen to enlighten the world with it, only he knows." :: Tony Conigliaro was getting letters, not about baseball, but about his love life. "Here's one from a 75-year-old woman," he said to The Times' Ross Newhan. "She writes: 'How an innocent boy like you can get mixed up with somebody like her I don't know. I don't like the idea of you marrying her.' " Conigliaro, the dashing young right fielder of the Boston Red Sox, had fallen victim to a familiar Southern California curse. He was dating an actress. Mamie Van Doren's name and photo had been in sports stories before, as the girlfriend of boxer Art Aragon and pitcher Bo Belinsky. She had married and divorced a minor league pitcher, Lee Meyers.   Newhan wrote: "Conigliaro shook his head and said, "Most of the letters are sad ... you know, from 16-year-old girls who just don't want me to get married." Conigliaro's life had enough subplots for a movie. He was one of baseball's brightest young stars when he was beaned by the Angels' Jack Hamilton in 1967. His injuries included a fractured cheekbone. He missed all of 1968 but fought his way back into Boston's lineup. He hit  20 home runs in 1969, then 36 in 1970. His reward was a trade to the Angels, of all teams. It was a disaster. He played only 74 games and hit only four home runs, retiring in a bizarre early-morning news conference in Oakland after a 20-inning, 1-0 loss. Newhan's story in 1969 included assurances from Conigliaro that his vision was OK, but he described things very differently in 1971. "When the pitcher holds the ball, I can't see his hand or the ball. I pick up the spin on the ball late by looking away, to the side, I don't know how I do it. I kept it away from the Red Sox," he said. There was one more comeback in 1975. But he hit only .123 in 21 games. Conigliaro suffered a massive heart attack in 1982 and died in 1990. Newhan's story ended with a discussion of romance and dating amid a batting slump. "I'm tired," said Conigliaro. "I'm under a strain. I'm not going to have another date for a long time." He was asked to define a long time. He smiled and said: "About a day." -- Keith Thursby

The Latest Fashions; Dodgers vs. Angels? May 7, 1969

OK, ladies, fess up. How many of you dressed like this? The scarf on the arm thing is really intriguing--what kept it up? And those glasses! But to be honest, I usually enjoy the bold, dramatic artwork in the fashion ads, which gave the pages some style and elegance.

The Dodgers turned down a request from the Angels to extend the Freeway Series into the regular season. We're not talking about interleague play -- just a long-delayed spring training game. The Angels wanted to finish their exhibition series on an off day for both teams. You can't blame them for trying -- the Angels were 6-1 against the Dodgers since they began playing each other in spring training. The teams had each won a game in 1969, with the third game rained out. You know the regular season is going badly when you're trying to line up a meaningless exhibition. Dodgers Vice President Red Patterson wired Angels General Manager Dick Walsh to decline (this was long before the two executives could Twitter each other). Patterson said the Dodgers would want to use one of their starting pitchers against the Angels, and "with our club shooting for a division championship, breaking into the regular rotation would not seem too wise." Ouch. -- Keith Thursby

Times Wins Two Pulitzers; Lakers Lose, May 6, 1969

Above, the edition of The Times that most people received at home. A team headed by George Reasons, with Art Berman, Gene Blake, Robert L. Jackson and Ed Meagher wins a Pulitzer for a series on government corruption. Bill Tuohy wins a Pulitzer for coverage of the Vietnam War. This is the "Mosey" edition, nicknamed for the news editor, that The Times put together for late street sales. These appear in the collections of Times' front pages because they have huge headlines--but they don't represent what the paper actually looked like.

The Boston Celtics won the deciding game of the NBA Finals, depriving the Lakers of a title they believed they finally would win. Otherwise, how do you explain the balloons? In one of the oddest footnotes in modern professional sports, the Forum's rafters were filled with balloons that would be released when the Lakers won. "They might remain in their roost for some time to come," Mal Florence wrote in The Times after watching Boston's 108-106 victory. There were plots and subplots galore. --The Lakers were built around three superstars, with Jerry West leading the way despite an injured leg. He was named the final's most valuable player and got a car instead of a championship. --Wilt Chamberlain injured his knee and left the game with about five minutes to play just as the Lakers were cutting into the Celtics' lead. --Chamberlain wanted to get back in the game but was kept on the bench by Coach Butch van Breda Kolff: "I told him that we were doing well enough without him." The Lakers and van Breda Kolff would soon part company. --Former Laker Don Nelson gave Boston a three-point lead with about a minute left when his shot from the free-throw line "as luck or fate would have it ... hit the front rim, bounced high into the air and then settled into the net," Florence wrote. --West scored 42 points but took only one shot in the last four minutes. --Parts of the game were far from pretty. Several players were in foul trouble and the Lakers missed 15 consecutive shots during one part of the third quarter. You could feel the disappointment in The Times' coverage. Here's my favorite lead, from Chuck Garrity: "The colorful balloons hung there in the dark rafters of the Forum. ... The USC Trojan band, hired to march around blaring "Happy Days are Here Again" quietly tucked their instruments back into their cases. ... The Lakers were non-champions of the world of professional basketball again." --Keith Thursby The fourth quarter of Game 7 has survived on Youtube. Here's a section where the Lakers rally and Chamberlain hurts his knee.

Lakers Lose to Celtics, May 4, 1969

The NBA Finals had become an endurance test. The Celtics won Game 6, 99-90, at the Boston Garden to force a final deciding game back in Calfornia. Jerry West played despite a pulled hamstring and scored 26 points, which was 13 under his average for the series. "You want to come up with the greatest performance in your life in the championship test but you're now in the 100th game and the body is weakening," Boston's John Havlicek said. "It's just a case that the body can take only so much." West said the Lakers would have won if "I could have played a normal game." Boston's player-coach Bill Russell didn't think West was limited because of the injury, a remark that might have been in jest but was pounced on the following day by Times columnist John Hall: "The Celtics may very well win it all once again in the grand finale tonight in the Forum, and it is to their credit that they have hung in there again against the odds, but they should be thanking whatever lucky stars or planets one thanks that a freak muscle pull in the final meaningless minutes of a fifth game that was already iced did more to maintain their tradition than all the cigars in Red Auerbach's many mouths." --Keith Thursby [Hey Keith--look at the ad on the runover! Learn how to raise chinchillas in the privacy of your own home!--lrh]

GOP Senator Calls for Troop Withdrawal, NBA Championships Blacked Out in L.A., May 3, 1969

Let's keep Pepperland neat and tidy!

"The belief that drugs are a bigger problem in the suburbs than the ghetto is just a myth. At a school a kid can get anything he wants in 30 minutes." At left, a standard Times layout with the index between two "corner stories" at the bottom of the page. Of the nine stories on the cover, four are from the wires and two are "exclusive to The Times from the Washington Post." Only three have staff bylines. It's interesting that we led with a religion package: Two stories about taxing churches and one on Pope Paul VI implementing changes from Vatican II. Women will no longer have to keep their heads covered in church.  In other news, relations are strained between the Nixon administration and Republican governors ...  Nixon proposes new regulations on mailing pornography ... and military recruiters are barred from Occidental College.

Above, a familiar name: Leon Panetta, head of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare under Nixon. The agency funds Antioch college despite its black studies program, which bars whites. No whites have ever applied to the program, Panetta says. Mayor Sam Yorty, quoting a Herald Examiner story about Gus Hall, says commies are supporting challenger Tom Bradley.

Captured on film: Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company singing "Ball and Chain"  at the Monterey Pop Festival.   An odd, cryptic ad for KFWB. I sure don't get it, but maybe I'm just slow.

The Lakers didn't get much of a reception at three local theaters. Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Celtics was shown via closed-circuit television and The Times' Ray Loynd called the production "bleary, smeary and forever tinged with a pale blue." "The conclusion is that closed-circuit television has not progressed in the last 15 years. ... Contrast was poor with the Laker players, in their Forum yellow, racing around like bleached apparitions," Loynd wrote. The games were blacked out locally so the only other option was listening to Chick Hearn ... who probably sounded crystal clear. --Keith Thursby

Lakers Beat Celtics, Sutton Pitches a Gem for Dodgers, May 2, 1969

Don Sutton's throwing style, as portrayed by Times artist Russ Arasmith.

Don Sutton capped off two consecutive nights of extraordinary pitching in the cold of Candlestick Park. Sutton one-hit the Giants, giving up only a shot off the left-field fence by Jim Davenport in the eighth inning. The previous night, the Giants' Juan Marichal pitched a two-hitter. Bill Singer had one of the two Dodger hits. There was some controversy in Sutton's game. In the eighth, Willie McCovey hit a grounder to second that Ted Sizemore knocked down. His throw was late and the play was ruled an error. Then things got interesting. Here's Dan Hafner's account in The Times: "McCovey glared at the press box when the call was flashed on the scoreboard, then after the inning, he telephoned to file a protest."   Marichal's victory might have been wind-aided. Hafner wrote: "The winds, which often reach hurricane proportions, were in full swing. ... San Francisco fans make a production of attending night ballgames at this park, which largely due to the high winds, is almost worn out. "Most of them bring heavy blankets and wear long underwear. Others carry thermos bottles filled with something stronger than coffee." Marichal said he couldn't remember the weather so tough and revealed his secret to surviving the winds: "The only thing you can do is put hot stuff on your body." :: Jerry West pulled a hamstring late in the Lakers' 117-104 victory over the Celtics in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at the Forum. The victory gave the Lakers a 3-2 lead in the series, but West's injury and uncertain status gave the Lakers very little reason to celebrate. West had another big offensive game with 39 points, 28 of which came in the second half. But he took himself out with 2:20 remaining. West had missed 21 games during the regular season with a pulled hamstring in his right leg. He hurt his left leg in Game 5. Boston's John Havlicek said the Celtics weren't thinking about West's availability for Game 6 in Boston: "He's been hurt before in big games and he's always come back." The Lakers weren't so sure. Here's how The Times' Jeff Prugh described Wilt Chamberlain's mood: "And what if West is sidelined? Can the Lakers sustain their momentum without him? Chamberlain answered without any hesitation. 'I don't think so,' he said." --Keith Thursby