Elvin Hayes

Sport: Basketball

Induction Year: 1988

Induction Year: 1988

Jan. 20, 1968, was a special night in college basketball history. The defending national champion UCLA Bruins, led by Lew Alcindor, were bringing their 47-game winning streak deep into the hear of Texas for a match up with the University of Houston in the Astrodome.

The dream match up of the top two teams in the wire service polls attracted a crowd of 52,693 spectators—the largest crowd ever to watch a basketball game in the United States at that time.

Like John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins, the Houston Cougars were on a roll. Led by 6-9 Elvin Hayes of Rayville, La Coach Guy Lewis’ team had reeled off 17 consecutive victories since bowing to UCLA in the semifinals of the 1967 Final Four, and had a 48-game home court winning streak.

Actually, UCLA was more familiar with the court. Since the Astrodome did not have a basketball court, the Los Angeles Sport Areana hardwood was shipped to Houston at a cost of $10,000. A circus atmosphere prevailed for the nationally televised game and media types from coast to coast descended on Houston to cover what was billed as the “Game of the Decade”.

Alcindor had suffered an eye injury in a game with California and sat out the two previous games. He stayed in bed part of the week and the inactivity obviously affected his play. He hit only four of 18 shots.

Hayes was unstoppable. Although he scored 29 points in the first half, the Cougars’ lead was only three points at the intermission. UCLA double-teamed Hayes in the second half and battled back to tie the score several times in the final minutes of play. But two free throws by Hayes with 28 seconds remaining provided the winning margin in the Cougars’ 71-69 victory.

Lewis called the first-half performance of Hayes, who had 30 points in the game, “the greatest I’ve ever seen in college basketball.” In a subdued UCLA dressing room, Wooden praised the Houston star—but stopped short of calling him the greatest. “As a matter of fact,” he said, “I wouldn’t trade Alcindor for two Hayeses.”

The UCLA players knew they would get a rematch—in Los Angeles, the site of the 1968 Final Four.

Playing only seven games on the road, Houston averaged 97.8 points per game against a soft schedule that included such patsies as 3-23 Centenary (twice), Lamar Tech, Sacramento State, Valparaiso and Texas-Arlington. In two consecutive games, Hayes scored 62 points in a national record-breaking 158-81 rout of Valparaiso and the Cougars drilled Texas-Arlington 130-75. They broke the century mark in their last 11 regular-season games, but went 0-2 in the Final Four as UCLA held Hayes to 10 points in winning the rematch 101-69 and Ohio Stat beat the Cougars 89-85 in the third-place game.

With voting in the wire service polls completed before the playoffs, Houston was ranked No. 1 by both Associated Press and United Press International—and Hayes was selected Player of the Year over Alcindor. But neither led the nation in scoring. A couple of sophomores, Pete Maravich of LSU and Calvin Murphy of Niagara, were the scoring leaders with 43.8 and 38.2 per-game averages, respectively.

A year later, Hayes led the National Basketball Association in scoring as a rookie with the San Diego Rockets. He averaged 28.4 points and 17.1 rebounds (fourth in the league), leading his club into the playoffs in the second year of its existence.

A year later, Hayes’ average slipped to 27.5 as he finished third behind the Lakers’ Jerry West and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Alcindor (who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). But “Big E” led the league in rebounding with 16.9 per game.

In 16 pro season, he played in 12 All-Stars games and was selected All-NBA six times. But the highlight came in 1978, when Hayes led the Washington Bullets to the NBA title.

When he retired with 27,313 points and 16.279 rebounds in 1.303 NBA games, he ranked third in career scoring and held three league records. At the age of 38, he had one more goal to achieve. All five of his brothers and sisters had college degrees, but “Big E” hadn’t completed his college education.

“The baby of the family didn’t want to be the only one left out,” he said. “It was something I had to do, because I told myself: If you don’t do this, there will be other things in life you’ll start and you won’t finish them, either.”

When he received his degree in speech and recreation in 1985, Hayes called it the most important accomplishment in his life. “It made me a total person,” he said, “not just a basketball player.”