Former East LA, UCLA Player Inducted into CCCMBCA Hall of Fame

After graduating from Washington High School in 1947, Jerry Norman enrolled at East Los Angeles. It took just one year for Norman to catch the eye of legendary coach John Wooden. It helped that Norman led the Metropolitan Conference in scoring, earning first-team All-Southern California Junior College.

He accepted UCLA’s scholarship at the urging of Eddie Sheldrake, his best friend and a former Washington High teammate, who was playing at UCLA.

Turned out to be a smart decision. Not so much for what he did on the floor, but off the court.

As a player, Norman played in 84 games over three seasons. As a senior (1952), Norman, a co-captain, averaged 9.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in 32 games. He helped the Bruins advance to the NCAA Tournament in 1950 and 1952.

In 1959, after 3½ years in the Navy and coaching at West Covina High, where Wooden's brother was the principal, Norman rejoined Wooden at UCLA. Wooden asked him to moonlight as the coach of the freshman basketball team, and Norman compiled a 94–22 record in six seasons while successfully employing a zone press. In July 1959, Norman became a varsity assistant. He went on to become the Bruins’ top recruiter, helping the program expand its recruiting radius from local to nationwide. He also introduced a pressuring zone press defense which was instrumental to their first two national championships.

He recruited 15 players who would be enshrined in the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame, including two players enshrined in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Gail Goodrich. After becoming Wooden's top assistant, Norman encouraged UCLA athletic director J. D. Morgan to expand the recruiting budget and extend their recruiting from California to nationwide. Previously, Wooden had a limited budget and was satisfied with landing players locally. Under Norman, UCLA's recruits included Alcindor from New York, Walt Hazzard from Philadelphia, and Lucius Allen from Kansas.

He was also instrumental in UCLA’s 2–2–1 full-court zone press, which quickened the pace of the game and was influential in the first two national titles won by the Bruins, who were undersized. UCLA claimed their fourth national title in five seasons. In his final season, where UCLA won its fourth national championship, Norman devised a diamond-and-one defense that the Bruins used to contain Houston’s Elvin Hayes, who was averaging 37.7 points per game but was held to only 10 in the NCAA tournament semifinals.

He retired later than year from coaching in order to enter the much more “lucrative financial industry” where he reportedly became a millionaire. In 1986, Norman was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame.

“After all these years, I am honored,” he said. “Am flattered to receive this tremendous honor and thank the California Community Colleges Men’s Basketball Coaches Association for it. East LA College was a great experience. It allowed me the time and opportunity to mature and develop my basketball skills which led to a scholarship at UCLA.”