This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 89: Fred Dryer, Los Angeles Rams Ron Brown, Los Angeles Rams Charles Young, USC football
The not so obvious choice for No. 89: Jack Bighead, Pepperdine football Bobby Jenks, Los Angeles Angels The most interesting story for No. 89: Fred Dryer: Los Angeles Rams defensive end (1972 to 1981) via Lawndale High and El Camino College Southern California map pinpoints: Hawthorne, Lawndale, Torrance, L.A. Coliseum, Long Beach, Hollywood
The Rams’ Fred Dryer started prepping for his post-career acting role with appearances like this on ABC’s “Monday Night Football” in 1979 against the Dallas Cowboys. (ABC via Getty Images)
Whatever version of Fred Dryer first comes to mind — the swift-moving Los Angeles Rams’ defensive end sideswiping an offensive tackle en rout to hunting down another quarterback, or a guy named “Hunter,” a fearless LAPD private who bent the rules when necessary as a TV character — there was always that underpinning of “Dirty Harry” in motion.
Dryer had a job and a duty to perform it. In both cases. Vengeance could be a motivational tactic. He cleaned up messes, no matter how dirty or harry it became.
A day in court never seemed to bother him, either. Justice had to be serviced, whether Dryer was pushing back on a contract dispute as either a professional athlete or a popular thespian. Dryer pulled those levers of justice, his modus operandi, with or without a legal need to produce a habeas corpus.
There was a point at the height of his TV fame, almost a decade since the official end of his NFL career, when Dryer found himself in a huddle of entertainment industry writers. They soft-tossed him questions about how, as he was about to turn 42, he best self-identified at this point in his life.
“As the hard-boiled Rick Hunter, a Los Angeles homicide detective, Dryer projects an image that combines Steve McQueen’s rough sexiness with Clint Eastwood’s stoic demeanor. And Hunter shows just about as much respect for his suspects Constitutional rights as Eastwood’s Dirty Harry does.
“Dryer has a theory about why his acting career took off when so many of his colleagues’ fizzled.
“ ‘Most athletes fail at it because they don`t understand that when you come from a success in another area like sports, you have to leave the sports world behind. You have to kill the guy that made you a sports star and start over completely.
“Fred Dryer, football player, is dead. I put him away and started with this other guy.
“That means you don’t bring the ego you had in football with you. Without mentioning names, I see ex-football players who are just not willing to let go of (their athlete image), because if they lose that, who are they? You have to let go of your past before you gain something else.”
Dryer was just staying in character. And considering he almost had the role of Sam Malone when the iconic TV series “Cheers” launched years earlier, the thought of hanging around a bar known as an ex-jock just wasn’t his idea of being pro active.
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 68: = Keith Van Horn, USC football = Mike McKeever, USC football = Frank Cornish, UCLA football = Ross Stripling, Los Angeles Dodgers
The most obvious choices for No. 86: = Marlin McKeever, USC football, Los Angeles Rams = Jack Bighead, Pepperdine football; Los Angeles Rams
The most interesting story for No. 68 and No. 86: = Mike McKeever, USC football offensive and defensive guard (1957 to 1960) = Marlin McKeever, USC football offensive and defensive end / fullback / punter (1957 to 1960); Los Angeles Rams tight end / linebacker (1961 to 1966, 1971 to 1972).
Southern California map pinpoints: South Los Angeles, the Coliseum, Montebello, Long Beach
You betcha, the way Marlin and Mike McKeever’s lives started made for a nifty ice breaker when Groucho Marx had them on his TV show in March of 1961.
So it was during a blizzard on New Year’s Day 1940, on the plains in Cheyenne, Wyoming, when Marlin arrived first. Mike followed 10 minutes later.
The thing is, their parents were told by the doctor to only expect a girl. Just one at that.
“They already named her — Mary Ann I believe,” Mike told Groucho with a chuckle as he and Marlin, along with their new brides, Judy and Susie, made to NBC Studios in Hollywood for a filming of what was then called “The Groucho Show,” an offshoot of the more famous title “You Bet Your Life.”
Their days as USC All-American football giants had just ended. When the 1960 season ended, they had a double wedding ceremony at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in L.A., just blocks away from the USC campus. Later that month, they were drafted by the Los Angeles Rams.
Groucho Marx took a puff of his cigar, sized up the pair of crew-cut, 6-foot-1 and 225-pounders, and remarked: “Imagine getting all set for a baby girl named Mary Ann and suddenly these two show up.”
Groucho was fascinated with how their parents distinguished the two. Marlin said it was by writing their names in Mercurochrome on their stomachs.
“How do you know they weren’t confused?” Groucho asked. “How do you know they didn’t paint the wrong name?”
Mike spoke up: “I’ve thought about that — it’s pretty depressing so I don’t think about it too much.”
Added Marlin: “He can’t think too much, that’s the problem.”
Suddenly, they were the Smothers Brothers.
As Marlin’s wife Susie listed all the twins’ list of achievements at USC, Groucho had to ask: “Well how do you know all this?”
“I kept a scrapbook,” she replied.
A stuffed duck looking like Grouch dropped down from the ceiling to fanfare. She had said the secret word — book. When George Fenneman doled $50 each to the men, to split the $100 prize, they handed it over to their wives.
They were, after all, Academic All-Americans too.
The background
From a Life magazine 1959 profile on the McKeever twins at USC.
The all-boys Catholic school took over 70th Street between Hoover and Vermont, just 20 years old at the time. The Carmelite Order that would later found Crespi High in Encino made sports an integral part of its curriculum to attract students.
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 71:
= Brad Budde: USC football = Tony Boselli: USC football = Kris Farris: UCLA football = Joe Schibelli: Los Angeles Rams
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 71: = John Ferraro: USC football = Randy Meadows: Downey High football
The most interesting story for No. 71: John Ferraro:USC football offensive lineman (1943-1944, 1946-1947) Southern California map pinpoints: Cudahy, L.A. Coliseum, Los Angeles City Hall
The cover of the 1946 Street & Smith’s Football Pictorial Yearbook asks readers to spend a quarter of a dollar for its preview the upcoming college football season. On this “national gridiron review,” John Ferraro offers a million-dollar glare.
The only hint on the cover that it’s him comes from a small caption off his right shoulder that reads “FERRARO U.S.C.” In the table of contents, his full name appears along with the photographer who took the special Kodachrome shot.
Ferraro had earned attention as a USC All-American tackle in ’43 and ’44. Now he was coming back to play after military duty during World War II in 1945. There were others to consider for the preview cover — Army’s Glenn Davis, “Mr. Outside” out of Bonita High in La Verne who had finished second in the Heisman Trophy in ’44 and ’45 would finally win it outright in ’46. Teammate Doc Blanchard, “Mr. Inside,” who won the Heisman award in ’45, and would finish fourth in ’46.
But the publishers picked Ferraro. Kodachome had that affect, apparently. And maybe the regional interest.
“If any tackle in this land of ours has ever played better ball, he must be Superman and Hercules rolled into one,” Braven Dyer bravely wrote for Los Angeles Times in 1944 after Ferraro pushed the Trojans to a 28-21 victory at the Coliseum over the San Diego Naval Training Station Bluejackets. “When Big John goes to work, he’s dynamite.”
That was part of the journalism superlative use in that time, and at the Times.
But the part that holds true today: If any Los Angeles civic leader is tenacious enough to accomplish something for the good of the town, he or she could be measured up to John Ferraro, a Rose Bowl legend and U.S. Navy vet rolled into one, and the one who started the heritage of USC standout linemen sporting the No. 71.
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 1: = Rod Dedeaux: USC baseball = Pee Wee Reese: Los Angeles Dodgers = James Harden: Los Angeles Clippers = Jordan Farmar: Taft High School, UCLA basketball, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers = Dorian Thompson-Robinson: UCLA football = Mike Williams: USC football
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 1: = Dot Richardson: UCLA softball = Jonas Hiller: Anaheim Ducks = Dusty Dvorak: USC men’s volleyball = D’Angelo Russell: Los Angeles Lakers
The most interesting story for No. 1: Rod Dedeaux: USC baseball coach (1950 to 1986) via Hollywood High Southern California map pinpoints: Hollywood; downtown Los Angeles (USC); Dodger Stadium
Rod Dedeaux attends the 15th Anniversary DVD release celebration of the film “Field of Dreams” in June, 2004 in West Hollywood. (Photo by Mark Mainz/Getty Images)
Rod Dedeaux navigated the seats behind home plate at Rod Dedeaux Field on the USC campus in 2004, while the Trojans’ game against cross-town rival UCLA continued in the background.
Rod Dedeaux signs autographs for fans after the USC Alumni Baseball game held at Dedeaux Field on November 19, 2005. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
He was the show at that moment. Fans came up to greet the then-90-year-old and see if there was any more wisdom to glean. Dedeaux tried to talk over the the music that a dozen school band members nearby created as it pushed through several versions of the school’s fight song as well as “Conquest.”
Once Dedeaux leaned on his cane – an actual Hillerich & Bradby wooden bat with a curved handle attached to the knob end, one of six that he has all filled with autographs — he could speak with more authority.
“I hate it with a passion,” Dedeaux admitted.
Not the cane, or the music, or how he trying to find a way to spend his retirement years. It was the ear-ringing sound — KLIIIINK! – when cowhide met up with an aluminum bat.
Dedeaux was not into heavy metal.
“I believe baseball should be played outdoors, on natural grass, with no DH and with wood bats,” he continued. “Do you agree? Sometimes I feel like a voice crying in the wilderness.”
The guy who wore No. 1 for five decades heading up a Trojans’ baseball program he once played for, as someone who represented a certain status in the college baseball world, Dedeaux said what needed to be said.
“KLINNNK!” went another ground out.
Listen, if John Wooden was practicing wizardry in Westwood for the good of UCLA and the future of college basketball, Dedeaux could resource his own sorcery in South L.A. to give college baseball its own prominent.
He didn’t speak softly as he wielded a big stick.
Some 20 years after Hollywood High School opened at the turn of the 20th Century, the administration decided it needed a fitting nickname for the sports teams that were now forming on campus.
The Sheiks sounded pretty chic.
It came about because of the 1921 popularity of Rudolph Valentino’s silent film, “The Sheik,” which propelled the so-called “Latin Lover” born in Italy to stardom. Valentino’s portrait would not only be apart of a famous mural among school alumni created on the theater arts building near the corner of Hollywood and Highland, but he would also be illustrated as the official mascot on the side of a building overlooking the school’s football field, letting visitors know they were entering “Sheik Territory.”
Valentino, who died just five years after the film’s release at age 31, adding to his mysterious legend, can’t be called the school’s most famous alum because — look it up — he never went there. At this point in time, he may not even be the most famous resident of the nearby Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland were Hollywood High classmates who graduated a year apart in the late 1930s. Other well-known Hollywood alums include Lon Chaney, John Huston, Fay Wray and Carole Lombard. Later came Lana Turner, Jason Robards, John Ritter, Carol Burnett, Ricky and David Nelson and Sarah Jessica Parker.
From the 1931 Hollywood High School yearbook.
Rod Dedeaux, Class of ‘31 would eventually take center stage as, perhaps, the greatest athletic figure to ever come out of the school.
He was an All L.A. City High baseball selection in 1930 and ’31, and then a three-year letterman at USC as the starting shortstop from ’33 to ’35, earning All-Coast honors and captain of the team as a senior when it won its first conference title.
Casey Stengel, a local Glendale resident who had just finished his 14-year MLB career and was managing the Toledo Mud Hens at that time, had become Dedeaux’s mentor.
Dedeaux had actually skipped out on his USC graduation a few months earlier to join the Brooklyn Dodgers for workouts. He hit .290 at the Dodgers’ Dayton minor-league affiliate. He was called up, according to his SABR.org bio, as he “had been tapped by a struggling Dodgers organization as a prospect to watch.”
Rod Dedeaux, during his playing days at USC. What number did he wear? Maybe nothing.
With Stengel as his Brooklyn manager, Dedeaux produced just one hit during the one game he started at shortstop with the Dodgers, in late September closing out the 1935 season. It was a seventh-inning RBI single against Philadelphia Phillies righthander Hal Kelleher at Ebbets Field. The second game of a double header on a Sunday afternoon, it was called after eight innings because of darkness tied at 4-4.
Coaching and playing for teams such as the Pacific Coast League’s Hollywood Stars, Los Angeles Angels and San Diego Padres after his MLB dreams diminish left Dedeaux available to USC during World War II, as several Trojans coaches were drafted for the cause.
Dedeaux started out sharing the leadership role with Sam Barry starting in 1942 and the arrangement lasted through 1950. The first of Dedeaux’s 11 national titles is with Barry in 1948. Others followed in ’58, ’61 and ’63 – parallel to the Dodgers’ success not far away at Chavez Ravine.
Dedeaux was already wearing his famous No. 1 jersey. Would it be something of a reminder that he only asked for $1 as an annual salary to coach the program? That would make sense.
“I always say everyone gets paid what they’re worth,” Dedeaux explained the arrangement. “I could cash my check on the bus.”
By investing $500 from his signing bonus with the Brooklyn Dodgers into a Chevy pickup, Dedeaux had already lauched a trucking firm in 1938 called DART – Dedeaux Automotive Repair and Transit. He did the delivery routes between his headquarters in City of Commerce and Albuquerque.
The Dedeaux-Stengel relationship would continue. And it would be so strong, word was that when Stengel was winning World Series titles with the New York Yankees in the 1950s, he tried to coax Dedeaux into leaving USC and join his staff so he could groom him as his successor.
“The Yankees were the pinnacle, my dream team,” Dedeaux once said, “but we had a young family, I was still getting the trucking business off the ground and I had loyalty to the people at USC was a difficult decision, but I just didn’t feel I could uproot everything we had started at that point.”
A Rod Dedeaux portrait by a damn fine Texas-based artist, Robert Hurst.
Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley would also admit that Dedeaux was considered as the Dodgers manager job in the mid-1970s, and eventual Walter Alston successor Tommy Lasorda had tried to bring Dedeaux in as his coach.
By then, Dedeaux was in deep with the Trojans. He ran off six more titles from 1968 to 1974, including five in a row. The ’73 title happened because of a notable come-from-behind win in the semifinals against Minnesota and pitcher Dave Winfield, who took a one hitter into the ninth inning with a 7-0 lead.
“And it was quite a testy feud going on,” Dedeaux recalled about that game. “The Minnesota head coach had been ejected. The assistant coach later blamed himself–those were his words in the papers the next day–because they were kind of rubbing it in. There was kind of a verbal barrage going on.
“They were bunting to score more runs. We were telling ‘em, ‘You’ve got to play nine innings, you’re not playing Manitoba Tech, you’re playing the Trojans.’
“And we scored eight runs on ‘em in the bottom of the ninth, all earned. I can almost remember it blow by blow. Creighton Tevlin got an infield hit with one out. There was a key double by Fred Lynn. Richie Dauer got a big hit.
“Everybody had gone home. The place had been packed. Then as they were listening to the radio and started hearing the Trojans were rallying–we were known for our rallies–they started turning around to get back in the park. They said it was the worst traffic jam in Omaha history. People just left their cars where they were and ran into the ballpark.
“They had always booed us back there. We won pretty consistently. What was unbelievable about that was that we got a standing ovation. That was the first time they’d ever clapped for us.
“There were 5,000 people giving us a standing ovation and we said, ‘Man, history has really been made.’ The next day we came out to play the final game and damn it, they booed us! I said, ‘What happened to those 5,000 people?’”
Dedeaux retired in 1986 as the winningest coach in college baseball with 1,322 victories against just 571 losses and 11 ties, one percentage point short of .700.
The proof of the success were the nearly 200 of players who went to the major leagues, including Hall of Famers Tom Seaver and Randy Johnson. It says so on the one and only Topps baseball card made for him as he recruited to coach the U.S. team that played in the 1984 Olympics at Dodger Stadium as a demonstration sport. One of his key players was Trojans first baseman Mark McGwire as the team won a silver medal.
Not to mention one of Dedeaux’s first USC batboys, Sparky Anderson, became a Hall of Fame manager. In the 1979 MLB All-Star Game, four of Dedeaux’s former players were on the rosters – Fred Lynn, Dave Kingman, Roy Smalley and Steve Kemp.
A 2011 book, “Never Make the Same Mistake Once,” holds together Dedeaux’s quips and strategies as a way of setting goals in life that also related to his business, Dedeaux Properties, which Dedeaux expanded to in 2006 based in Santa Monica.
It is now run by his son, Terry Dedeaux, chairman of the Dart Warehouse Corp., who played at USC, as did Dedeaux’s other son, Justin.
Rod Dedeaux had graduated from USC with a bachelor’s degree in business and was president of his Delta Chi fraternity.
A charter member of the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994, Dedeaux is remembered not just by having his name on the Trojans’ baseball park since its 1974 opening — where a no-hitter by USC’s Russ McQueen was thrown on the day it was christened on the corner of Vermont and Jefferson.
A Dedeaux statue was planted outside the entrance in 2014, eight years after his death at age 91. At the base of it is the phrase, “Hi Tigers” – the nickname Dedeaux would address almost everyone he knew to make up for the likelihood that he couldn’t remember their name.
“If you were to look in Rod’s dictionary,” Ron Fairly once said, “I think you’d find several definitions for the word ‘tiger.’ He could compliment you with the way he said it or he could say it in a way that let you know you’d made a mistake.”
Added Tom House, a Trojans player who became an outstanding pitching coach with Texas: “With Rod, everybody’s Tiger, Tiger, Tiger. I can still remember his sayings: ‘If he was good enough to beat a Trojan, he’d be a Trojan.’ And ‘Move those puppies, Tiger'”
No one forgot Dedeaux’s name.
“The very first name, the unanimous pick, the greatest coach in USC history was Rod Dedeaux,” then USC athletic director and former Trojans quarterback Pat Haden said at the statue ceremony.
Jack Del Rio, left, with Rod Dedeaux.
Dedeaux enjoyed bringing players from USC’s other sports onto his diamond – Bill Sharman, Mike Garrett, Willie Brown, Anthony Davis, Anthony Munoz, Jack Del Rio and Rodney Peete. At the time of his death, Dedeaux’s grandson, Adam Dedeaux, was a Trojans freshman first baseman and outfielder.
Of course, Dedeaux couldn’t escape Hollywood. He became the technical director and consultant for “Field of Dreams” and “A League of Their Own,” the later of which involved him judging the talent of actresses who would play roles of Women’s Professional Baseball League players from the 1940s.
When USC announced his passing in a press release, it included some of Dedeaux’s most famous remarks. Such as:
On John Wooden: “I think we have a mutual admiration society. He would send me a personal letter every time we won a championship, and I respected the way his teams played as much as he would let me know how much he respected the way we played. I think character, discipline, attention to details were important to us. Play sloppy and you lose. I never believed what Leo Durocher said about good guys finishing last, and I’m sure Coach Wooden didn’t as well.”
On Casey Stengel: “Many years ago, I figured that Casey had the best brain in baseball. That was long before his success with the Yankees. It was always his philosophy that the ability to teach the game of baseball is the ability to sell it. If you believe that what you’re doing is worthwhile, you’ll succeed … People talked about Stengelese, but I understood every word. Of course, I’d occasionally wonder if there was something wrong with me because I was the only person in our group who did understand.”
On what it takes to be successful: “First, you have to play smart, in baseball and business. If you learn to do things right all the time, it doesn’t matter who you are playing or negotiating with. Secondly, stay loose. When we work, we work hard. But we have fun, too. A little clowning always helps.”
In 2004, Ross Newhan of the Los Angeles Times quoted Tommy Lasorda as saying on the occasion of Dedeaux’s 90th birthday: “The guy is amazing, one of a kind. No matter where we go, he never stops. He always maintains that enthusiasm. When the great Dodger in the sky finally summons him, they should send his body to the Smithsonian.”
Dedeaux and his wife Helen are buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills. That makes more sense and sensibility.
And that way, he could always keep his roots in Hollywood, perhaps even more famous than some of his silver-screen classmates.
Who else wore No. 1 in SoCal sports history? Make a case for:
Lakers guard Jordan Farmar, left, guards Memphis’ Allen Iverson #3 of the Memphis Grizzlies in a Nov., 2009 NBA game at Staples Center. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
Jordan Farmar, Taft High guard (2003 to 2004),UCLA basketball guard (2004-05 to 2005-06), Los Angeles Lakers guard (2009-10 and 2013-14), Los Angeles Clippers guard (2014-15):
Taft High School point guard Jordan Farmar. (Vince Compagnone/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
He put himself on the map scoring 54 points in a game as a high school junior at Taft when he led the school to the L.A. City title as a senior. In scoring more than 2,000 points in just those two seasons, the CIF City Section Player of the Year also made it big at in the McDonald’s High School American game. At UCLA, he became All-Pac 10 averaging 13.3 points in two seasons and leading the Bruins to the 2006 NCAA title game against Florida. Declaring for the NBA draft, his hometown Lakers took him 26th overall and he played on two NBA title teams. Note: He also wore No. 5 for the Lakers from 2006-07 to 2008-09.
Pee Wee Reese, Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop/third baseman (1958):
The Brooklyn Dodgers’ captain, a 10-time NL All Star and eventual Baseball Hall of Famer (voted in 1984, when his No. 1 was retired), made the trip to Los Angeles for one year, a carry-over from 15 previous years in Brooklyn as Jackie Robinson’s cherished teammate. As his new baseball card shows, he wasn’t just playing shortstop, yielding more playing time to Charlie Neal and Don Zimmer, and helping to groom Maury Wills. At 39, Reese hit just .224 in 59 games for the ’58 team. He stayed on in ’59 as a coach, earning a World Series ring, and then got into broadcasting with CBS.
Bill Grabarkewitz, Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop (1969 to 1972), California Angels (1973):
Securing the No. 1 for a short time before it was officially retired, Grabarkewitz said Reese was one of his Brooklyn Dodger favorites growing up and seeing him in the 1956 World Series, and Duke Snider was his first manager in the Dodgers’ organization for the Tri-City (Pasco, Washington) Atoms in the Northwest League. In 1970, Grabarkewitz came up from Triple A five games into the MLB season and hit his first home run — and the team’s first of the season — on April 12 against San Diego and finished with a .429 batting average in April. He was picked as a reserve on the NL All Star team by manager Gil Hodges and he lined a single to left in the 12th inning that led to the legendary Pete Rose-Ray Fosse home-plate collision that gave the NL a 5-4 win. He led the Dodgers in nearly every offensive category—including a team-best 17 homers— but injuries set him back for several seasons. In the 1972 spring training, Grabarkewitz competed with Steve Garvey and Ron Cey for the third base job and its marked the first year in which the franchise put players’ names on uniforms. That gave Grabarkewitz a sense of security: “If the Dodgers go to the expense of putting my name on the back of a uniform, I know darn well they aren’t going to trade me,” he said. Yet, they did.
The ability to have an extra year because of the COVID-19 pandemic allowed DTR to throw for more than 10,000 yards in five seasons and amass 88 touchdowns (against 36 interceptions) with a lifetime quarterback rating of 145.6. He also ran 471 times for 1,826 yards and 28 touchdowns — accounting for more than 100 TDs in his career. Heavily recruited out of Las Vegas, DTR was a two-time, All-Pac-12 second team member. He posted a UCLA record 564 total yards and accounted for seven touchdowns (five passing and two running) in a 67-63 comeback win over Washington State as a sophomore. He also generated 431 yards of total offense in UCLA’s win over USC that year. UCLA had a 24-24 record with him as a starter and he became a fifth-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in the 2023 NFL Draft.
James Harden, Los Angeles Clippers guard (2023-24 to present):
The Clippers worked their way through a three-team trade in November of 2023 with Philadelphia and Oklahoma City involving a mess of draft picks, to save the L.A. born and former Artesia High of Lakewood standout (who wore No. 13) from his latest crash-and-burn with the Sixers. Who had rescued him a couple seasons earlier from Brooklyn. Who had accepted him from Houston, which made made him an All-Star in his first season with them in as a 23-year-old after Oklahoma City thought he was move valuable as a sixth man. The 10-time All Star who led the NBA three times in 3-pointers attempted and made, securing the 2017-18 MVP Award, being a runner-up three times, and being named on the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2022. After the Clippers won their 23rd game over a 30-game stretch, and Harden averaged 16.9 points, 8.4 assists and 4.6 rebounds over that time, he and his beard seem content meshing with Russell Westbrook, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. “I’m here, home,” he said. “We have an opportunity. I want to be able to keep the core together for a few years and I haven’t had those opportunities the last few years. So things are going well and I’m happy.”
D’Angelo Russell, Los Angeles Lakers guard (2015-’16 to ’16-’17, and 2022-’23 to ’24-’25):
The Lakers second overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft out of Ohio State became the youngest player in franchise history to post a 40-point game – against LeBron James and Cleveland in March of 2017. So why was he traded away months later, at age 20? The Lakers apparently weren’t happy with his maturity. So why was he worth bringing back in February 2023, at age 26? The team needed some experienced talent and maybe he was a better fit with James as a teammate. Russell had a career playoff high of 31 points in a Western Conference first-round match up against Memphis in April, ’23. But when the Lakers pulled out a 145-144 double OT win at Golden State on Jan. 27, 2024, secured only after a last-second heave by Steph Curry came up several feet short, Russell, who had a team-high 28 points in the win playing 49 minutes, punted the ball into the stands as it was coming down under the basket. The NBA hit him with a $15,000 fine for that fine move. In December of ’24, the Lakers traded the 28-year-old back to Brooklyn.
Roch Cholowsky, UCLA baseball shortstop (2024 to present): The Gatorade Arizona Baseball Player of the Year in high school gravitated to UCLA when he went undrafted, hit .308 with eight home runs and 33 RBIs as a freshman, and followed that up as a sophomore hitting .367 with 23 homers and 73 RBIs and a conference best .742 slugging percentage with 90 runs scored. His 23 home runs were the most by a Bruin since 2000. In the field, he has committed only seven errors on 297 chances. He was named the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year, its Defensive Player of the Year, was named the Brooks Wallace Award as the NCAA’s top shortstop of 2025, and helped lead UCLA to their first College World Series in 12 years. In the opening game against Murray State, UCLA has runners on first and third with one out in the bottom of the fourth. Cholowsky pulled off a safety squeeze to bring in a run, keeping a rally alive to give UCLA a 6-0 lead in the fifth inning. Bruins coach John Savage said Cholowsky did that on his own. “It’s a baseball play. How can you blame a guy for playing baseball?”
Dot Richardson, UCLA softball shortstop (1982 to 1983): A three-time UCLA MVP and NCAA All-American who helped the Bruins to their first NCAA title in 1982, Richardson became famous for hitting a game-winning home run to secure the U.S. gold medal in the 1996 Olympics. She was also on the 2000 gold medal U.S. team. She was named the NCAA softball player of the decade for the 1980s. The 1983 UCLA All-University Athlete co-winner was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.
Dusty Dvorak, USC men’s volleyball setter (1977 to 1980): A four-time All American named Most Outstanding Player during the NCAA Tournament of 1980, when the Trojans won the title. He won an Olympic gold medal with the 1984 U.S. team and is in the International Volleyball Hall of Fame.
Brad Friedel, UCLA soccer goalkeeper (1990 to 1993): The first-team All-American in 1991 and ’92 won the Hermann Trophy in ’93 as the top collegiate player, three years after leading the team to an NCAA title. He left UCLA early to pursue an international pro career and ended up as the fourth-most capped goal keeper in U.S. national team history.
Efren Herrera, UCLA football (1971 to 1974): The Mexican-born player from La Puente High kicked a game-winning field goal with 20 seconds left to lift UCLA past two-time defending national champion Nebraska in the opening game of the ’72 season. He led the nation in scoring in’74 (84 points) and left the school as the NCAA leader in career points (368), also making 121 of 127 PATs. He was also a star forward on the UCLA men’s soccer team helping them to back-to-back title games in 1972 and ’73.
Jonas Hiller, Anaheim Ducks goalie (2007-08 to 2013-14): On Jan. 25, 2014, when the Ducks and Los Angeles Kings were required to play one of those outdoor “Stadium Series” games at Dodger Stadium, Hiller ended up pitching a 3-0 shutout with 36 saves. It was one of five shutouts he had that season before he left as a free agent to Calgary.
Zachariah Branch, USC football receiver/kick returner (2023 to present): The first true Trojan freshman to make a first-team All-American came as a result of averaging 31 yards a punt return in ’23, and scoring on both a punt and kickoff return. Quite a feat for a 5-foot-10, 175-pounder who can run a 1.44 second 10-yard split as well as bench press 350 pounds.
Have you heard the story
John Jackson, USC football receiver (1986 to 1989); USC baseball outfielder (1986 to 1989):
Inducted in 1989 into the National Football Foundation Scholar-Athletes wing, Jackson was the team leader in receiving (964) in 1989 and named First Team All-Pac-10. He had 163 career catches for 2,109 yards and 17 touchdowns. A two-time Academic All-American, he had a 3.3 GPA in finance. During his time as a USC game radio commentator, he recovered from a massive stroke and has been back doing the broadcasting work. The Bishop Amat High standout was also drafted by the San Francisco Giants out of USC and played five seasons in the minor leagues and also put in four seasons in the NFL with Phoenix and Chicago.
USC’s Mike Williams (1) prepares his teammates to take the field before a game at the Coliseum against UCLA in November, 2003. (Photo by Robert Beck/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Mike Williams, USC football receiver (2002 to 2003): Eighth in the 2003 Heisman voting and first-team All-American, he also completed a touchdown pass to Matt Leinart in the 2004 Rose Bowl. After amassing 2,579 yards and 30 touchdowns in his first two years, Williams made a controversial decision to legally challenge the NCAA rule and declare for the NFL Draft. The NCAA did not allow players to declare NFL eligible until their third year out of high school, but Ohio State suspended running back Maurice Clarett filed the original suit to fight against it. They were allowed to go to the NFL, but an appeal over turned it, and the two were not only ineligible for the draft, but also ineligible for NCAA reinstatement, forcing them to sit the entire 2004 season. Detroit made Williams the 10th overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. After five seasons playing for four teams, including reuniting with USC coach Pete Carroll in Seattle where he made 23 starts, Williams got into coaching at Brentwood School, Locke High and Van Nuys High.
And shuffling two more cards
Aurelio Rodriguez, California Angels third baseman/shortstop (1968 to 1970): He came up with the team as a 19 year old from Mexico in 1967 wearing No. 12, then also No. 47. By the next year, he had No. 1. Before he was eventually traded to the Washington Senators for Ken McMullen in April of 1970, Rodriguez caused a buzz with his 1969 Topps baseball card when it was discovered that the photo of him wasn’t really of him. It was the Angels’ bat boy, Leonard Garcia, who happened to look like Rodríguez. According to Baseball Hall of Fame research: “For years, the 1969 Rodriguez card became a source of debate, with some in the industry claiming that the young third baseman had pulled a prank on Topps. Yet, there was no such evidence to indicate that Rodriguez had done anything nefarious. It is now generally believed that Topps somehow mixed in a photograph of batboy Garcia with the other photos in the Rodriguez file. Topps chose the Garcia photo, not realizing that he was the batboy, and not the Angels’ third baseman. In actuality, the error was somewhat understandable, because Garcia and Rodriguez did share some common facial traits.” This A-Rod never wore No. 1 again in the following 13 seasons, most notably with Detroit, where he got his first and only Gold Glove Award in 1976.
Joe Koppe, Los Angeles Angels infielder (1961 to 1965): Part of the original Angels roster, Koppe was about as average as possible — he had a 2.7 WAR and a .236 lifetime batting average in 578 games (372 wearing an Angels uniform. As his bio says in “The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book”: “If there’s one thing baseball has never been short of it’s wise guys. When was the last time you saw a left-handed shortstop anyway? (See card on the right). Another funny thing that Joe Koppe did was to change his name from Kopchia (which means schlemiel in Serbo-Croation) to Koppe (which means schmuck in Alsace-Lorraintian) so that nobody, even his relatives, knew whether to call him Kopay, Kopee, Cope or Cop. It didn’t matter all that much, of course, since nobody ever had occasion to mention him by name anyway.”
And here’s something you don’t see every day
Or this:
We also have:
Anthony Peeler, Los Angeles Lakers guard (1992-93 to 1995-96) Smush Parker: Los Angeles Lakers guard (2005-06 to 2006-07); Los Angeles Clippers guard (2007-08) Bobby Winkles, California Angels manager (1973 to 1974) Jamie Storr, Los Angeles Kings goalie (1995-96 to 2002-03). Also wore No. 31 in 1994-95 Bengie Molina, Anaheim Angels/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2000 to 2005) Mike Lansford, Los Angeles Rams kicker (1983 to 1990) Gary Edwards, Los Angeles Kings goalie (1971-72 to 1976-77) Mario Lessard, Los Angeles Kings goalie (1978-79 to 1983-84) Jack Campbell, Los Angeles Kings goalie (2016-17 to 2019-20)
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 21:
= Michael Cooper: Los Angeles Lakers = LenDale White: USC football = Eddie Meador: Los Angeles Rams = Wally Joyner: California/Anaheim Angels = Maurice Jones-Drew: UCLA football = Jim Hardy: USC football and Los Angeles Rams
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 21: = Alyssa Thompson: Angel City FC = Zack Greinke: Los Angeles Dodgers = Walker Buehler: Los Angeles Dodgers = Milton Bradley: Los Angeles Dodger
The most interesting stories for No. 21: Eddie Meador: Los Angeles Rams cornerback/free safety (1959 to 1970) Michael Cooper: Los Angeles Lakers guard (1978-79 to 1989-90) Southern California map pinpoints: Los Angeles (Coliseum, Staples Center), Inglewood (Forum), Pasadena
Defend an argument that makes a case for Eddie Meador and Michael Cooper as members of their respective Hall of Fames.
The logic that rolls around in your brain can be like sitting at a blackjack table trying to find a pathway to 21.
Those who knows the stories of Meador with the Los Angeles Rams’ Eddie Meador and with Cooper and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Michael Cooper — two defensive specialists in their craft — might get too defensive when making their cases.
Meador has been in the Pro Football Hall of Fame discussion in more recent years than when he finished 12 seasons with the Rams in 1970, a standout on a team known year after year for its defensive prowess. He has made the Senior Blue-Ribbon Committee initial list for the Class of ’24 and ’25, survived a few cutdowns, but never made it to the final ballot. In October of 2025 he was again on the first-look list of 52 players too be considered for the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026. Meador is among eight defensive backs, making it even more difficult to break free from the crowd.
Cooper, the spindly small forward/shooting guard who stood 6-foot-7 and may have weighed 175 pounds, also played all 12 of his pro seasons in L.A. As a Laker during its Showtime Era, he was matched up specifically against the opponent’s most dangerous offensive player — Boston’s Larry Bird, Chicago’s Michael Jordan, San Antonio’s George Gervin. The role Cooper filled on that Laker dynasty rewarded him to be included in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024.
Sometimes the cards come up in your favor. Maybe they don’t, so you keep playing new strategies, arguing with your sense of reason.
Double down, push your chips to the middle, and see what comes up.
A website existed under the domain EdMeador21.com with a homepage that read:
Welcome to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Nomination site for Eddie Meador: Leader, Hero, Father, Athlete, Champion, Legend. Also an endorsement quote from former teammate Merlin Olsen.
Meador’s son, Dave, was behind the Internet campaign.
“The voters don’t remember watching him play,” Dave Meador said on a podcast just a couple of months before his father’s September of 2023 passing. “And even if they were football fans, they weren’t necessarily watching the Rams or number 21 on the Rams at the age of 13, 10 or whatever. I think that’s a little bit of a barrier. Out of sight; out of mind.
“We are blessed to have had Dad with us all these years. We are proud of his football career, no doubt. But we are prouder of the man he was to us and to so many.”
Going back to 2009, Meador’s lack of Hall induction was questioned.
From Bleacher Report: “It is astonishing that Meador has yet to be inducted into Canton. He has gone to the same amount of Pro Bowls as 15 other defensive backs that are already inducted. … Tackles were not a recorded statistic in his era, but he exceeded 100 tackles in several seasons. He once had 126 tackles in a 14-game season, which is an impressive rate for a free safety. He was fast, quick, tough, and smart. For all he did on the field, he did even more off the field. He was very active in charities, especially with the Special Olympics. His leadership abilities were seen from his days in college up until the day he retired from the NFL.”
A six-time Pro Bowl selection. Two-time first-team All NFL. One of three safeties named to the NFL’s 1960s All Decade team — St. Louis Cardinals’ Larry Wilson and Green Bay Packers’ Willie Wood, the other two, are both enshrined at Canton, Ohio.
Meador still holds the franchise records for interceptions (46, five returned for TDs), blocked kicks (10), fumble recoveries (18 from the opp0nents, plus four more of his own teammates). Names to the Rams All-Time franchise teams when votes took place in 1970 and 1985.
They called him “The Gremlin,” for his relentless play.
“I probably was as good a ballplayer as some of the people that’s already in there,” Meador told the Los Angeles Times in 2009 from his home in Natural Bridge, Va. “Maybe not, but I think that.”
The Rams got him as a relative bargain, the 80th overall pick in the seventh round of the 1959 NFL draft. The team’s 10th player chosen at that point. (The Rams later in Round 28 also took Rafer Johnson out of UCLA, No. 333 overall). Only one Pro Football Hall of Famer came out of that draft — cornerback Dick LeBeau, out of Ohio State, taken by Cleveland in the fifth round.
Ed Meador is shown as part of an award ceremony for two boys from Burbank.
Meador was simply an athlete — tailback, defensive back and kick returner for tiny Arkansas Tech.
The pivot point in Meador’s time with the Rams came when head coach Harland Svare moved him from left cornerback to free safety.
Eventually, new defensive-minded head coach George Allen saw Meador, at the height of the Rams’ “Fearsome Foursome” days, as the one who the most fearless. Meador called the Rams’ defensive signals. During a run where he was named to five straight Pro Bowls from ’63 to ’68, he collected 24 interceptions and returned two for touchdowns.
Meador also became a valued punt and kickoff returner. He even was the holder on the field-goal unit.
Meador once explained how his versatility gave him an advantage during in a key win against the Philadelphia Eagles in 1969. Before he intercepted a Norm Snead pass and returned it 34 yards for a touchdown, he was the holder at a point when the Rams lined up for a field goal trying to erase a 10-0 deficit.
“I looked over at the linebacker on the other side,” Meador recalled, “and I said to myself, ‘I’m going to take this ball and run it.’ I about killed (kicker Bruce) Gossett when he came running in to kick it. By the time he got to me, I was up and taking off.”
For the last two years of his career, he was president of the NFL Players Association.
The Rams staged an Eddie Meador Day in 2018 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, where they played for a short while after moving back from St. Louis as their current home in Inglewood was being built. Meador stood in the end zone on the field he played on, waving to thousands of Rams fans and they chanted his name.
“If the Hall of Fame doesn’t happen in his lifetime or doesn’t ever happen, the L.A. Rams gave him a Hall of Fame moment,” said Vicki.
In a 2023 Meador obituary written for the Los Angeles Times, Meador’s daughter Vicki forwarded a photo of her dad wearing the Rams’ No. 21 jersey and his trademark Brill Cream hair cut.
“I was a 12-year-old kid working as a water boy at Rams camp during the summer of ‘59 in Redlands. While being ignored by most of the veterans, one rookie was always cordial and went out of his way to make me feel like I was part of the team. It was Meador, who ended up being one of the greatest defensive backs in Rams history. He not only should be in the Hall of Fame, but if the Rams did the right thing they’d retire his No. 21!”
“Growing up in Los Angeles in the ‘50s and seeing my first professional football game at the Coliseum, I won’t forget those stars, the likes of Norm Van Brocklin, Elroy Hirsch, Jon Arnett, Les Richter and, of course, the undersized but truly appreciated Meador. In today’s game, the art of open-field tackling is a thing of the past. Meador stood out as singularly the best to date that I’ve ever seen. The fact that he is not in the Hall of Fame is hard to fathom. His career and numbers stand the test of time. Today they give out inductions like Schrafft’s mints. Please give Eddie the respect and recognition he deserves.”
Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024 inductee Michael Cooper speaks at his enshrinement ceremony in Uncasville, Conn. On stage with him is his former Lakers head coach Pat Riley (Class of ’08), former Los Angeles Sparks star Lisa Leslie (Class of ’15), who Cooper coached; and former Lakers teammate Magic Johnson (’02). (David Butler II-Imagn Images)
In 1974, Michael Cooper and his Pasadena High team was featured in KNBC-Channel 4 High School Game of the Week against El Rancho.
Cooper’s grandmother, who had glaucoma and couldn’t see the TV screen well, wondered if there was a way for him to stand out from the rest of the players on his team, making it easier for her to spot him. Cooper wore high white socks, two sweat bands on his wrist and left his white tie strings hang out of his shorts.
“I looked different,” Cooper recalled. “And I had the game of my life. I had 24 points, 15 rebounds, three dunks and like four or five blocks. That was going to be my attire from there on out. Whether I was with the Lakers or anybody, I was gonna wear long white socks, two sweatbands and my strings out.”
Wearing No. 42, Cooper credited high school coach George Terzian for teaching him the fundamentals, particularly playing defense with feet positioning instead of reaching with arms and hands.
After two seasons at Pasadena City College, Cooper transferred to the University of New Mexico for his junior and senior seasons and became the Lakers’ third-round pick in the 1978 NBA Draft, 60th overall.
This was before Jerry Buss’ ownership, or the arrival of Magic Johnson selection. It was a piece of the “Showtime Era” that would reveal itself later with fans chanting “Cooop,” and Chick Hearn punctuating a dunk with a “Coop-A-Loop” declaration.
Larry Bird deemed Cooper “the best defensive player who ever guarded me … I’ll take that to my grave with me.” Cooper said he developed that mindset early when Jerry West was the Lakers’ head coach at time time he joined the roster.
“I’m heading to training camp. I get to Loyola Marymount, and when I walk into the gym I see Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jamaal Wilkes and Norm Nixon. So, we get into practice and stuff. Jerry pulls me to the side and he goes, ‘Coop, I already have scorers. I got 30 points in Kareem. I got 27 to 28 from Jamaal Wilkes. I got 22 to 25 in Norm Nixon. There is not enough balls to go around for you to get shots. So, I need somebody to play defense.’
“So, I said, ‘Hey, I already got the fundamentals down. I got the aggressiveness down.’ And now I’ve been told that this was going to be my role. So, I took that to heart, embraced it, got better and better.”
Picked on the NBA’s All-Defensive team first team eight times and second team three times, Cooper was able to hoist the title of 1986-87 Defensive Player of the Year as the Lakers outlasted the Celtics in six games for the NBA title. Cooper’s most memorable offensive performance came in Game 2 of the 1987 Finals, when he drained a then-playoff record six 3-pointers and finished with 21 points and nine assists to give the Lakers a 2-0 series lead.
For the most part, Cooper came off the bench even as many remember him on the court for the bulk of the game’s minutes. Of 872 games played for the Lakers, only 94 were as a starter. But that was all part of the Lakers’ entertainment presentation. It allowed for him to be singled out with the chants of “Coooop” when he reported in from the scorers table and give the game some extra energy when needed.
The most games he started in a season was 20 of 82 games in the 1984-85 campaign. The NBA’s Sixth Man Award was established for the 1982-83 season. The best Cooper ever finished in the voting was his Defensive Player of the Year campaign in ’86-87 when he was off the bench for all but two of his 82 regular season games.
Following his playing career, Cooper served as a special assistant to Lakers general manager Jerry West for three years, joined the Lakers coaching staff for four seasons (1994-97) under Magic Johnson and Del Harris. As a head coach for eight season with the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, he started as the league’s coach of the year in 2000. The team won two league titles (2001 and ’02) and one runner-up (2003) with a record of 178-88 (.699) in the regular season and 26-16 (.619) in the post season. He also had a four-year run as the USC women’s basketball coach (2009-13) with a record of 72-57 (.558). Currently, he serves as the head coach for Cal State L.A.
Cooper remains the only person to win a championship as a player or coach in the NBA, WNBA and NBA Developmeal League (the later with the Albuquerque Thunderbirds in 2006).
In a Los Angeles Time story headlined “Why Michael Cooper finally made it to Springfield,” the conclusion is that it was a long time coming as he became an overlooked but well-deserving candidate. The Basketball Hall has always been a reflection of a player’s entire career in the game — from high school to college to professional, to Olympics and international play, to contributing as a coach and executive. Cooper’s resume checks off several boxes.
Magic Johnson had become one of Cooper’s greatest allies in this process of vetting and discernment by a block of voters who the public doesn’t really know as much about. The same goes for the voters of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Hockey Hall of Fame.
Michael Cooper defends Detroit’s Dennis Rodman in a game at the Forum in Inglewood in 1988. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
It will be noted Cooper is now one of 14 Hall of Famers who averaged fewer than 10 points (along with players like Dennis Rodman, Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo. Cooper’s greatest offensive season was 11.9 points in ’81-82 season. But Rodman, Wallace and Mutombo were also named to NBA All Star teams. Cooper never had that.
Cooper said West once told him that you have to have at least been a former All-Star and All-NBA player to get your jersey retired with the Lakers. That didn’t happen. But with the Hall of Fame induction, the Lakers plan to retire Cooper’s No. 21 on Jan. 13, 2025 at Crypto.com Arena, joining Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Jamaal Wilkes, Wilt Chamberlain, Pau Gasol, Gail Goodrich, Shaquille O’Neal, James Worthy and George Mikan.
“When I sit there and they asked me to pull that rope, and I can finally see No. 21 up there in the rafters with everybody else, it’s going to be a moment because, if you know, dying is part of living. And one day we’re all going to leave this earth,” said Cooper. “But the one thing that I get the opportunity to leave for my grandkids, my great grandkids — even with the advancement of these arenas changing, and pretty soon the Lakers will have to get a bigger place and all that — but you know what, whenever they change this arena, they have to put that jersey up there. And my grandkids will be able to say, ‘You know what, that’s my grandfather up there.’ ”
Who else wore No. 21 in SoCal sports history? Make a case for:
Wally Joyner, California Angels/Anaheim Angels first baseman (1986 to 1991, 2001):
The “Wallyworld” experience just blocks away from Disneyland during the late 1980s was something to behold. The baby-faced Mormon out of BYU came out of nowhere and was named to the AL All-Star team as a 24-year-old rookie — in the first two months of his big league career, he led the majors in homers. The Angels were just hoping he would be a suitable replacement for Rod Carew.
Joyner would finish with 22 HRs, 100 RBIs and a .290 batting average and runner-up to Jose Canseco (33 HRs, 117 RBIs, 15 SB) in the AL Rookie of the Year voting. If it makes a difference, Joyner finished eighth in the 1986 AL MVP voting; Canseco was 20th. That was also the only All-Star Game selection season Joyner would have in 16 MLB campaigns, ending back with the Angels in 2001 at age 39.
As Will Leitch once wrote about him: “If you were a kid in rural Illinois who collected baseball cards, suddenly no one was more important than Joyner. This was a player no one knew who was suddenly the most popular player in the sport. Getting his rookie card was like the Shroud of Turin, the briefcase in “Pulp Fiction” or the Maltese Falcon. Nobody cared about Jackson, Cal Ripken Jr. or Mike Schmidt. Joyner was all that mattered.”
In his second season, Joyner had a 34-homer, 117 RBI season and .285 average, with a career-best 4.1 WAR. But after six seasons, Joyner left, accepting a one-year, $4.2 million free agent deal with Kansas City — he stayed a Royal until they traded him after the ’95 season — instead of a four-year, $15.75 million deal from the Angels.
He didn’t want to leave.
“Wally Joyner stood at the press room podium at baseball’s winter meetings with tears in his eyes, unable to speak,” the L.A. Times’ Ross Newhan wrote in December, 1991. “The pressure of two months of futile negotiations, of a decision he never expected to have to make after six years with the Angels, was seeping out in an unexpected display of emotion. No one cries at leaving a last-place team, but … Wally Joyner did. Call that a crying shame.”
He came back as a free agent in 2001 and took No. 5 since pitcher Shigetoshi Hasegawa had No. 21, but was released half-way into the season. The thrill was gone.
Jim Hardy, USC football quarterback / defensive back (1942 to 1944), Los Angeles Rams quarterback (1946 to 1948):
The Fairfax High standout who started going to Trojans games in 1931 at age 8 became the MVP of the 1945 Rose Bowl, throwing two touchdown passes and running for another in a 25-0 win over Tennessee despite battling a 101 fever the night before. Hardy also dropped three key punts for USC that landed on the Tennessee 5, 8 and 7 yard lines in succession. In Hardy’s senior season, he set USC passing records with 58 completions, 739 yards passing and 10 touchdowns. That came a year after he threw three touchdown passes in the Trojans’ 29-0 win over Washington in the ’44 Rose Bowl. He also had 13 career interceptions as a defensive back. He made it into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1994. Hardy, who also played third base for USC’s baseball team from 1944 to ’46, ended up with the Rams during their first three years in L.A. after a stint in the Navy. He became the general manager of the Los Angeles Coliseum from 1973 to 1986, which included the 1984 Summer Olympics. He was noted to be the “oldest living” USC and Rams player when he died at age 96 in 2019.
Before coming to Westwood, the generously sized 5-foot-7 running back made himself known to Southern California football fans when he, as a high school junior, scored four touchdowns for Concord De La Salle in a 29-15 win over Long Beach Poly in 2001. During a career at UCLA — he led the team in rushing all three years, set a school record in all-purpose yards (4,688), rushing yards from scrimmage (3,322), touchdowns (33), and an NCAA record of 28.5 yards per punt return — he also made a name for himself in changing his name. During his junior (and final) year of 2005, he learned from Coach Karl Dorrell that his grandfather, Maurice Jones, died of a heart attack while at the Rose Bowl to see the UCLA-Rice game. Drew, who took the last name of his maternal mother but was raised by his maternal grandparents, had his name legally changed to Jones-Drew, and in the NFL was most often referred to as “MJD.” He was named to the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017 — not overlooking the fact he set the school’s single-game rushing mark with 322 yards and five touchdowns against Washington in his sophomore year.
LenDale White, USC football running back (2003 to 2005):
Fifty-two rushing touchdowns in three seasons established a Trojan career record as the “Thunder” to Reggie Bush’s “Lightning” combination during the team’s span of national dominance. He ran for three TDs in USC’s 55-19 win over Oklahoma in the 2005 Orange Bowl, and a year later, he had three more TDs as USC lost to Texas 41-38 in the 2006 Rose Bowl. In that game, with 2:13 left in regulation and USC holding a 38-33 lead, the Trojans were at Texas’ 45-yard line and needed two yards on fourth down to keep possession and run out the clock. Everyone knew the handoff would be to White. It was. He came up a yard short. Texas got the ball and won the game. “There’s nothing I can do to shake that,” said White, who finished his USC career with a powerful 3,159 yards, averaging 5.8 yards a carry. “He was kind of a free spirit, marched to his own drum,” quarterback Matt Leinart once said of him. “But I’ll tell you what, man, when the lights turned on, that dude was one of the best football players I’ve ever played with. He was one of the best teammates I’ve ever played with.”
Walker Buehler, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (2018 to 2024):
Anyone remember what number he wore in his MLB debut? Anyone … anyone? He was No. 64 in eight appearances for the 2017 Dodgers — because both Yu Darvish and Trayce Thompson had been sharing dibs on No. 21. A rebranded Buehler came back in ’18 and finished third in the NL Rookie of the Year voting with an 8-5 record, 2.62 ERA and striking out 151 in 137 innings. A two-time NL All Star (’19 and ’21), he missed the entire 2023 season with second Tommy John surgery. His ’24 regular-season season didn’t show he was all that ready to come back — a 1-6 mark with a 5.38 ERA. But then came the post-season. In the NLDS against San Diego, Buehler was still very shaky: He gave up six runs in five innings of his only start, Game 3, and took the loss as the Dodgers fell behind two games to one and appeared doomed. Somehow, they recovered. In Game 3 of the NLCS against the New York Mets, Buehler started, but something interesting happened. After pitching from a full windup to the leadoff hitter, he settled into a stretch. With better body control and simplifying things, he threw four shutout innings, striking out six. By the time he was called on to face the New York Mets in Game 3 of the World Series — in all likelihood, if injuries to Dodgers starters such as Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Michael Grove hadn’t occurred, he’d likely not been on the post-season roster — Buehler tossed five shutout innings and got the win, which put the Dodgers up, three games to none. Now it’s three days later, Game 5, with the Dodgers’ bullpen exhausted but a chance to snatch a win, manager Dave Roberts asked Buehler to pitch the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium with the hopes of preserving a 7-6 victory, and no relievers left to use. Done. The victory celebration started after Buehler struck out the last two batters he faced. As he nailed down the save, Buehler joined a short list of eight players — since saves became an official stat in 1969 — who had both a win and a save in the same playoff series. As more than 50 players in Dodgers history have worn No. 21, Buehler was the latest as he went the free agent route to Boston for the start of the 2025 season.
Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (2013 to 2015): A year after he vacationed as a free agent with the Angels in Anaheim, Greinke logged three standout seasons for the Dodgers as he curated a potential Hall of Fame career, creating a formative top of the pitching rotation with Clayton Kershaw that many compared to the days of Koufax and Drysdale. The eclectic and rather mysterious Greinke was a two-time All Star and posted a 51-15 record with a 2.30 ERA over that time, gaining Cy Young and MVP votes, plus a Silver Slugger and a two Gold Gloves. His six-year, $147 million deal reached the halfway point to where Greinke could opt out. He did, spurning the Dodgers’ new six-year, $160 million deal, and off he went to Arizona for six years and $206 million.
Alyssa Thompson, Angel City FC forward (2023 to 2025): The Gatorade National Player of the Year as a sophomore in 2021 out of Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City (48 goals, 14 assists in 17 games) had been playing on semi-pro teams since age 13 against college-aged players and signed an NIL deal with Nike at age 17 (along with her sister, Gisele) before becoming the youngest player ever drafted into the NWSL. The No. 1 overall pick by hometown Angel City FC in January of ’23 came with Thompson signing a three-year deal. In April, 2023, the third-generation Angeleno debuted with the U.S. Women’s National team (wearing No. 17) in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia. In September of 2025, Thompson agreed to a five-year contract with Chelsea of the Women’s Super League for a $1.65 million transfer fee, the greatest in women’s soccer history. Thompson was the club’s all-time scoring leader with 21 goals in all competitions. Thompson has three goals and three assists in 22 games with the national team.
Lynn Cain, USC football fullback (1975 to 1978): A heralded defensive back at L.A.’s Roosevelt High and then the California Community College State player of the Year in 1974 at East L.A. College, Cain arrived at USC to start at fullback blocking for tailback Charles White on the Trojans’ ’78 national championship team. After a seven-year NFL career (that included a stop with the Los Angeles Rams in 1985 wearing No. 31), he returned to coach at East L.A. College and L.A. Southwest College.
Nolan Cromwell, Los Angeles Rams defensive back / free safety (1977 to 1987): Seven years after Meador left the Rams, Cromwell, a converted quarterback from Kansas and Big 8 Offensive Player of the Year, took the number and ran off another 11 years with the team, becoming a Pro Bowl player four seasons in a row (1980 to ’83) and collecting 37 interceptions, returning four for touchdowns, and setting a franchise record 671 in return yards. He was also a standout on special teams as a holder who could run the fake field goal. Cromwell made it onto the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1980s.
Tony Gwinn, Long Beach Poly High basketball (1973 to 1976): The future Baseball Hall of Famer known as “Mr. Padre” from his career in San Diego had basketball on his radar as well. As a point guard on the Jackrabbits teams that went 30-1 his junior year and won the CIF-4A title before more than 10,000 spectators at the Long Beach Sports Arena, Gwynn’s team was considered the best in the state. They also went 23-7 his senior season and lost in the playoffs trying to repeat. Gwynn, All-CIF Southern Section second team, went on to be an All-Western Athletic Conference basketball and baseball player at San Diego State.
Steve Grady, USC football tailback (1966 to 1967): After distinguishing himself at L.A.’s Loyola High as a wingback and middle linebacker, where he ran for 2,097 yards and scored 217 points in 12 games as a senior on a CIF title team (wearing No. 36), the CIF State Player of the Year gravitated to Coach John McKay’s Trojans teams as the running back in between Heisman winners Mike Garrett and O.J. Simpson. He had a combined 519 yards and 1 TD in his career, with 108 yards coming in a win over Oregon as Simpson’s injury replacement. After a brief NFL stint, Grady returned to coach at Loyola High and was named its head coach in 1976, staying through 2004 with nearly 270 wins and CIF titles in 1990 and 2003. He was inducted into the CIF Southern Section Hall of Fame.
Tayshaun Prince, Dominguez High of Compton basketball (1996 to 1998): Mr. California Basketball as a senior won four CIF titles and back-to-back state titles. He became the SEC Player of the Year at Kentucky (2001), won an NBA title with Detroit (2004) and an Olympic gold medal for Team USA (2008). His No. 21 was retired by Dominguez High in 2023.
John Hadl, Los Angeles Rams quarterback (1973 to 1974): He put No. 21 on for two seasons between Eddie Meador and Nolan Cromwell — keeping the number he had for the 11 previous years with the San Diego Chargers — and was second in the MVP voting in ’73 when he led the team to a 12-2 mark and a Pro Bowl nomination. Hadl, also once a fabled quarterback at Kansas, was gone the next year to Green Bay. But Hadl would return to Los Angeles — as the coach of the United State Football League’s Express, as a mentor to rookie quarterback Steve Young.
Cliff Branch, Los Angeles Raiders receiver (1982 to 1985): The last four seasons of his 14-year NFL career, all with the Raiders, game him a platform to perform in L.A., where with the ’83 Super Bowl champs he had a 99-yard TD reception from Jim Plunkett during a win against the Redskins in Washington, D.C.
Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Anaheim Angels pitcher (1997 to 2001): What drove Shiggy to Anaheim was a 57-45 record and 3.33 ERA during six seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball. But as a 28-year-old middle reliever, he didn’t net nearly the attention other Japanese players who came to the U.S. received. By the time he left the MLB in 2005 after nine seasons, he had the most appearances by an Asian pitcher in the U.S. (517), far ahead of Hideo Nomo’s 323 in 12 seasons (with Koji Uehara currently second with 436 in nine seasons). Hasegawa is included in the book, “Hall of Name: Baseball’s Most Magnificent Monikers” by D.B. Firstman (2020) with the entry: “Four short yet lyrical syllables in the first name and four more int he last. The name looks daunting to pronounce but is actually reasonably easy once you hear it a couple of times. And speaking of hearing it, no less a public speaking authority than the late Yankees public address announcer Bob Sheppard deemed Hasegawa’s name as one of his favorites to say over the P.A. system.”
Jim Brewer, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (1964 to 1975), California Angels pitcher (1976): Back when recording a save was much more difficult algorithm to achieve, Brewer was the franchise leader with 126 when he retired, and he needed more than 800 innings and 300 games over a 12-year span to do that. He was also on the 1973 NL All-Star team at at a time when the Dodgers used to refer to the team’s bullpen as “The Brewery.” He’s still in the Top 5 of the franchise save leaders.
Mack Calvin, Los Angeles Lakers guard (1976-77): The Long Beach Poly prep star who went onto Long Beach City College and then showed enough at USC for two years to attract pro scouts was actually a draft pick by the hometown Lakers, albeit the 14th round in 1969. The ABA’s Los Angeles Stars looked more attractive to him, and that’s where he landed (wearing No. 20) with coach Bill Sharman. Calvin averaged 16.8 points per game to make the ABA All-Rookie Team, and the Stars went to the ABA Finals before losing to Indiana. He had a 44-point game during the division semifinals against Dallas and averaged 15.8 points and five assists a game in the six-game finals. The next five seasons with Florida, Carolina and Denver, Calvin was a five-time ABA All Star. The ’76-’77 season was split between Denver, San Antonio and finally the Lakers (for 12 games) before he was dropped from the roster and sat out a year. He came back for two more NBA seasons with Utah and Cleveland. As an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers, Calvin took over as head coach for two games in 1992.
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Milton Bradley, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder (2004 to 2005):
“Trouble” or “Anger Management” were not products that the Milton Bradley board game company created, but they could summarize the season-and-a-half this former Long Beach Poly High standout spend with the Dodgers, one of eight teams he suited up for in 12 years. Bradley, whose birthday of April 15 was the same day all of MLB honors as Jackie Robinson Day, once said about how he had No. 21: “That’s the number they gave me in rookie ball, so I just kind of stuck with it. You know, you can’t wear 42 anymore, so I always said, 21 is half of 42; if I can be half of the player, half of the person, Jackie Robinson was, then I will have been a success. That’s my motto.”
His first major display of his volatile nature was being handed a four-game suspension by the league for throwing a bag of balls onto the field following his ejection from a game when he argued balls and strikes. He was suspended for the last week of the regular season on ’04 when he reacted to a fan who threw a bottle at him following an error by throwing it back at the fan and yelling at him, leading to another ejection. In October of ’04, during the NL playoffs, Bradley got into a clubhouse argument with the Los Angeles Times’ beat reporter. He returned in ’05 and hit.290 in 75 games before tearing knee ligaments. That offseason, the Dodgers swapped general managers, and Ned Colletti’s first deal was to swap out Bradley to Oakland for a prospect named Andre Ethier.
While Bradley was a Dodgers’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award for his work with the team’s non-profit foundation, he was accused of domestic abuse in 2005 (no charges filed), and more accusations after that, to the point where he was convicted of physically attacking his wife and was sentenced to 32 months in prison. In 2018, he remarried and was again charged with spousal battery, leading to probation and counseling. “When we traded for Milton, I think we knew everything that came along with it,” former Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta once told ESPN. “We knew the past, we don’t necessarily think that everything’s going to be completely different because he came to a different place. That’s fine. I would take nine Milton Bradleys if I could get them.” Or, maybe, one Either, who would play for the Dodgers all 12 of his MLB seasons with two All Star appearances, a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove.
The Japanese star import became available at the ’17 trade deadline as his Texas Rangers’s contract was coming up. The Dodgers rented him for three prospects. Darvish finished 4-3 with a 3.44 ERA in nine starts down the stretch, including an ERA of 0.47 ERA over 19 1/3 innings in his last three starts. In the NLDS and NLCS, he posted a win against Arizona and Chicago, allowing just two runs over 11 1/3 innings while striking out 14 and allowing one walk. But in Game 3 of the World Series at Houston, Darvish fell into the Twilight Zone — he lasted just one and two-third innings as the Astros posted four runs in the bottom of the second. It was the first time he failed to get a strikeout in an outing and he managed only one swinging strike in 49 pitches. Hear any trash cans banging? (Adding insult to it all, Houston’s Yuli Gurriel made a gesture in the dugout after hitting a home run, stretching the sides of his eyes and using the slur “chinito,” and received a five-game suspension by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred — but still allowed to play in the World Series, so the punishment came to start the 2018 season). Darvish came back to start the decisive Game 7 at Dodger Stadium, quickly trailed 2-0, and a George Springer homer in the second inning meant Darvish again was gone after 1 2/3 innings. “If you ask me if I got hit in Game 7 because they stole signs, I don’t think so,” Darvish later said. Darvish’s Game 7 start was his last with the Dodgers. He signed a six-year, $126 million contract with the Cubs that offseason. Since reports of the Astros stealing signs emerged, Darvish said he has gotten apologies from Dodgers fans who blamed him for the losses. He responded: “I’m not looking for that. I don’t want them to change their minds.”
Dominique Wilkins, Los Angeles Clippers forward (1994): The eventual Basketball Hall of Famer who spent his first 12 seasons as The Human Highlight Film in Atlanta became the star attraction of another horror genre when Clippers GM Elgin Baylor decided to make a post ’94 NBA All Star Game trade for him. The Hawks gave up him and a 1994 first-round draft pick for All-Star Danny Manning, who was six years younger. Wilkins pulled on the No. 21 tank top and played out the final 25 games for the 27-55 Clippers, averaging 29.1 points a game, and left that summer to Boston. The Clippers used that pick from Atlanta (after taking Cal’s Lamond Murray at No. 7 overall) to select Louisville guard Greg Minor at No. 25, then traded him with Mark Jackson to Indiana for rookie Eric Piatkowski, Pooh Richardson and Malik Sealy.
USC pitcher Mark Prior was the #2 player drafted in the 2001 MLB baseball draft. (Getty Images/Bob Riha, Jr.)
Mark Pryor, USC baseball pitcher (2000 to 2001): After transferring from Vanderbilt, Prior led the Trojans to the College World Series in two straight years. As a junior, his 15-1 record and 1.69 ERA, plus 202 strikeouts in 138 innings with just 18 walks, won him the Golden Spikes Award. He struck out 10 or more hitters in a game 13 times, including a 13-strikeout effort against Georgia in the College World Series. His 202 strikeouts set a single-season record for the Trojans. He was the No. 2 overall pick by the Chicago Cubs in the 2001 MLB Draft, after Minnesota took home-town favorite Joe Mauer. Prior became the Dodgers bullpen coach in 2018 and took over as pitching coach in 2020 and had been wearing the No. 99 under his blue sweatshirt.
Liz Masakayan, UCLA women’s volleyball (1980 to 1984): She played Little League baseball in Santa Monica at age 10 — the first year girls were allowed to play because of Title IX. At Santa Monica High, she was on the first girls soccer team, ran track and also tried out for volleyball. At UCLA, she won the Broderick Award as the nation’s top volleyball player after the Bruins won the 1984 NCAA championship. Segueing into beach volleyball, Masakayan paired with Karolyn Kirby as one of the most dominant women’s teams, winning 29 tournaments. She and Elaine Youngs almost qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Masakayan ended up with 47 beach tournament wins and returned to coach at UCLA. She was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.
We also have
Kobe Brown,Los Angeles Clippers forward (2023-24) Ronny Turiaf, Los Angeles Lakers forward (2005-06 to 2007-08), Los Angeles Clippers forward (2012-13) Kareem Rush, Los Angeles Lakers guard (2002-03 to 2004-05), Los Angeles Clippers guard (2009-10) Eric Ball, UCLA football running back (1984 to 1988) Shon Tarver, UCLA basketball forward (1990-91 to 1993-94) Cedric Bozeman, UCLA basketball guard (2001-02 to 2005-06)
Tom Hoffarth's The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall 