Field of Dreams: UCLA Closes Pauley Pavilion in Grand Style

There may be no sports arena with as rich a history as the 46-year-old Edwin R. Pauley Pavilion. Opened in 1965, legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden promptly led his Bruins to eight straight NCAA tournament titles to properly christen the new home of UCLA. Now, while one Wooden opened Pauley Pavilion in grand style, another one closed it in similar fashion.

The UCLA Bruins, powered by 27 points and 16 rebounds from sophomore forward Reeves Nelson, put a beating on the 10th-ranked Arizona Wildcats, 71-49, in front of a sellout crowd of 11,986 in the last game to be played at Pauley Pavilion before undergoing a $136 million renovation.

In what turned out to be a storybook ending, junior Tyler Trapani, a UCLA walk-on and great grandson of John Wooden, scored the final two points ever at the “old” Pauley Pavilion.

It was a surreal ending for the venerable arena, and one that UCLA head coach Ben Howland couldn’t have possibly scripted better.

"I pray a lot...To have Trapani make that last shot means so much to me, you have no idea," Howland told the Los Angeles Times. "You couldn't have written it any better."

Amazingly, Trapani had never scored in a UCLA uniform before that last basket.

Pauley Pavilion was opened in Jun. 1965, after a campaign to raise funds for the new arena had raised enough money. H.R. Haldeman, a 1948 UCLA graduate (yes, the same Haldeman involved in the Watergate scandal of the early ‘70s) raised the first $1 million, and that was matched by UCLA regent Edwin W. Pauley, who would later by recognized by having the new arena named after him.

When the Pauley Pavilion opened for the men’s basketball season later in 1965, Coach Wooden would field a team that included freshman center Lew Alcindor. That team would go on to win its third straight NCAA championship, and the first in the new arena.

On Saturday afternoon, during halftime of the game between UCLA and Arizona, the 1971 UCLA NCAA champion team was honored, with teammates Curtis Rowe and Sidney Wicks in attendance. Former UCLA assistant coach Denny Crum, who would later win two national championships himself at the University of Louisville, was also in attendance.

"This particular building stood the test of time," Crum said. "But guess what? Now, it's time to move on."

And move on is exactly what UCLA will do. The 2011-2012 season will essentially be one gigantic road trip for the Bruins, who will play their “home” games in several different arenas. However, none of that mattered on Saturday afternoon.

While the story about UCLA possibly returning to the Top 25 rankings with its win over Arizona will be discussed, the story yesterday was all about Pauley Pavilion, and with John Wooden watching from above, they closed the building in the most fitting way possible.

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