Jerry Norman

Jerry Norman (born ) After graduating high school in 1947, he enrolled at East Los Angeles College, where he led the Metropolitan Conference in scoring and was named first-team All-Southern California Junior College. He received some athletic scholarship offers from Division I schools, and accepted UCLA's offer at the urging of Eddie Sheldrake, his best friend and a former Washington High player who was at UCLA.

College career In Norman's sophomore year in 1949–50, UCLA qualified for the NCAA tournament, the first in Coach John Wooden's career. The following season, Norman was kicked off the team for two weeks after talking to a teammate during practice and not paying attention to Wooden. In 1951–52, Norman was co-captain of the team with fellow senior Don Johnson, and the Bruins won the PCC title and qualified for the 1952 NCAA tournament. Norman and Johnson were unanimously selected first-team All-PCC.

Professional career Norman coached UCLA's freshman team before becoming a varsity assistant under John Wooden. After graduating in 1952, 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.

According to sportswriter Seth Davis, author of Wooden: A Coach’s Life, Norman is deserving of more credit for Wooden's success than people generally attribute to him. Wooden began coaching UCLA in 1948–49, but the Bruins never advanced past the first round of the NCAA tournament until after Norman was hired. During the 1963–64 season, Norman convinced a reluctant Wooden to use the zone press, which the team had never utilized before. The Bruins had employed a man-to-man press with some success in 1962–63, but it had been ineffective in their opening-game of the NCAA tournament—a 93–79 blowout loss to Arizona State. Norman instead proposed a 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.

Norman was also UCLA's top recruiter, which complemented Wooden's aversion to recruiting. He recruited 15 players who were later inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame, including two players enshrined in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame: Lew Alcindor (now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Gail Goodrich. 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. His $14,000 salary was not sufficient to support his wife and children. The win avenged an upset loss to the Cougars in The Game of the Century earlier in the season. Wooden's four titles, each with Norman as his assistant, matched the then-record held by Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp. According to Morgan, Wooden never asked for a raise. Upon leaving UCLA in 1968 after 11 seasons with the team, Norman became a stockbroker, earning $60,000 in his first year. He enjoyed a successful business career and became a multi-millionaire.

In 1986, Norman was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame.

Personal life Norman and his wife, June, were married for 63 years. She died in 2014. Together, they had three children and four grandchildren.