Walter Raphael Hazzard Jr. (born April 15, 1942 in Wilmington, Delaware) is a former college, Olympic, and professional basketball player and college basketball coach, now retired. During his professional basketball career, Hazzard converted to Islam and changed his name to Mahdi Abdul-Rahman. While coaching at UCLA, he went by his former name, Walt Hazzard. He is the father of the Hip-Hop Super Producer DJ Khalil. On March 22, 1996, Hazzard was ...
more
Walter Raphael Hazzard Jr. (born April 15, 1942 in Wilmington, Delaware) is a former college, Olympic, and professional basketball player and college basketball coach, now retired. During his professional basketball career, Hazzard converted to Islam and changed his name to Mahdi Abdul-Rahman. While coaching at UCLA, he went by his former name, Walt Hazzard. He is the father of the Hip-Hop Super Producer DJ Khalil. On March 22, 1996, Hazzard was hospitalized following a stroke.
After attending Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, Hazzard went to UCLA, where he became an important player on the varsity basketball team. In Hazzard's first season on the varsity squad, the UCLA Bruins made their first Final Four appearance in the 1962 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. They lost to the eventual champion, the Cincinnati Bearcats in the semi-finals.
UCLA's undefeated season, 1963-64, was in no small part due to Hazzard, his backcourt partner Gail Goodrich, and the team's coach...
less
