Role of a Lifetime: Larry Farmer and the UCLA Bruins

"Role of a Lifetime is the story of the crucial role Larry Farmer played on teams that won three NCAA titles for UCLA under Coach John Wooden. Farmer's record at UCLA was 89-1, the greatest winning percentage in NCAA history. (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was 88-2.) Role of a Lifetime also details how Farmer, a self-taught player from the playgrounds of Denver, managed to secure a full scholarship, make the varsity team as a sophomore, and ultimately become the head basketball coach at UCLA at the age of 30--the first black head coach for any sport at UCLA. The book chronicles the reactions of black leaders to his role as the first black head coach, as well as the inside politics that led him to resign after three years as coach, just days after accepting a two-year extension. Farmer also shares new insights about UCLA athletic booster Sam Gilbert and his role in the team's NCAA probation. Farmer's insider perspective during UCLA basketball's most fabled period, combined with his natural ability to relate entertaining and informative anecdotes about legendary figures such as John Wooden, Bill Walton, Jamaal Wilkes, Reggie Miller, and many other famous players and coaches from throughout the world of college basketball, makes Role of a Lifetime a must-have for all Bruin fans and fans of basketball everywhere!"--Amazon.com.

About the author

Larry Farmer served as the head basketball coach at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1981 to 1984, Weber State University from 1985 to 1988, and Loyola University Chicago from 1998 to 2004. He played college basketball at UCLA, where he was a member of three national championship-winning teams for the UCLA Bruins under Head Coach John Wooden in the early 1970s. In 2018, Farmer was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame.

Summary

Role of a Lifetime is the story of the crucial role Larry Farmer played on teams that won three NCAA titles for UCLA under Coach John Wooden. Farmer’s record at UCLA was 89–1, the greatest winning percentage in NCAA history. (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was 88–2.)

Role of a Lifetime also details how Farmer, a self-taught player from the playgrounds of Denver, managed to secure a full scholarship, make the varsity team as a sophomore, and ultimately become the head basketball coach at UCLA at the age of 30—the first black head coach for any sport at UCLA.

The book chronicles the reactions of black leaders to his role as the first black head coach, as well as the inside politics that led him to resign after three years as coach, just days after accepting a two-year extension. Farmer also shares new insights about UCLA athletic booster Sam Gilbert and his role in the team’s NCAA probation.

Farmer’s insider perspective during UCLA basketball’s most fabled period, combined with his natural ability to relate entertaining and informative anecdotes about legendary figures such as John Wooden, Bill Walton, Jamaal Wilkes, Reggie Miller, and many other famous players and coaches from throughout the world of college basketball, makes Role of a Lifetime a must-have for all Bruin fans and fans of basketball everywhere!

Foreword

Coverage in both regional media (L.A. Times, Daily News, OC Register, local television and radio stations), and national sports media (ESPN, the Athletic, Sporting News, FOX Sports) is expected and has been promised in certain instances (L.A. Times for example). Larry Farmer is a former basketball analyst for both ESPN and FOX, so his connections run deep in those media organizations.
UCLA will help promote the book across their traditional media and social media channels. When we published Conversations with Coach Wooden, UCLA was incredibly supportive of the project and we expect the same cooperation with Role of a Lifetime.
Larry Farmer is an in-demand motivational speaker for corporations and other groups, making dozens of speeches and appearances every year.
Besides the writers and broadcasters who covered Farmer as a player and at UCLA, there are many others who covered Farmer as coach at Weber State, Loyola of Chicago, the University of Hawaii and others. There are broadcasters who worked with Farmer at ESPN, CBS and Foxsports. Tracy Dodds still has contacts in the LA media after working at the Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register and Daily News.
Coach Farmer has 5,000 Facebook friends who respond in large numbers when he posts and who would be happy to share his news leading up to the release of his book.

Product details

• Authors: Tracy Dodds, Larry Farmer
• Assisted by: Bill Walton (Foreword), Jamaal Wilkes (Afterword)
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 21.02.2023
• EAN: 9781595801159
• ISBN: 978-1-59580-115-9
• No. of pages: 348
• Illustrations: Black & white and Color Photos
• Subjects: Guides > Sport > Ball sport; SPORTS & RECREATION / Basketball, SPORTS & RECREATION / Coaching / Basketball