Goodrich, Gail C. Jr.
Basketball
b. April 23, 1943, Los Angeles, CA
Goodrich played for two of John Wooden's NCAA championship teams at UCLA, in 1964 and 1965. He scored 27 points against Duke University in the 1964 championship game and 42 against the University of Michigan in the 1965 final.
A consensus All-American in 1965, the 6-foot-1, 175-pound Goodrich was a fine outside shot who also had the quickness to drive past a defender to the basket if guarded too closely. He went to the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers as a territorial draft pick.
After spending three seasons as a backup guard with the Lakers, Goodrich went to the Phoenix Suns in the 1968 expansion draft. An immediate starter with Phoenix, he averaged 23.8 and 20.0 points per game in two seasons there, then was traded Back to Los Angeles.
Even though the Lakers had Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West, Goodrich led the team in scoring with 25.9 points per game in 1971/72, when Los Angeles won a record 69 regular season games and beat the New York Knicks in the NBA championship finals.
Goodrich played out his option and signed with the New Orleans Jazz as a free agent in 1976. He retired after the 1978/79 season.
In 1,031 regular season games, Goodrich scored 19,181 points, an average of 18.6, and had 4,805 assists. He added 1,450 points and 333 assists in 80 playoff games.