LOS ANGELES (AP) -Jamaal Wilkes answered his phone a week ago and heard Michael Warren’s voice urging him to get to the hospital to see John Wooden.
The former UCLA coach and Hall of Famer had been in and out of the hospital in recent years, but this time, it was different.
Warren told Wilkes that Wooden might be nearing the end of his inspiring life. A few days later, Bill Walton called Wilkes and suggested the same thing. So Wilkes headed over to see his 99-year-old former coach, one of many long-ago UCLA basketball stars who gathered at Wooden’s bedside to say farewell.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, known as Lew Alcindor in his college days, rushed back from Europe, reaching Wooden’s side hours before he died Friday night. Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre, a longtime friend, came by, too.
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