Skip Rowland ’49

The $150 Alumni Scholarship I received in 1945 was a great help to me in becoming the first member in my family to attend college. The $37.50 I received for each quarter was helpful for my first year, thanks to John Jackson ’27 [then in charge of the UCLA Alumni Association].

What I most remember about UCLA are the great friends I made and still have, on the football and baseball teams and in Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. The relationships I developed with the coaches, Bert LeBrucheue, Art Richle and trainer “Ducky” Drake were helpful during my years there. My 58-year friendship with Coach Wooden is still the high point of my education. What a teacher he has been to so many people.

UCLA exposed me to a great cross section of the finest teachers and classmates during my five years there. My first teaching job came through coach Red Sanders in 1950 at Riverside Junior College, which led to a 38-year career in education at Riverside, Long Beach Unified and College of the Pacific. I give back to UCLA because of this Mother Theresa quote: “A life not lived for others is a life not lived.”

By the way, she’s one of Coach Wooden’s two favorite people.