Ex-Cal Coach Lou Campanelli, Who Ended Bears' 52-Game Skid vs. UCLA, Dies at 84

Campanelli delivered the Bears to their first NCAA tournament bid in 30 years.

Lou Campanelli, who delivered on a promise to end Cal’s 52-game losing streak to UCLA and coached the Bears to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 30 years, died this week at the age of 84.

Campanelli suffered a stroke several years back and has battled health issues since.

His eight-year run at Cal ended in controversy but not before he brought back to life a program that had been dormant — sometimes even wretched — after Pete Newell’s retirement in 1960.

Lou Campanelli / Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

I attended Campanelli’s introductory news conference in 1985 when he guaranteed the Bears would beat UCLA, to whom they had lost 52 consecutive times through the duration of the peak John Wooden era.

Campanelli, wearing his lucky velvet sports coat, and a team featuring Kevin Johnson, Chris Washington and Dave Butler fulfilled that promise on Jan. 25, 1986 with a 75-67 win over the eighth-ranked Bruins at old Harmon Gym.

Butler scored 23 points, Washington 19 and future NBA star Kevin Johnson had 14. Afterward their late teammate Eddie Javius sat on the rim of one of the baskets above a scene of pandemonium on the playing floor.

Cal alum and national sports broadcaster Roxy Bernstein / Twitter

Fans worn down by the program’s grim current state cannot imagine what that day meant to Old Blues. At the bottom of the official play-by-play sheet was this memorable line: “Now we can all die happy.”

The Bears were 19-10 in Campanelli's first season.

As Cal alum Eric McDonough shares in this tweet, Campanelli brought a level of pride to the program that was badly needed:

Twitter

By 1990, Campanelli guided the Bears to the NCAA tournament for the first time since making four straight appearances under Newell from 1957 through ’60. The Bears won the national championship in ’59 and returned to the Final Four a year later, but had just six winning seasons after Newell stepped aside until Campanelli arrived.

The Bears beat Indiana in the 1990 NCAA tournament but had losing records the next two seasons.

Then Jason Kidd arrived from nearby St. Joseph High School in Alameda and everything changed.

The Bears became a national sensation, opening the season 5-0 with wins over Oklahoma State and Wake Forest to earn their first national ranking since the Newell years.

Playing at the Meadowlands Arena in Campanelli's home state of New Jersey against James Madison, his former school, the Bears suffered a stunning 90-75 defeat. A day later they lost by 20 points to Cornell, an Ivy League school. Campanelli was so shaken afterward he left his team in the hands of assistant coaches and returned to the hotel on his own.

Players complained to athletic director Bob Bockrath about Campanelli's hard-nosed coaching style, and after the Bears lost both games on a trip to Arizona in early February, Bockrath fired his coach.

Todd Bozeman was named interim coach and the Bears went on to beat Duke in the NCAA tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16. Bozeman’s run ended after the 1995-96 season when the NCAA charged him with recruiting violations for paying the father of a recruit.

Campanelli finished his Cal career with a record of 123-108, his victory total still fourth-best among all Bears coaches. He compiled an impressive ledger of 238-118 in 13 seasons at James Madison, the final nine after the program transitioned to Division I. From 1981 through ’83, the Dukes scored first-round NCAA victories over Georgetown, Ohio State and West Virginia.

After beating Ohio State in the '82 NCAA opener, the Dukes nearly pulled off an upset for the ages, ultimately losing to a Dean Smith-coached North Carolina team featuring Michael Jordan and James Worthy by a 52-50 margin.

"A lot of people have had an impact on JMU athletics, but Lou Campanelli put the Dukes on the national sports scene," Bill Leatherman, a lifelong friend and former assistant coach at JMU under Campanelli, told the Daily News-Record in Virginia.

Campanelli never coached again after his time at Cal but later served as head of game officials for the Pac-10. He also spent time an NBA scout.

Cover photo of Lou Campanelli celebrating with fans after Cal's 1986 win over UCLA courtesy of Cal Athletics

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo