BUSINESS
55 years later. Yet, in 2003, when the California Interscholastic Federation presented its list of the top 100 high school athletes of the last century, no player or coach from the legendary Compton teams was even mentioned. “We took it as not just a slight. We took it as something intentional,” declared Hopwood, who was determined to do something about it. “There was so much we had to go through as players. At away games, there were signs on the walls with caricatures of Black faces. There were times they wouldn’t feed us in restaurants. “I decided, with my experiences, that the opportunity was out there to do a documentary — to tell our story,” Hopwood added. “If you don’t toot your own horn, no one knows you’re in the band. If I didn’t get it done, it wasn’t going to get done.” Hopwood raised nearly $15,000, evenly split between fundraising and money out of his own pocket. Sportswriters, researchers, nonprofits and even musicians who wrote and produced original songs for the film — titled Living Legends 66-0 — were among those willing to help. Among those interviewed were: • NBA Hall of Famer Paul Westphal, who played for one of Compton’s rivals during that time. He later took the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals as both a player and a coach. Westphal died in 2021, the year Living Legends 66-0 was released. • Jim Harrick, the assistant coach at Morningside High School in the infamous “stolen game” during Hopwood’s junior season. Harrick later led the University of California, Los Angeles to the national title. • Byron Scott, Arizona State University star and NBA title winner with the Los Angeles Lakers. • DeMar DeRozan, Compton graduate and current NBA player with the Sacramento Kings. Hopwood worked on the film for six years. Shortly after distribution in 2021, a legal battle ensued with a former co-producer who had filed a false copyright claiming ownership of the story. Hopwood won that fight in court just last year and is looking to once again spread the Compton story. “I never went into it trying to make money, just to tell our story,” he said. “Even now, teams look to our record as something they want to break. Records are meant to be broken, which is fine. But I wanted to document the sacrifices
A championship basketball from Compton High School’s 1961 team that went 28-3.
GIVING BACK TO OTHERS
of God International University in Los Angeles. Hopwood taught algebra and geometry and coached basketball during his teaching career. Returning to Los Angeles, he established the Safe Passage Programs to create safe routes for students to schools in areas with high gang activity, like where he grew up. He ultimately served in the district administration, coordinating operations for schools throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District. In a speech to the ASU Alumni Association
and at other times in his career, Hopwood offered the following: “My advice to others is to remember that education is a form of service first and foremost. “No student should fear coming to school to learn, no teacher should fear coming to school to teach, no staff should fear coming to school to work. Always strive to make things better inside and outside of the classroom.” With a lengthy list of honors and service to his community, Hopwood said in a clear understatement: “I focused on being a fountain and not a drain.”
If you don’t toot your own horn, no one knows you’re in the band. If I didn’t get it done, it wasn’t going to get done.” MICHAEL HOPWOOD
The first in his family to go to college, Michael Hopwood’s passion for education fueled his life after basketball. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business education from Arizona State University, a master’s in education administration from National University and a master’s in biblical theology from Esther Mallet International Bible University. Later, he received a Doctor of Divinity from Word
following season and won four more games the next year for 66 in a row before being defeated). The hoops success was much more than just basketball wins, according to Hopwood, who was captain of the team and state tournament MVP. “When we got cheated at Morningside, that galvanized the community. The community really took to us,” he said. “We felt an obligation to do well and set an example for those who would come after us.” Compton had produced its share of leading sports figures — Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Duke Snider, Super Bowl-winning tight end Marv Fleming and longtime NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle among them. At this point in history, however, Compton was a community looking for answers. The expanding U.S. presence in Vietnam, civil rights battles and the nearby violence in Watts were some of the factors in play. “The civil rights movement was just getting big. It was right after the Watts riots and there was a lot of White flight out of Compton,” Hopwood explained. “Property values declined, there was redlining (mortgage lending discriminations) and there were designated areas where African Americans had better not go.” The ‘67 all-Black team was led by a White coach in Armstrong, who had come from West Virginia. “Coaches Armstrong and Newman were just geniuses and father figures to so many of us. They taught us right from wrong and held us accountable,” Hopwood said. “Practices were rough. We mastered the fast break and ran people off the court. We used zone traps and half-court traps and people weren’t doing a lot of that.” Telling the tale Compton’s winning streak of 66 games ended in 1970, but it is a record that has yet to be broken
KINGS OF THE COURT
of Famer Tex Winter, best known for teaching the triangle offense to the Chicago Bulls (Michael Jordan) and Los Angeles Lakers (Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant) during a coaching career that spanned nearly six decades. “Tex Winter (who started his playing career at Compton Junior
assistant coaching job at Arizona State University. Hopwood played four years for the Sun Devils and two seasons with the traveling squad Athletes in Action. He had tryouts with two American Basketball Association clubs before opting to play in Europe. He averaged 27 points and nearly 10 rebounds a game during his second year in France and had similar success in Switzerland. The end of his playing days came at age 34. “I was running down the court one game thinking about which party I was going to or where I was going to hang out and eat,” he recollected. “That was out of character for me. When I played, it was like going to war. I was there to win. I promised myself if I could not give 100%, I was not going to be one of those guys who just hung around. It was time to transition to a different profession.”
Michael Hopwood’s basketball highlights extended well beyond Compton High School.
He played against the
best of the best in the Los Angeles area during the summer before his senior season. Whether it was pickup games at Pepperdine University or in one of the neighborhood parks, Hopwood and his teammates were determined to overcome the sting of their controversial loss at Morningside High School. “This is where you brought your five and put your name on the board,” Hopwood shared. “If you won, you stayed on the court. People came to where we were.” Among those players that summer were UCLA stars Henry Bibby, Curtis Rowe and Sidney Wicks. Famous coaches were also part of the equation. One was Hall
College) came to our practices,” Hopwood
said. “We ran the triangle offense — nearly 20 years before Winter’s time with the Bulls — only we called it overload.” Jerry Tarkanian, later of University of Nevada, Las Vegas fame, recruited Hopwood to play at Long Beach State University. On the day he was scheduled to report to campus, Hopwood changed his mind and joined Jim Newman (the man who taught him the game at a neighborhood park in the summer before his freshman season in high school), who took an
Michael Hopwood holds a poster promoting his 2021 documentary film Living legends 66-0 in his home office on Kingfisher Drive.
I leave here, along with my reputation and good name, I want to leave something behind. We had to go through a lot to get where we did, and this is how we did it — how we had an impact.”
that went into it. Each one of those guys went on to impact the lives of others. “It all comes down to service, being of service to others. We can all be of great impact to society, one life, one family at a time. When
InMaricopa.com | February 2025
February 2025 | InMaricopa.com
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