UCLA has about 50 tickets remaining from its allotment for the Pacific Life Pac-10 Tournament, March 10-13. The remaining tickets are in the lower bowl of Staples Center and are $260 for all four days (five sessions).

To support the Bruins in the quest to win the Pac-10 Tournament title and earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, call 310/UCLA-WIN or go to www.uclabruins.com and click on the "Tickets" tab.

Here is a great video, produced by the New Orleans Hornets, highlighting Darren Collison's return to campus last November 30 with one of his Hornet teammates. This is linked from the YouTube page of BruinAthletics.

As always, Darren represents the University with class.

To watch the video, click here.

Below is a nice story amout UCLA alum wide receiver JoJo Townsell, who was recently honored as the Tahoe-Douglas Elks Citizen of the Year. JoJo was a teammate of current Bruin head coach Rick Neuheisel.

The Tahoe-Douglas Elks recognized community youth advocate and football star JoJo Townsell as their Citizen of the Year at a special banquet Jan. 29.

JoJo and his wife Suzi moved to Carson Valley in 1995 and formed the MEFIYI Foundation in 1997. MEFIYI stands for Me-For-Incredible-Youth, Inc. The mission of this organization is to support Nevada youth in areas of amateur athletics, recreation programs and physical fitness with the goal of building self esteem, emphasizing the importance of personal education and learning how to successfully utilize the sports team concept. Through the program, participants are given the opportunity to work with professional athletes, coaches, and instructors.

Since their inaugural year, the MEFIYI organization has touched the lives of more than 10,000 Northern Nevada youth. Townsell strongly believes that being able to play team sports keeps many students from dropping out of school.

Townsell was also instrumental in bringing a local chapter of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to Carson Valley. While a strong program flourished in Carson City, most youth in Douglas County were unable to participate due to distance and transportation problems.

After Townsell formed an exploratory committee to ponder issues such as funding, facilities and staffing, the decision was made to put a program into place right here in the Ranchos. The local chapter has been a huge success and now has more than 300 enrolled youth, with daily participation in excess of 100. Operations are supervised by professional staff, and affiliated costs are supported through volunteer efforts and local contributions.

Townsell serves as the chapter's Chief Volunteer Officer. Without his influence, presence, time, and effort it is likely this local Boys & Girls Club program would not be in place today.

Townsell was born and raised in Reno and attended UCLA on a football scholarship. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Express (United States Football League) and the New York Jets (National Football League). A widely acclaimed wide receiver and ball return specialist, he was awarded the Jet's MVP award in 1989. He and his wife Suzi have two daughters who attend Douglas High School.

Congratulations to JoJo Townsell for being recognized as the Elks' Citizen of the Year for 2010. Many, many thanks for all you do to help make our community such a wonderful place to live.

ESPN's Andy Katz was on campus recently to interview UCLA head coach Ben Howland about coaching inspirations.

Needless to say, Howland's inspiration is UCLA coaching legend John Wooden. You can tell in the interview the great respect he has for Coach Wooden and how important it is to him to be the caretaker of Coach Wooden's program. He also speaks about other coaches who have influenced him.

To watch the interview, click here.

UCLA greats Bill Walton and Sinjin Smith will be inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday, March 21 in the fourth annual event held at the Pacific Palms Resort in the City of Industry.

Walton, at 6-11, 235 pounds, is one of the all-time great centers in the game of basketball. At UCLA under John Wooden, he led the Bruins to two NCAA Championships (1972/1973), a record setting 88-game winning streak and was a three-time (1972-74) consensus All-American and national Player of the Year. In UCLA history, Walton is the school's No. 1 rebounder (1972-74, 1,370, 15.7rpg) and No. 11 scorer (1,767, 20.3ppg). The No. 1 selection in the 1974 NBA Draft by the Portland Trailblazers, Walton played13 years in the NBA, and is the only player in league history to win the NBA Finals MVP (leading Portland to the championship in 1977), the regular season Most Valuable Player honor (1978 with Portland) and the NBA Sixth Man Award (helping Boston win the NBA title in 1986). Walton, whose Bruin jersey No. 32 is retired, has also been inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame (1984),  Naismith Basketball Memorial Hall of Fame (1993) and GTE Academic All-America Hall of Fame (1994) and in 1996 was named one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of all-time.

Smith, one of the record-setting volleyball players in collegiate and beach history, as a freshman at UCLA in 1976 helped lead UCLA to an NCAA title and as a senior in 1979, he directed the Bruins to an unbeaten (30-0) NCAA Championship season and was named the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player. As a Bruin, he was a three-time All-Conference player, a two-time All-American and led UCLA to a four-year overall record of 85-9. In beach volleyball, he and partner Randy Stoklos ruled for more than a decade. The pair won a record 114 open beach tournaments, earned more than $1.6 million and was responsible for the tremendous popularity of the sport. A member of the 1980 (U. S. boycott) and 1996 U. S. Olympic teams,  Smith, whose UCLA jersey No. 22 was retired in 1992,  has been inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame (1991) and the Volleyball Hall of Fame (2003).

Joining Walton and Smith into the 2010 class are pro football greats Merlin Olsen (Los Angeles Rams) and Oakland Raider standouts Jim Otto and Fred Biletnikoff, tennis great Billie Jean King and honored KCBS Channel 2 sportscaster Jim Hill. Also in the 2010 class is high jumper Dwight Stones, who attended UCLA as a freshman in 1972, placing third in the high jump on the Bruins' NCAA championship team. Stones then transferred to Long Beach State and following his collegiate career, would go on to become one of the greatest high jumpers in U. S. history. In his 16-year T & F career, Stones won 19 national championships, was a three-time World record holder and a two-time Olympic bronze medalist.

Walton and Smith join seven other Bruins in the California Sports Hall of Fame - 2007 - Jackie Robinson (baseball), John Wooden (basketball), Rafer Johnson (T &F), Jackie Joyner Kersee (T&F); 2008 - UCLA Bruins men's basketball program (team category); 2009 - Ann Meyers Drysdale (basketball), Mike Powell (T & F), Karch Kiraly (volleyball).

On March 21, the California Sports Hall of Fame event is an all-day affair, starting with a golf tournament (registration 9 a.m.) at the Industry Hills Golf Club. Following the golf, the induction ceremony will take place at the Pacific Palms Resort, starting with a 5 p.m. reception and dinner at 7 p.m. For more information, call 909-481-3541 or go to www.californiasportshalloffame.org.

Women's basketball player Erica Tukiainen is featured in this week's UCLA Sports Report. In the feature, Fox Sports' Courtney Jones talks with Erica about her transition from Finland to the U.S. and her experiences abroad. Erica also speaks three different languages in the interview!

The piece will air on Prime Ticket Thursday night, Feb. 11 on the Los Angeles Kings' postgame show. You can also watch it online on the Fox Sports West website.