Wooden won 10 NCAA basketball championships at UCLA then stepped down in the 1970’s. The respected Gene Bartow took over. Two years later, after reportedly receiving death threats from UCLA fans, Bartow had enough.

He quit.

The guy hardly left in disgrace. He was 52-9 in the two years, won a couple of league championships and took the Bruins to the Final Four in 1976. What’s wrong with that?

He didn’t win at least two national championships, that’s what.

What does that have to with the price of tea in China on May Day?

It’s just that in a few days — or maybe a month or two — we’ll have our own Utah version of succeeding a legend when Hod Rod Hundley’s radio replacement is revealed.

Today you get a sneak peek.

If you don’t believe this change brings with it more than just a little emotion, you need to talk to Craig Bolerjack.

Since about 1985 when Boler arrived on the scene to take a sports anchor job at KSL TV, he’s been accepted and respected then projected up to some nice network gigs at ESPN and now CBS Sports.

Through the upgrades he’s always made his home in Salt Lake City. Recent years it was rumored the Jazz coveted his talents. The NBA urged teams to break up radio-TV simulcasting of games, so the last two seasons Hundley became the “radio only” guy and, in a no-brainer decision, the Jazz brass put Bolerjack on the television broadcasts with former Jazzman Ron Boone.

A couple of things happened.

For starters “Booner” suddenly had more talk time on one TV-only broadcast than in a dozen simulcasts with Hot Rod. But, I digress.

What really happened was an outpouring of displeasure with Bolerjack’s work, mostly because loyal Jazz fans were so comfortable with decades of the iconic Hundley. The calls to radio sports talk programs would continue for most of Bolerjack’s first year.

It seemed to take that long for fans to warm up to Bolerjack who, by any measure, is a very competent broadcaster with network street creed.

Next, in replacing the only radio play-by-play man in Jazz history, what should we expect?

Certainly the Jazz want nothing to do with a national search for the new guy ... or gal. Look at the heartburn even from the hiring of the very familiar Bolerjack.

They want someone who’s known, someone who’s done this before, someone who knows the franchise from the ground up.

The very short list includes someone like veteran Bees play-by-play man Steve Klauke, who has subbed for Hundley before and belongs in a much larger market, or longtime Salt Lake media fixture Steve Brown, who’s done his own share of fill in work on the TV side, although his radio play-by-play experience isn’t as strong.

However, this time the prize will go to David Locke, the afternoon drive time host on the Jazz’s flagship radio station, KFAN. A veteran in the market during the team’s two-year run to the NBA Finals in the 1990’s, David’s subsequent years in Seattle included a season as the Sonics radio-by-play announcer in another one of those simulcast split ups which sent Kevin Calabro to television and left a one-year radio opening for Locke.

In Locke’s first run in Salt Lake City, he was quite critical at times of the Jazz, and when Karl Malone had enough of what he felt were personal attacks the Mailman went public with his “it’s either them or me” dictum, calling for the firing of Locke and Tom Nissalke.

In the forthcoming selection of Locke, the Jazz obviously regard that decade old episode as water under the bridge.

David is bright and very hardworking. Currently the Jazz radio game day host, he chatted regularly with Hundley on the broadcasts the last couple of years. Jazz fans certainly know him.

But they’re not as familiar with his play-by-play style — other than his fill-in work this year in a game against Toronto — and since that style will be his own, not Hundley’s, who knows how long it will take to warm to him as he sits in the Hot Rod hotseat ... 30 rows up.