John Wooden

** Elected to Basketball Hall of Fame in 1960.**

John Robert Wooden (born October 14, 1910) is a retired American basketball coach. He is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player (class of 1961) and a coach (class of 1973). He was the first person ever enshrined in both categories; only Lenny Wilkens and Bill Sharman have since been so honored. He is widely regarded as the greatest college coach in history and his 10 NCAA National Championships while at UCLA are unmatched.

High school and college
Born in Hall, Indiana, as a high school student Wooden played in Indiana where he led the Martinsville High School team to the state championship finals for three consecutive years, winning the tournament in 1927. He was a three time All-State selection. After graduating in 1928 he entered Purdue University, where he was a three-time All-American guard and a member of Purdue's 1932 national championship team as determined by a panel vote rather than an NCAA Tournament which began in 1939. John Wooden was named All-Big Ten and All-Midwestern (1930-32) while at Purdue University where he was coached by Piggy Lambert. He was also selected for membership in the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Wooden was also involved in the International Co-Ed Fraternity Alpha Phi Omega. Wooden was nicknamed "The Indiana Rubber Man" for his suicidal dives on the hardcourt. He graduated from Purdue in 1932 with a degree in English, and later earned his Master's Degree at Indiana State Teacher's College (now Indiana State University) where he spent 1946-48 as athletic director and basketball coach.

After college, Wooden spent several years playing professionally with the Indianapolis Kautskys (later the Indianapolis Jets), Whiting Ciesar All-Americans, and Hammond Ciesar All-Americans while teaching and coaching in the high school ranks. During one 46 game stretch he made 134 consecutive free throws. He was named to the NBL's First Team for the 1937-38 season. In 1942 he enlisted in the Navy where he gained the rank of lieutenant during World War II.


Coaching career

High school
Wooden coached two years at Dayton High School in Kentucky. His first year at Dayton would be the only time he would have a losing record (6-11). After Dayton he returned to Indiana, teaching English and coaching basketball at South Bend Central High School until entering the Armed Forces. His high school coaching record was 218-42.


Indiana State University
After the war, Wooden coached at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana from 1946 to 1948, succeeding his high school coach, Glenn Curtis, who became head coach of the professional Detroit Falcons. Wooden also coached baseball and served as athletic director. In 1947, Wooden's basketball team won the conference title and received an invitation to the NAIB National Tournament in Kansas City. Wooden refused the invitation citing the NAIB's policy banning African American players. A member on the Indiana State Sycamores' team was Clarence Walker, an African-American athlete from East Chicago, Indiana. In 1948 the NAIB changed this policy and Wooden guided his team to the NAIB final, losing to Louisville. That year, Walker became the first African-American to play in any post-season intercollegiate basketball tournament. John Wooden was inducted into the Indiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame on February 3, 1984.

UCLA
During his tenure with the Bruins, Wooden became known as the “Wizard of Westwood” and gained lasting fame with UCLA by winning 665 games in 27 seasons and 10 NCAA titles during his last 12 seasons, including 7 in a row from 1967 to 1973. His UCLA teams also had a record winning streak of 88 games, four perfect 30-0 seasons, and won 38 straight games in NCAA Tournaments. In 1967 he was named the the Henry Iba Award USBWA College Basketball Coach of the Year. In 1972, he received Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the Year award. Wooden coached his final game in Pauley Pavilion March 1st, 1975 in a 93-59 victory over Stanford. Four weeks later he would surprisingly announce his retirement following a 75-74 NCAA semi-final victory, over Louisville, and before his 10th national championship game victory, over Kentucky.

UCLA had actually been Wooden's second choice for a coaching position in 1948. He had also been pursued for the head coaching position at the University of Minnesota, and it was his and wife Nell's (to whom he was married for 53 years until her death in 1985) desire to remain in the Midwest. But inclement weather in Minnesota prevented Wooden from receiving the scheduled phone offer from the Golden Gophers. Thinking they had lost interest, Wooden accepted the head coaching job with the Bruins instead. Officials from the University of Minnesota contacted Wooden right after he accepted the position at UCLA, but he declined their offer because he had given his word to the Bruins.

Legacy
The John Wooden era at UCLA is unrivaled in terms of national championships (the next-closest school, Kentucky, won 7 championships over a 50-year period; the next-winningest coach, Adolph Rupp, won four; Bob Knight and Mike Krzyzewski have three titles each) and undefeated seasons (Wooden had four; no other coach has more than one).


UCLA celebrates John Wooden Day every February 29.


Honors
Since 1977, one of the four college basketball player of the year awards has been named the John R. Wooden Award.

Two annual doubleheader men's basketball events called the "John R. Wooden Classic" and "The Wooden Tradition" are held in Wooden's honor.

In 2003, UCLA dedicated the basketball court in Pauley Pavilion in honor of John and Nell Wooden. Wooden also has the gym at Martinsville High School and the student recreation center at UCLA named in his honor. Named the "Nell & John Wooden Court," Wooden asked for the change from the original proposal of the "John & Nell Wooden Court," insisting that his wife's name should come first. In January 2007, UCLA announced that it was in the planning stages of renovating Pauley Pavilion, with the goal of opening the renovated facility on Wooden's 100th birthday, October 14, 2010.

December 18, 2005, Congressman Brad Sherman introduced a legislation that would rename a San Fernando Valley post office in honor of Wooden. The post office near Wooden's long-time home in Encino had already been named in 2002 for Los Angeles Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn. However, Coach Wooden's daughter, Nancy Muehlhausen, lives in nearby Reseda. On August 17, 2006, it was announced that President George W. Bush had signed the legislation enacting Sherman's proposal into law. The post office at 7320 Reseda Boulevard was named the Coach John Wooden Post Office on October 14, 2006 - Wooden's 96th birthday.

To this day, Wooden retains the title Head Men's Basketball Coach Emeritus at UCLA, and attends most home games.

On November 17, 2006, Wooden was recognized for his impact on college basketball as a member of the founding class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was one of five, along with Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Dean Smith and Dr. James Naismith, selected to represent the inaugural class.


Following Wooden
Many would argue that subsequent UCLA coaches have been plagued by the success of Wooden. Wooden's heir at UCLA, Gene Bartow, went 28-5 in 1976 and lost in the national semi-finals, won 85.2% of his games (compared to Wooden's 80.8%) in two years, yet received death threats from unsatisfied UCLA fans. Wooden himself has often joked about being a victim of his own success, calling his successors on the phone and playfully identifying himself ominously as "we the alumni...". In his autobiography, Wooden recounts walking off the court after his last game coaching in 1975, having just won his tenth title, only to have a UCLA fan walk up and say, "Great win coach, this makes up for letting us down last year" (UCLA had lost in the semi-finals in 1974)

Four coaches left UCLA in the nine years following Wooden, and none of the seven former UCLA coaches since Wooden have left the school on positive terms.

One former UCLA head coach, ESPN analyst Steve Lavin (fired from UCLA in 2003), has called this post-Wooden phenomenon a "pathology," and believes that every basketball coach will eventually be fired or forced out from UCLA.

UCLA Basketball went 20 years after Wooden's retirement before winning another national championship, finally hanging a banner again in 1995 under coach Jim Harrick. Harrick was terminated by UCLA for an NCAA violation 18 months later.

In 2006, Ben Howland led the team back to the national championship game for the first time since the 1995 title game. On April 3rd, 2006, Wooden spent three days in a Los Angeles hospital receiving treatment for diverticulitis.

He was hospitalized again in 2007 for bleeding in the colon. He was released to go home on April 14th and his daughter was quoted as saying her father was "doing well".


Seven Point Creed
John Wooden's Seven Point Creed, given to him by his father Joshua upon his graduation from grammar school:

Be true to yourself.
Make each day your masterpiece.
Help others.
Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
Make friendship a fine art.
Build a shelter against a rainy day.
Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.
Wooden also has authored a lecture and a book about the Pyramid of Success. The Pyramid of Success consists of philosophical building blocks for winning at basketball and at life. He is also the author of several other books about basketball and life.


Quotes
"Be quick, but don't hurry."
"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail."
"Don't mistake activity for achievement."
"Goodness Gracious, sakes alive!"
"Little things make big things happen."
"Intensity makes you stronger. Emotionalism makes you weaker."