John Robert Wooden

[SWedd523]

(I apologize for the length of this post)



October 14, 1910 - June 4, 2010

• First person to ever be enshrined into the HOF as a player (c/o 61) and coach (c/o 73)
• Led his Indiana high school team (as a player) to the state finals for three consecutive years, winning the title in 1927
• Three time All-State selection
• 1932 NCAA champion (as a player) at Purdue
• Named All-Big Ten and All-Midwestern as a Sophomore, Junior, and Senior
• First player to be named a three-time consensus All-American
• Played pro ball for Indianapolis, Whiting, and Hammond WHILE teaching AND coaching high school
• Made 134 consecutive free throws in a 46 game stretch
• Named NBL First Team for the 37-38 season
  
• Enlisted in the Navy in 1942, eventually gained the rank of Lieutenant during WWII
• Met his wife at a carnival in 1926 (Why add this? Keep reading.)
• After her death in 1985, he kept a MONTHLY ritual of visiting her grave and writing a love letter to her, which he added to the stack of other letters he kept on her pillow
  
• Coached two years at Dayton High School in Kentucky. His first year (6-11) was the only time he EVER had a losing record as a coach
• Coached nine years at South Bend Central before leaving for the Navy
• Final High School Coaching record? 218-42
  
• After the war, he was hired by Indiana State for three years to be the basketball coach, baseball coach, and athletic director WHILE teaching AND completing his Master's degree in Education
• He declined an invitation to the 1947 NAIB postseason tournament because they banned black players
• Invited again in 1948 (after NAIB reversed their policy) and lost in the Finals to Louisville... this was the only championship game Wooden ever lost
  
• Became UCLA head coach only because the weather in Minnesota (his first choice) kept him from receiving a scheduled phone call contract offer from the University
• Took a 12-13 team from the year before and immediately led them to a 22-7 record (the most wins in program history)
• Surpassed that mark with a 24-7 record in his second year
• Led the Bruins to four PCC Championships in his first four years (UCLA had won only twice in the previous 30 years)
  
• Final coaching record of 664-162 (.804)
• Won 10 NCAA titles in his last 12 years, including seven consecutive from 1867-73
• Won a record 88 straight games
• Won a record 98 straight home games
• Had four perfect 30-0 seasons. No other coach has more than one
• won 38 straight NCAA Tournament games!!!!!!!
• Seven time NCAA coach of the year
• 1972 Sports Illustrated "Sportsman of the Year"
• Last home game? A 93-59 victory over Stanford
• Never made more than $35,000 a year and never asked for a raise (repeatedly turned down offers from Lakers owner Jack Cooke to become the coach, likely making ten times what UCLA was paying him)
  
• His National championships (10) more than double the next closest (Coach K with 4)
• UCLA celebrates John Wooden Day every February 29
• Named "Greatest Coach of All Time" by The Sporting News in 2009
• Honored by UCLA with the title of Head Men's Basketball Coach Emeritus
• Member of the NCAA inaugural HOF class with Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Dean Smith, and Dr. James Nasmith
• Since 1977, the most coveted of four college basketball player of the year awards has been named the John R. Wooden Award. This award has attained the status of being the equivalent of football's Heisman Trophy for college basketball, with the winner announced during a ceremony held at the Los Angeles Athletic Club
• On Wooden's 96th birthday in 2006, a post office in Reseda, California was renamed the Coach John Wooden Post Office. This act was signed by President George W. Bush
• On July 23, 2003, John Wooden received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor
• Golf Digest lists John Wooden as one of four people to hit both a double eagle and a hole in one in the same round of golf
  
  John Wooden is undeniably the greatest Coach of any sport in history. He is a legend beyond comparison and is one of the most respected human beings in modern American history. He will truly be missed by millions of people.

[teej]

RIP Coach. You helped make basketball great, on and off the court.

[ND22]

The greatest coach of any sport, period. R.I.P. John Wooden.