[Wooden] passes away at 99

Bojangles · Jun 5, 2010

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet. A great coach that did things the right way for a long long time at UCLA and put up some of the most impressive records in college basketball history.

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- John Wooden, the legendary coach who guided the UCLA men's basketball team to 10 national championships in 12 years and developed a reputation as a master motivator, died Friday night in Los Angeles. He was 99.
John Wooden, 'Wizard of Westwood,' dies

Legendary UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden died Friday at UCLA Medical Center four months shy of his 100th birthday. Video courtesy of Fox Sports.

Wooden died at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center of natural causes, reports said, after being admitted last week for treatment of dehydration. He would have been 100 in October.

Known as the "Wizard of Westwood," Wooden guided the Bruins to unprecedented success that has never been matched: seven consecutive championships from 1967 to 1973 and 88 consecutive victories.

Along the way, Wooden developed such stellar players as Gail Goodrich, Walt Hazzard, Bill Walton and Lew Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

A dominant college player, the 7-foot-2 Abdul-Jabbar went on to set the scoring record in the National Basketball Association over a 20-year career with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, winning six Most Valuable Player awards along the way.

In a statement released by UCLA, Abdul-Jabbar said of Wooden: "It's kind of hard to talk about Coach Wooden simply, because he was a complex man. But he taught in a very simple way. He just used sports as a means to teach us how to apply ourselves to any situation.

"He set quite an example," Abdul-Jabbar said. "He was more like a parent than a coach. He really was a very selfless and giving human being, but he was a disciplinarian. We learned all about those aspects of life that most kids want to skip over. He wouldn't let us do that."

Another of his protégés, center Bill Walton, also went on to success in the NBA after developing his skills under Wooden's tutelage in the early 1970s. Walton's performance for UCLA in the 1973 championship game against Memphis State -- in which he made 21 of 22 field goals and 44 points in all -- has been lauded as the greatest offensive performance in college basketball history.

Walton suffered from a severe stuttering problem and refused to speak to the press after that performance. Yet he overcame that and become a broadcaster for NBA games after his basketball career ended. Walton's son, Luke, is a member of the Los Angeles Lakers team that's playing the Boston Celtics for the NBA championship.

In a tribute posted on Wooden's official Website, Bill Walton says: "I thank John Wooden every day for all his selfless gifts, his lessons, his time, his vision and especially his patience. This is why we call him coach."

Wooden won championships even when there were no marquee players on his squad. His last title, in 1975, came without a superstar on board. After that championship, Wooden retired from coaching.

He ended his college coaching career, which began in 1946 at Indiana State, without a single losing season, posting a cumulative record of 664-162.

Wooden went on to become a motivational speaker, developing a program known as the "Pyramid of Success" that became a tool not only for sports teams but corporations as well.

Russ Britt is the Los Angeles bureau chief for MarketWatch.
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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/legendary-ucla-coach-john-wooden-dies-at-99-2010-06-05

RoxSqaud · Jun 5, 2010

Your late!

YaosDirtyStache · Jun 5, 2010

RIP, great coach.

But...old news!

ItsMyFault · Jun 5, 2010

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=187367

Bojangles · Jun 5, 2010

The search engine has failed me. Ahh well, my thread is better.

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[Wooden] passes away at 99

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