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John Wooden
John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as head coach for the UCLA Bruins, including a record seven in a row. No other team has won more than four in a row in Division I college men's or women's basketball. Within this period, his teams won an NCAA men's basketball record 88 consecutive games. Wooden won the prestigious Henry Iba Award as national coach of the year a record seven times and won the Associated Press award five times.
As a 5-foot-10-inch (1.78 m) guard with the Purdue Boilermakers, Wooden was the first college basketball player to be named an All-American three times, and the 1932 Purdue team on which he played as a senior was retroactively recognized as the pre-NCAA tournament national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and was retroactively listed as the top-ranked team by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. He played professionally in the National Basketball League (NBL). Wooden was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player (1960) and as a coach (1973), the first person to be enshrined in both categories.
One of the most respected coaches in the history of sports, Wooden was admired by many of his former players, including Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton. He was known for delivering short, simple motivational messages to his players, including his concept of the "Pyramid of Success", which emphasized success in life as well as in basketball. Wooden's 29-year coaching career and reputation for leadership contributed to a legacy that extended beyond sports into fields such as business, personal development, and organizational leadership.
John Robert Wooden was born on October 14, 1910, in Hall, Indiana, the son of Roxie (1887–1959) and Joshua Wooden (1882–1950), and moved with his family to a small farm in Centerton in 1918. He had three brothers: Maurice, Daniel, and William, and two sisters, one (unnamed) who died in infancy, and another, Harriet Cordelia, who died from diphtheria at the age of two.
When he was a boy, Wooden's role model was Fuzzy Vandivier of the Franklin Wonder Five, a team that dominated Indiana high school basketball from 1919 to 1922. After his family moved to the town of Martinsville when he was 14, Wooden led his high school team to a state tournament title in 1927. He was a three-time All-State selection.
After graduating from high school in 1928, he attended Purdue University and was coached by Ward "Piggy" Lambert. The 1932 Purdue team on which he played as a senior was retroactively recognized as the pre-NCAA tournament national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and was retroactively listed as the top-ranked team by the Premo-Poretta Power Poll. John Wooden was named All-Big Ten and All-Midwestern (1930–32) while at Purdue, and he was the first player ever to be named a three-time consensus All-American. In 1932, he was awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor, recognizing one student athlete from the graduating class of each Big Ten member school, for demonstrating joint athletic and academic excellence throughout their college career. He was also selected for membership in the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Wooden is also an honorary member of Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity. 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.
After college, Wooden spent several years playing professional basketball in the NBL with the Indianapolis Kautskys, Whiting Ciesar All-Americans, and Hammond Ciesar All-Americans, while he taught and coached in the high school ranks. During one 46-game stretch, he made 134 consecutive free throws, which is still a professional record to this day (the NBA record is 97 made by Micheal Williams in 1993). One notable instance made after hitting his 100th consecutive free throw had Kautskys owner Frank Kautsky pay $100 to Wooden directly during a game. He was named to the All-NBL First Team for the 1937–38 season.
During World War II in 1942, he joined the United States Navy. He served until 1946 and left the service as a lieutenant.
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John Wooden
John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as head coach for the UCLA Bruins, including a record seven in a row. No other team has won more than four in a row in Division I college men's or women's basketball. Within this period, his teams won an NCAA men's basketball record 88 consecutive games. Wooden won the prestigious Henry Iba Award as national coach of the year a record seven times and won the Associated Press award five times.
As a 5-foot-10-inch (1.78 m) guard with the Purdue Boilermakers, Wooden was the first college basketball player to be named an All-American three times, and the 1932 Purdue team on which he played as a senior was retroactively recognized as the pre-NCAA tournament national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and was retroactively listed as the top-ranked team by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. He played professionally in the National Basketball League (NBL). Wooden was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player (1960) and as a coach (1973), the first person to be enshrined in both categories.
One of the most respected coaches in the history of sports, Wooden was admired by many of his former players, including Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton. He was known for delivering short, simple motivational messages to his players, including his concept of the "Pyramid of Success", which emphasized success in life as well as in basketball. Wooden's 29-year coaching career and reputation for leadership contributed to a legacy that extended beyond sports into fields such as business, personal development, and organizational leadership.
John Robert Wooden was born on October 14, 1910, in Hall, Indiana, the son of Roxie (1887–1959) and Joshua Wooden (1882–1950), and moved with his family to a small farm in Centerton in 1918. He had three brothers: Maurice, Daniel, and William, and two sisters, one (unnamed) who died in infancy, and another, Harriet Cordelia, who died from diphtheria at the age of two.
When he was a boy, Wooden's role model was Fuzzy Vandivier of the Franklin Wonder Five, a team that dominated Indiana high school basketball from 1919 to 1922. After his family moved to the town of Martinsville when he was 14, Wooden led his high school team to a state tournament title in 1927. He was a three-time All-State selection.
After graduating from high school in 1928, he attended Purdue University and was coached by Ward "Piggy" Lambert. The 1932 Purdue team on which he played as a senior was retroactively recognized as the pre-NCAA tournament national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and was retroactively listed as the top-ranked team by the Premo-Poretta Power Poll. John Wooden was named All-Big Ten and All-Midwestern (1930–32) while at Purdue, and he was the first player ever to be named a three-time consensus All-American. In 1932, he was awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor, recognizing one student athlete from the graduating class of each Big Ten member school, for demonstrating joint athletic and academic excellence throughout their college career. He was also selected for membership in the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Wooden is also an honorary member of Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity. 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.
After college, Wooden spent several years playing professional basketball in the NBL with the Indianapolis Kautskys, Whiting Ciesar All-Americans, and Hammond Ciesar All-Americans, while he taught and coached in the high school ranks. During one 46-game stretch, he made 134 consecutive free throws, which is still a professional record to this day (the NBA record is 97 made by Micheal Williams in 1993). One notable instance made after hitting his 100th consecutive free throw had Kautskys owner Frank Kautsky pay $100 to Wooden directly during a game. He was named to the All-NBL First Team for the 1937–38 season.
During World War II in 1942, he joined the United States Navy. He served until 1946 and left the service as a lieutenant.
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