63 Facts About John Wooden

John Robert Wooden was an American basketball coach and player.

John Wooden played professionally in the National Basketball League.

John Wooden was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and as a coach, the first person ever enshrined in both categories.

One of the most revered coaches in the history of sports, John Wooden was beloved by his former players, among them Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton.

John Wooden was renowned for his short, simple inspirational messages to his players many of which were directed at how to be a success in life as well as in basketball.

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John Wooden's 29-year coaching career and overwhelming critical acclaim for his leadership have created a legacy not only in sports but extending to business, personal success, and organizational leadership.

John Robert Wooden was born on October 14,1910, in Hall, Indiana, the son of Roxie and Joshua Wooden, and moved with his family to a small farm in Centerton in 1918.

John Wooden had three brothers: Maurice, Daniel, and William, and two sisters, one who died in infancy, and another, Harriet Cordelia, who died from diphtheria at the age of two.

John Wooden was named All-Big Ten and All-Midwestern while at Purdue, and he was the first player ever to be named a three-time consensus All-American.

John Wooden was selected for membership in the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

John Wooden is an honorary member of Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity.

John Wooden was nicknamed "The Indiana Rubber Man" for his suicidal dives on the hardcourt.

John Wooden graduated from Purdue in 1932 with a degree in English.

John Wooden served until 1946 and left the service as a lieutenant.

John Wooden coached two years at Dayton High School in Dayton, Kentucky.

John Wooden spent two years at Dayton and nine years at Central.

John Wooden refused the invitation, citing the NAIB's policy banning black players.

One of John Wooden's players, Clarence Walker, was a black man from East Chicago, Indiana.

The NAIB had reversed its policy banning African-American players that year, and John Wooden coached his team to the NAIB National Tournament final, losing to Louisville.

John Wooden succeeded Fred Cozens, Caddy Works, and Wilbur Johns; Johns became the school's athletic director.

John Wooden signed a three-year contract for $6,000 in the first year.

John Wooden had immediate success, fashioning the mark of the rarest of coaches, an "instant turnaround" for an undistinguished, faltering program.

In spite of these achievements, John Wooden reportedly did not initially enjoy his position, and his wife did not favor living in Los Angeles.

When Mel Taube left Purdue in 1950, John Wooden's inclination was to return to West Lafayette and finally accept the head coaching job there.

John Wooden was ultimately dissuaded when UCLA officials reminded him that it was he who had insisted upon a three-year commitment during negotiations in 1948.

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John Wooden felt that leaving UCLA prior to the expiration of his contract would be tantamount to breaking his word, even though Purdue offered more money, a car and housing.

Also hampering the fortunes of John Wooden's team during that time period was a probation that was imposed on all UCLA sports teams in the aftermath of a scandal that involved illegal payments made to players on the school's football team.

John Wooden credited Norman for devising the diamond-and-one defense that contained Hayes.

Alcindor and John Wooden would continue their communication even after he left UCLA.

Walton and John Wooden were everybody's Player and Coach of the Year again.

The success of John Wooden's last team was particularly impressive because it had no marquee stars such as Alcindor, Walton, Hazzard, and Goodrich; the team was a group of rugged opportunists.

The bestseller details how Hill applied his experience as a player under John Wooden to achieve success in his career as a television executive.

John Wooden's goal was to demonstrate the relevance of Wooden's coaching style to the business world.

In 2004, a 93-year-old John Wooden stated that he would not mind coming back as an assistant who could help players with practices and other light duties.

John Wooden gained lasting fame with UCLA by winning 620 games in 27 seasons and 10 NCAA titles during his last 12 seasons, including seven in a row from 1967 to 1973.

John Wooden was given a Bruin powder blue Mercedes that season as a retirement gift.

John Wooden left it as a national powerhouse with 10 national championships— the most successful rebuilding project in college basketball history.

In 2009, John Wooden was named The Sporting News "Greatest Coach of All Time".

John Wooden was named NCAA College Basketball's Coach of the Year in 1964,1967,1969,1970,1971,1972 and 1973.

On November 17,2006, John Wooden was recognised for his impact on college basketball as a member of the founding class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

John Wooden was one of five people—along with Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Dean Smith and Dr James Naismith—who were selected to represent the inaugural class.

Coach John Wooden was the ninth honouree in the Missouri Valley Conference's Lifetime Achievement category.

On February 3,1984, John Wooden was inducted into the Indiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame.

In 2000, John Wooden was honoured with the "Lombardi Award of Excellence" from the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation.

Also in 2008, John Wooden was honoured with a commemorative bronze plaque in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Memorial Court of Honour because his UCLA basketball teams played six seasons in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

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On July 23,2003, John Wooden received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honour.

In 1986, John Wooden was honoured as an Outstanding Alumnus of the School of Liberal Arts at Purdue University – the first year the award was given.

In 1976, John Wooden received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

John Wooden met his future wife, Nellie "Nell" Riley, when he was a freshman in high school They were both 21 years of age when they married in a small ceremony in Indianapolis in August 1932 and afterward attended a Mills Brothers concert at the Circle Theatre to celebrate.

John Wooden remained devoted to Nellie's memory until his own death 25 years after her passing.

John Wooden kept to a monthly ritual—health permitting—on the 21st of every month, when he would visit her crypt in the mausoleum, then write a love letter to her.

John Wooden stopped writing the letters because of failing eyesight in the last months of his life.

John Wooden read the Bible daily and attended the First Christian Church.

John Wooden was in good physical health until the later years of his life.

John Wooden was hospitalized again in 2007 for bleeding in the colon, with his daughter quoted as saying her father was "doing well" upon his subsequent release.

John Wooden was hospitalized on March 1,2008, after a fall in his home.

John Wooden broke his left wrist and his collarbone in the fall, but remained in good condition according to his daughter and was given around-the-clock supervision.

On May 26,2010, John Wooden was admitted to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after suffering from dehydration.

John Wooden remained hospitalized there and died of natural causes at age 99 on June 4,2010.

John Wooden was survived by his son, daughter, three grandsons, four granddaughters, and 13 great-grandchildren.

John Wooden lectured and authored a book about the Pyramid of Success.

John Wooden proudly claimed that these late in life windfalls allowed him to set up education accounts for all of his grandchildren.

John Wooden was the author of several other books about basketball and life.