JOHN R. WOODEN
October 14, 1910 - June 4, 2010
The UCLA basketball program earned an international reputation as being No. 1. thanks in large part to the work of John R. Wooden, the late Bruins’ head coach who guided the Bruins to 10 NCAA championships in the final 12 seasons of his 27-year tenure at UCLA. Wooden retired at the conclusion of the 1974-75 season with an all-time head coaching record of 885-203 (40 years, including 27 at UCLA). His 81.3 winning percentage is the highest in the sport’s history. In 27 seasons at UCLA, he went 620-147 while earning far more honors than any other coach at any other university.
Wooden celebrated his 99th birthday on Oct. 14, 2009 and passed away on June 4, 2010. Under his leadership, UCLA won an unprecedented 10 NCAA championships, including seven consecutive titles from 1966-73. Included in that string of titles is one of the most impressive streaks in modern-day athletics – 38 straight NCAA Tournament victories.
In addition, Wooden guided UCLA to the all-time NCAA men’s basketball record of 88 consecutive wins spanning four seasons. The Bruins recorded consecutive 30-0 seasons in 1971-72 and 1972-73. UCLA won 149 of 151 games in Pauley Pavilion with Wooden at the helm. Wooden became the only coach to record four undefeated seasons (at 30-0). His UCLA teams captured 19 conference championships, the record of which he was most proud. Wooden became the first person inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.
Complementing the honors listed elsewhere in his biography, Wooden received two other accolades of which he was especially proud. He was named the 1969 “Outstanding Basketballl Coach of the U.S.” by his demonination, the Christian Church, for his services to collegiate basketball and the community. The other honor was having his hometown of Martinsville, Indiana, name a street after him and at the same time serving as the 1969 King of the famed Morgan County Fall Foliage Festival and Grand Marshal of the Festival Parade. The
city’s high school gymnasium also bears his name.
Born in Hall, Ind., on Oct. 14, 1910, Wooden attended high school there and won all-state prep honors in basketball three consecutive years, leading Martinsville High to the Indiana State title in 1927 and runner-up in 1926 and 1928.
At Purdue University, he won letters in basketball and baseball his freshman year and later earned All-American honors as a guard on the basketball team from 1930-32. He captained Purdue’s basketball teams of 1931 and 1932 and led the Boilermakers to two Big Ten titles and the 1932 national championship.
Wooden’s name was inscribed on Purdue’s academic honor roll and he was awarded the 1932 Big Ten Conference medal for outstanding merit and proficiency in scholarship and athletics. Shortly after graduating from Purdue in 1932, he married his charming wife, Nell. He began his teaching career at Dayton High School in Kentucky where he coached numerous sports.
After two years, he returned to the state of Indiana where he coached basketball, baseball and tennis at South Bend Central High School and taught English for nine years. His impressive 11-year prep coaching record was 218-42.
World War II interrupted his coaching career as he served as a full lieutenant in the U.S. Navy from 1943-46. Following his discharge in 1946, he went to Indiana Teachers College (now Indiana State University) as athletic director, basketball and baseball coach for two seasons prior to moving to UCLA.
Wooden and his wife, Nell, who died in Los Angeles on March 21, 1985, were married for 53 years. Parents of a son, James Hugh, and a daughter, Nancy Anne, John has seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. UCLA’s basketball floor in Pauley Pavilion was dedicated “Nell and John Wooden Court” on Dec. 20, 2003.