John Wooden
Hall of Fame Basketball Coach
John Wooden is a legend in the Bruins' Basketball history. His coaching has led them to several championships and has earned more national honors than any other university.
Under John Wooden, UCLA won an unprecedented 10 Championships, including seven consecutive (1966-73). Included in this string is one of the most amazing win streaks in all sports, 38 straight NCAA tournament victories. In addition there is the all-time NCAA consecutive win-streak record of 88 in a row over four seasons - 15-0 at the close of 1970-71, 30-0 in both 1971-72 and 1972-73, and then 13 in succession in 1973-74 before the string was broken.
"The Wizard of Westwood" is the only coach to compile four undefeated seasons of 30-0 and his Bruin teams captured 16 Conference championships (one of the records coach Wooden is most proud of).
Some of the honors Wooden received as a player and coach include: College Basketball Player of the Year (1932); National Basketball Hall of Fame (as a player); College Basketball Coach of the Year (six times); Sporting News "Sports Man of the Year" (1970); National Basketball Hall of Fame (as a coach, the only person inducted in more than one category); Sports Illustrated "Sportsman of the Year" (1973); and the First Annual Dr. James Naismith Peach Basket Award for outstanding contributions to basketball.
Born in Martinsville, IN, in 1910, John Wooden attended high school there and won All-State prep honors in basketball three years, leading Marshall High School to the State title and the runner-up spot twice. At Purdue University, he won letters in basketball and baseball as a freshman, and then went on to win All-America honors as a basketball guard in 1930-32. He captained Purdue's great teams in 1931 and 1932 and led the Boilermakers to two Big Ten titles and the 1932 National Collegiate championship.
Shortly after graduating from Purdue in 1932, he married his wife, Nell. He then began his teaching career at Dayton, Kentucky High School where he returned to Indiana where he coached basketball, baseball, and tennis and also taught English at South Bend Central High School for nine years. His impressive eleven-year prep coaching record was 218 wins and only 42 losses.
World War II interrupted his coaching career. From 1943-46, he served in the U.S. Navy with the rank of full lieutenant. Following his discharge in 1946, he went to Indiana State as athletic director, basketball and baseball coach for two seasons prior to heeding the call of UCLA.
Wooden and his wife, Nell, who died in 1985, were married 53 years. Parents of a son and daughter, John has seven grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.