Posted on 06/03/2010 10:23:20 PM PDT by Steelers6
Legendary basketball coach John Wooden, 99, is gravely ill in hospital 99, several media outlets are reporting.
He reportedly not eaten for several days and is receiving care at UCLA Medical Center.
Wooden is best known for winning a record 10 NCAA championships in 12 seasons while coaching the Lew Alcindor-led UCLA Bruins in the 1948 to 1975.
He was born Oct. 14, 1910 in a small town in Indiana called Hall, and played his own college ball for the Purdue Boilermakers, winning a national title in 1932.
In his golden years, Wooden has been a much sought after speaker on motivation and leadership, and his "Wooden-isms" are repeated by many.
"Discipline yourself and others won't need to," he told Esquire magazine in March of this year, before adding, "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation."
He was named by ESPN as the greatest coach of the 20th century.
Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Legendary+basketball+coach+John+Wooden+gravely/3108912/story.html#ixzz0prHi2XxX
Ditto. Such a wonderful example for all. He will be sorely missed when he passes on to his reward, which I pray will be great!
My father-in-law, a Hoosier born and bred, Purdue educated, thought John Wooden was a saint. He was right.
>while coaching the Lew Alcindor-led UCLA Bruins in the 1948
>to 1975.
Kareem ain’t that old!
Remember this your life time through...
Tomorrow there will be more to do...
And failure waits with all who stay...
With some sucess made yesterday...
Tomorrow you must try once more...
And even harder then before...
phi kai phi, John!
Lots of history in pics, stats and vids.
I’m glad to see you’ve instituted a moratorium on your Los Angeles boycott.
Bill Walton’s tribute to John Wooden, written ten years ago:
http://www.billwalton.com/component/content/article/47;Itemid=55
My husband and I were freshmen at UCLA John Wooden’s final year there. We consider that we are privileged to have had that experience. My prayers are with him and his family.
Anybody who thinks that the UCLA family reverence for him is just about basketball wasn’t there. He ate lunch where the students did. Anybody could sit with him and just talk. I had a class that caused me to pass him on his daily walks. He smiled and said hello every morning.
His example, his life philosophies, his perspective, everything about who he is and what he taught will be missed when he goes. George Bush was correct when he called John Wooden a national treasure.
A true loss for all when he goes but especially for we Bruins.
Great Man; Great Coach. Peaceful Prayers for Coach Wooden.
Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.
nope!!!! but I do remember Lew’s fresh. squad whipping the varsity! can you imagine how that must have felt to the BMOC stud BB players?
I remember a friend going to the watch him play for Power Memorial High School in NYC. That was early-mid 60s.
Ronald Reagan would have been 100 next year, was born in Tampico, Illinois on February 6, 1911. About 300 miles North and West of where John Wooden was born 4 months before.
2 Great men from the same era from the Midwest who went to California about the same time and rose to the top in the 60’s and 70’s.
My grandfather and coach Wooden were church deacons together. My grandfather only missed 1 Bruins home game in nearly 20 years (roughly 1960-1980) and that was because the fog was so bad that he ran his car into the house backing it out of the garage and decided it was too thick to try and make it over to UCLA. I just wish he had invited me to at least one of those games.
I went to a game at Pauley Pavillion during the Wooden era in ‘73 (when I was 9). ...against Maryland, IIRC. It was somewhere near the end of UCLA’s record 88-game win streak. Very close contest. ...but my buddy (whose dad had season tickets) was unconcerned. ...”the Bruins ALWAYS win.” And they did.
Also attended John Wooden basketball camp in ‘73 and ‘74. ...at Cal Lutheran College and Pepperdine. Coach was there (along with several UCLA players) to give us all individual instruction. Amazing experience. As you mentioned, he was very approachable and friendly. ...and extraordinarily wise. Wisest man I’ve ever met, in fact.
Yes, Alcindor was only there four years and only played varsity three years (freshmen couldn’t play back then I believe). John Wooden is about a lot more then Lew Alcindor.
Nobody is ever going to top his record for national championships.
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