R.I.P. indeed. You can't say enough about John Wooden's greatness.

I've been the official scorer for a Pac-10 men's basketball team for the past 25 years, so I've had lots of chances to come into contact with UCLA basketball players, at least on a superficial level.

When checking into a game, the NCAA used to require that a player report to the scorer and tell him which player he was replacing. A few years ago, for reasons I don't know, the NCAA dropped that rule, and now players still have to check in, but don't have to say whom they're going in for. I personally like to know who they're replacing, because it makes my job a little easier. There's exactly one team whose players still report the old way, and clearly state whom they're going in for - UCLA. And that's because of John Wooden, who ingrained in the UCLA program that doing the little things is important, to the extent that 35 years after he retired, the UCLA coaches still teach their players to be respectful and helpful to the opposing scorer...

Ugh. I knew it was a matter of time given his age, but still. A peerless coach and, based on everything I've heard, a great, great man. R.I.P.

One of the all-time great Hoosiers (and Boilers). Still can't figure out how such an unrelenting gentleman went untouched by the noxious racism that has permeated his hometown for the past century. RIP Coach.

When checking into a game, the NCAA used to require that a player report to the scorer and tell him which player he was replacing. A few years ago, for reasons I don't know, the NCAA dropped that rule, and now players still have to check in, but don't have to say whom they're going in for. I personally like to know who they're replacing, because it makes my job a little easier. There's exactly one team whose players still report the old way, and clearly state whom they're going in for - UCLA. And that's because of John Wooden, who ingrained in the UCLA program that doing the little things is important, to the extent that 35 years after he retired, the UCLA coaches still teach their players to be respectful and helpful to the opposing scorer...

Sure wish Wooden could have spoken with Karl Hobbs. Three times in the past two seasons (even more incredibly, all three occurred against Dayton), GW received a technical for having 6 men on the court when a player checked in and didn't get a teammate to leave the court.

Wooden was great coach and a fine man. He not only taught his players how to win, but also how to live their lives. R.I.P.

(Torre?)

Still can't figure out how such an unrelenting gentleman went untouched by the noxious racism that has permeated his hometown for the past century.

Hall, Indiana?

Hall, Indiana?

That was the small town where he was born. He grew up and went to high school in the nearby larger town of Martinsville, which has a rich Klan history and remained openly racist into the 21st century.

When I was in fifth grade, I took a trip with a couple friends to a cabin in Lake Arrowhead. We went up to play in the snow. At some point on that trip, as the college basketball season was getting underway, I heard a radio personality say that if the Bruins were to win the NCAA championship that year, it would be their 11th in 20 years. Now, at that time I was more interested in the math, though I knew I was a UCLA fan. But it wasn't until later in life that I learned the 10 championships of which the radio personality spoke were thanks to John Wooden.

In the '90s, rooting for UCLA, leading up to their championship in 1995, I learned more about the greatness of John Wooden. And from everything I learned, he received more credit as a great person than he did as a great basketball coach. I have memories of Kareem Abdul Jabar and Bill Walton going on Roy Firestone's show with Coach Wooden and lauding the man, even moreso than they lauded the coach.

In 2005, I spent a season watching the greatest college basketball team I've ever seen, the 2004-2005 Illinois Fighting Illini. One of their signature wins came in the Wooden Tradition at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis against highly regarded Gonzaga. After the game, Coach Wooden raved about the unselfishness of Deron Williams and Dee Brown and the rest of the Illini. They thrashed Gonzaga that night, and they did it with a style that Coach Wooden loved. Their trademark was passing and shooting, and it was all on display that afternoon. In one game that season, they made 14 passes in a possession against Northwestern before hitting a three pointer. That was the type of team Coach Wooden loved. Fundamentally sound, great shooters, great passers, great defenders. They didn't wear the blue and gold, but they were a Wooden team.

A couple years ago, I got tickets to see Coach Wooden and Vin Scully give a Q&A with TJ Simers in Los Angeles. I attended the event with my parents. Until the day I die, it will be one of my most treasured memories. I got the chance to see two of Los Angeles' greatest legends hold court, and I got to do so next to my dad, my greatest role model. I've been in Illinois for about a third of my life, but I'll always be an Angeleno, and to see those two mesmerize the crowd, and to do so with my parents, is something I'll never forget.

John Wooden is more than just a great basketball coach. He was a great individual. His contributions to the game are dwarfed by his contributions to the human race. We are all better for having experienced his greatness.

RIP, Coach.

Very eloquent, Shredder. You make it really difficult for me to make some snarky comment about TJ Simers being one of the greatest legends in Los Angeles.

Very eloquent, Shredder. You make it really difficult for me to make some snarky comment about TJ Simers being one of the greatest legends in Los Angeles.

And yet you still found a way.

R.I.P. John Wooden. Why try and add to Shredder's eulogy above? I'd rather just read it again. So I will.

From a very nice Yahoo! remembrance of his life:

Health permitting, Wooden has paid homage to Nell on the 21st of every month, visiting her grave and then writing a love letter to her, placing it in an envelope and adding it to a stack of similar letters on the pillow where she once slept. Everything in Wooden’s condo – the photos on the wall, the pillows on the bed and even some of the clutter in the living room – is exactly how Nell left it a quarter-century ago.

He was a man of such great accomplishments, yet he was so fundamentally decent.

Everyone who played for Wooden loved him. That's quite a testament. Even surly Kareem Abdul-Jabbar speaks of him fondly.

Joey: Wait a minute. I know you. You're Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You play basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Roger Murdock: I'm sorry son, but you must have me confused with someone else. My name is Roger Murdock. I'm the co-pilot.
Joey: You are Kareem. I've seen you play. My dad's got season tickets.
Roger Murdock: I think you should go back to your seat now Joey. Right Clarence?
Captain Oveur: Nahhhhhh, he's not bothering anyone, let him stay here.
Roger Murdock: But just remember, my name is [showing his nametag]
Roger Murdock: ROGER MURDOCK. I'm an airline pilot.
Joey: I think you're the greatest, but my dad says you don't work hard enough on defense.
[Kareem's getting mad]
Joey: And he says that lots of times, you don't even run down court. And that you don't really try... except during the playoffs.
Roger Murdock: The hell I don't. LISTEN KID. I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my buns every night. Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes.

John Wooden coached UCLA from 1948 to 1963 and won nothing. Then from 1964 to 1976 he won 10 titles. What was the difference? Sam Gilbert showed up as a UCLA booster.

Never saw him coach.

Seriously, while I'm too young to remember him on the sidelines, I actually looked forward to sideline interviews with the guy.

In 2005, I spent a season watching the greatest college basketball team I've ever seen, the 2004-2005 Illinois Fighting Illini. One of their signature wins came in the Wooden Tradition at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis against highly regarded Gonzaga. After the game, Coach Wooden raved about the unselfishness of Deron Williams and Dee Brown and the rest of the Illini. They thrashed Gonzaga that night, and they did it with a style that Coach Wooden loved. Their trademark was passing and shooting, and it was all on display that afternoon. In one game that season, they made 14 passes in a possession against Northwestern before hitting a three pointer. That was the type of team Coach Wooden loved. Fundamentally sound, great shooters, great passers, great defenders. They didn't wear the blue and gold, but they were a Wooden team.

It's hard to remember 46 years later, but Wooden's first championship team was really more of a sleeper than a juggernaut, even though it won all 30 of its games. The biggest player on the team was only 6'5", but they made up for it with a devastating full court press that completely wore down a succession of much taller opponents.

-----------------

Still can't figure out how such an unrelenting gentleman went untouched by the noxious racism that has permeated his hometown for the past century.

Everyone knows about how the 1965-66 all-black Texas Western team's "upset" of all-white Kentucky transformed the college basketball world, but that first Wooden championship team's trouncing of all-white Duke in the NCAA final brought a similar lesson to the ACC two years before that. I watched that game in a Duke dorm, and it was an unforgettable moment in education to watch those Duke students scream every imaginable racial epithet at the screen every time either Walt Hazzard or Kenny Washington went to the line for a foul shot. Duke had its own Twin Towers in Jay Buckley and Hack Tison, plus an All-American forward Jeff Mullins, but they were completely neutralized by the relentless UCLA defense that led to innumerable easy baskets.

Prior to this championship game, UCLA wasn't all that highly regarded, in part because of its lack of height, and in part because most of the country hadn't yet seen them play. Even the semi-final game was played late at night and didn't reach many outlets in the country, and so to many East Coast fans the win over Duke was seen as a mild upset. But to this day, that final game against Duke remains the most perfectly executed game plan I've ever seen by a college basketball team, and I say that as a lifetime Carolina fan.

John Wooden coached UCLA from 1948 to 1963 and won nothing. Then from 1964 to 1976 he won 10 titles. What was the difference? Sam Gilbert showed up as a UCLA booster.

(I don't much like the practice of posting "This," y'know, but ...)

This.

this

It's a good thing that today's pristine programs no longer have Sam Gilbert's around. Oh wait...

ESPN: O’Connor: John Wooden was Yankees fan

Nobody is perfect.


RIP Wizard of Westwood.

It's a good thing that today's pristine programs no longer have Sam Gilbert's around. Oh wait...

as Tark said: "the NCAA is so pissed off at Kentucky, they're going to put Cleveland State on probation"

By most accounts Gilbert showed up when Lew Alcindor was around. It's getting Kareem that was the seminal moment in the history of UCLA.

And heck, a lot of people have run less than clean programs and didn't win 7 titles in a row.

By most accounts Gilbert showed up when Lew Alcindor was around. It's getting Kareem that was the seminal moment in the history of UCLA.

And heck, a lot of people have run less than clean programs and didn't win 7 titles in a row.

Especially those who didn't have the pick of the best talent in California at a time when recruiting was far more local than it is today: especially when most college players stuck around to play their senior years; and especially when March Madness brackets were geographical and UCLA was the only strong team in the West. None of that is a knock against Wooden, but it's a reminder of why it would be almost impossible to duplicate his record under today's far more competitive conditions. Consecutive championships now have way more barriers to hurdle in any major sport than they did in Wooden's time, and that's why you're unlikely to see Auerbach's or Stengel's or Wilkinson's or Lombardi's records duplicated, either.

I read somewhere that Wooden did not teach his players to "box-out" for rebounds,
but rather to simply try to anticipate where the ball was going to bounce to.

Anybody else hear this?

Shredder,

Wooden has another interesting tie in with the University of Illinois. According to this link, Wooden was at the opening of Memorial Stadium in 1924 as a boy. That's the game that made Red Grange a national star after scoring five touchdowns against an unbeaten Michigan team.

"Especially those who didn't have the pick of the best talent in southern California at a time when recruiting was far more local than it is today: ...."

Fixed.

UCLA was not the only strong program in California during Wooden's early years. By the end of his reign, though, it pretty much was. For a long time, Wooden was overshadowed and beaten by the University of San Francisco and Cal. They had great programs and great coaches and got players Wooden could not.

McClymonds High School in west Oakland, where I was for a number of years a volunteer tutor, produced a lot of the talent that led to those USF championships. In the 1950s, the other Bay Area Catholic colleges, Santa Clara and Saint Mary's, were also national powers in basketball.

Wooden has another interesting tie in with the University of Illinois. According to this link, Wooden was at the opening of Memorial Stadium in 1924 as a boy. That's the game that made Red Grange a national star after scoring five touchdowns against an unbeaten Michigan team.

Tell me about it. If you look closely, you might be able to see Wooden in the crowd entering the stadium.

------------------

UCLA was not the only strong program in California during Wooden's early years. By the end of his reign, though, it pretty much was. For a long time, Wooden was overshadowed and beaten by the University of San Francisco and Cal. They had great programs and great coaches and got players Wooden could not.

I'm aware of those Woolpert and Newell programs, Rich, but I was referring to Wooden's later career. Once he began that string of championships, it seemed as if every prime prospect in the state gravitated to Westwood. No school in history with the possible exception of post-WWII Kentucky ever dominated its broader region as thoroughly as UCLA did from the mid-60's through the mid-70's.

McClymonds High School in west Oakland, where I was for a number of years a volunteer tutor, produced a lot of the talent that led to those USF championships.

Not to mention one of Bill Russell's teammates.

In the 1950s, the other Bay Area Catholic colleges, Santa Clara and Saint Mary's, were also national powers in basketball.

Yeah, and this guy was pretty good, too. The first basketball player ever to make the cover of SI.

But to this day, that final game against Duke remains the most perfectly executed game plan I've ever seen by a college basketball team, and I say that as a lifetime Carolina fan.

The Yankees, the Celtics, and the Tar Heels. Sheesh, did you root for the Nazis too?

"I was referring to Wooden's later career. Once he began that string of championships, it seemed as if every prime prospect in the state gravitated to Westwood."

A good friend of mine was a high school teammate of Dave Butler's and Jay Bilas's at Rolling Hills HS (near Los Angeles). Their team was very good and had a number of guys who wanted to play at UCLA, including Bilas. (I think Butler prefered Cal all along.) But for no particular reason, UCLA (6 years after Wooden retired) had no interest in them. Bilas had said that if UCLA would have replied to his inquiries, he never would have ended up at Duke.

The Yankees,the Celtics, and the Tar Heels. Sheesh, did you root for the Nazis too?

No, but they did have a national anthem to die for.

wooden was my grandpas baseball coach in high school. still have his varsity letter where wooden is listed as both athletic director and baseball coach.