John Wooden with (from left) Mike Lynn, Lucius Allen, Mike Warren, and Lew Alcindor after UCLA won the NCAA title in 1968. (Associated Press)
John Wooden, the “Wizard of Westwood,’’ whose UCLA men’s basketball teams won 10 NCAA titles between 1964 and 1975 and which recorded a record 88 consecutive victories between 1971 and ’74, died last night at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he had been hospitalized since May 26. He was 99.
“We want to thank everyone for their love and support for our father. We will miss him more than words can express,’’ his son, James, and daughter, Nancy Muehlhausen, said in a statement.
“He has been, and always will be, the guiding light for our family. The love, guidance, and support he has given us will never be forgotten. Our peace of mind at this time is knowing that he has gone to be with our mother, whom he has continued to love and cherish.’’
In 1989, Sports Illustrated described Mr. Wooden as “the greatest basketball coach ever.’’ He won seven of his 10 NCAA championships in a row. The basketball coaches with the second-most NCAA titles, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp, won four.
Mr. Wooden’s 1971-72 team set an NCAA record for average margin of victory, 30.3 points. Four times he coached an unbeaten team. He had a winning percentage at UCLA of .808 — and a career winning percentage of .813. He did all this despite a regular turnover of personnel. The one constant at UCLA, other than its powder-blue-and-gold colors, was Mr. Wooden.
Himself a standout player, Mr. Wooden was a three-time All-American guard at Purdue University. He is one of only three individuals to be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both player and coach. (The others are Lenny Wilkens and Bill Sharman).
The John R. Wooden Award, honoring college basketball’s player of the year, has been given since 1977.
Among players Mr. Wooden coached were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (or, as he was then known, Lew Alcindor), Bill Walton, Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe, Henry Bibby, Gail Goodrich, Dave Meyers, Marques Johnson, Lucius Allen, Keith Erickson, Walt Hazzard, and Willie Naulls.
“It’s kind of hard to talk about Coach Wooden simply, because he was a complex man. But he taught in a very simple way. He just used sports as a means to teach us how to apply ourselves to any situation,’’ Abdul-Jabbar said in a statement released through UCLA.
“He set quite an example. He was more like a parent than a coach. He really was a very selfless and giving human being, but he was a disciplinarian. We learned all about those aspects of life that most kids want to skip over. He wouldn’t let us do that.’’
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