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		John Wooden dies at 99 By Jeremy Kahn June 5, 2010

	John Wooden may have never coached a team in the Bay Area, but over his career at UCLA, he made an annual trip to the Bay Area to face the University of California Berkeley Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinal. Wooden, who led the UCLA Bruins to 10 National Championships from 1964-1975, died on Friday at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, he was 99 years old. He was born on October 14, 1910 in Hall, Indiana and then moved to Martinsville, where he played his high school basketball. Following his career at Martinsville, Wooden went on to Purdue University, where he played for Ward “Piggie” Lambert, and helped the Boilermakers win the 1932 National Championship. Wooden received his Bachelor’s Degree in English from the West Lafayette school in 1932. Wooden began his coaching career at Dayton High School in Kentucky, where he would suffer his only losing season in his entire career, as they went 6-11. Following Dayton, Wooden returned to the State of Indiana, to coach at South Bend Central. Wooden coached at South Bend Central for nine seasons, and between Dayton and South Bend Central, Wooden went 218-42 in 11 years on the high school level. After leaving South Bend Central, Wooden got his first college coaching job as the head coach at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, replacing his high school coach, Glenn Curtis. Besides coaching the basketball team, Wooden was also the Athletic Director and completed received his Masters in Education from Indiana State in 1947. Following the 1948 season, Wooden was hired at UCLA, after negotiating a three-year contract to coach the Bruins. In the year prior to Wooden’s arrival in Westwood, the Bruins went 12-13 and in his first season on the Westwood, Wooden led the Bruins to a 22-7 record, the most wins by the program since it began in 1919. Sixteen years later in 1964, Wooden led the Bruins to a 30-0 record and behind the play of Walt Hazzard, the Bruins defeated the Duke Blue Devils 98-83 for the first of 10 National Championships in 12 years for the Bruins. The following season, the Bruins returned to the National Championship game and led by Gail Goodrich, the Bruins made it back-to-back championship after defeating the University of Michigan Wolverines 91-80 After not winning the tournament in 1966, the Bruins would return to National prominence in 1967, as Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Lucius Allen and Mike Warren, the Bruins began a streak of seven consecutive National Championships, defeating the Dayton Flyers 79-64. During the 1968 season, the Bruins saw their 47-game winning streak come to an end at the hands of the Houston Cougars at the Houston Astrodome on January 20. The Bruins would gain their revenge on the Cougars, defeating them in the National Semifinals and then defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels and coach Dean Smith by the final score of 78-55. After defeating the Tar Heels for their fourth championship in five years, the Bruins would go on to face Wooden’s Alma Mater, Purdue in the final and defeated the Boilermakers and their All-American Rick Mount, 92-72, the third consecutive championship for the trio of Alcindor, Allen and Warren. Between 1967 and 1969, the Bruins won an 88 games and only lost two games. Following the graduation of the trio, the Bruins were led by Sidney Wicks and they made it four championships in a row, defeating the Jacksonville Dolphins 80-69. Led by senior Steve Patterson, the Bruins made it five championships in a row, defeating the Villanova Wildcats 68-62. With the arrival of Bill Walton ,the Bruins won their fifth championship in a row, defeating the Florida State Seminoles 81-76 in the last Final Four to be held at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. The Walton Gang, as they were known, won their seventh championship in a row, defeating the Memphis State (now Memphis) Tigers 87-66. In that final game against the Tigers, the junior out of Helix High School in La Mesa, shot 21-out-of-22 and scored an amazing 44 points. The North Carolina State Wolfpack put an end to the Bruins 38-game tournament winning streak in 1974, denying the Bruins a chance to win their eighth consecutive championship. Earlier during the 1974 season, the Bruins led the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 70-59 with a little over three minutes remaining in the game and then were outscored 12-0 during the final three minutes and the Fighting Irish put an end to the Bruins’ 88-game winning streak, the longest winning streak in NCAA Basketball history. Following the graduation of Walton and Keith (now Jamaal) Wilkes, the Bruins were led by the play of Marques Johnson, Dave Meyers and Richard Washington, and the Bruins returned to the National Championship game after a one-year absence and defeated the University of Kentucky Wildcats 92-85 in the last Final Four played in the State of California, as the game was played at the San Diego Sports Arena. Before the National Championship game, the legendary coach decided that it was time to retire and he went out on top. Wooden was preceded in death by his beloved wife Nell, who died on March 21, 1985, who died of cancer and during halftime of the UCLA game against the Michigan State Spartans in December of 2003, the UCLA Athletic Department renamed the court at Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion as Nell and John Wooden Court. Wooden is just one of three people to be elected to the James Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. Elected in 1960 as a player, Wooden was elected in 1972 as a coach. Bill Sharman, who played for the Boston Celtics was elected as a player and as a coach after his career with the Los Angeles Lakers. Lenny Wilkens is the only other member of the trio, as he was elected after playing for the St. Louis Hawks, Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers. Wilkens then led the Supersonics to the NBA title in 1979, and besides the SuperSonics, Wilkens coached the Portland Trail Blazers, Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors. He is survived by his daughter Nan and his son James, along with eight grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, including Tyler Trapani, who plays for head coach Ben Howland on the current Bruins team.