John Wooden, college basketball’s most successful coach, died Friday in Los Angeles of natural causes. He was 99. An obituary is here.
Wooden’s teams at U.C.L.A. won 10 national championships in the ’60s and ’70s.
Last year, I wrote a tribute to Wooden when he turned 99. It is here.
As a youth, I went to the first annual John Wooden basketball camp at the Cal Lutheran campus in Thousand Oaks. I still have an autographed photo — and the playbook (which came with Wooden’s legendary “pyramid of success” illustration). We also attended games at Pauley Pavillion in Westwood. (Both of my parents went to U.C.L.A.)
Here’s the video of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (whom Wooden called “Lewis” for Lew Alcindor at our camp) honoring Wooden at 99. It sums up the coach well — the guy was a treasure:
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