Wizard Of Westwood In Grave Condition

[CMJ]

He retired before I was born, but what a loss this will be to my favorite sport. Plus, living in LA the last 8 years, and going to a couple of UCLA games with him in attendance, is something I'll never forget

http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/city-news/john-wooden-hospitalized/

[CMJ]

RIP Coach

[Mean Green 93-98]

The best ever.

[CMJ]

The best ever.

Indeed. Even if it was a different era, with fewer contenders - 10 championships in 12 years is unbelieveable.

[SUMG]

Great coach, great man.

I saw in the paper today, that the founder and chairman of The John Wooden Award (given to our nation's best college basketball player)....also died yesterday.

[Censored by Laurie]

I hope he and Wilbur "Shooter" Flatch end up sharing that three bedroom apartment in the sky. Sad day.

[NT80]

Classy coach. I always thought he looked like the old guy on Man from U.N.C.L.E.

http://tvdetectivestore.com/images/ManFromUncle1.jpg

[TheTastyGreek]

Fun Fact:

John Wooden was a coach at UCLA for 14 years before he won his first ever postseason tournament game.

3 postseason appearances in 13 years to start his tenure at UCLA, all of them first game exits. Two of them were by double digits, the closest was a 9 point loss.

And that was back in the 40's and 50's, when many considered the NCAA tournament inferior to the NIT.

Forget T. Boone Pickens... When are we going to get our Sam Gilbert?

Edit: Looking back over it, this may read like a slap at Wooden. It isn't meant to be... It's just interesting to me that (arguably inarguably) the greatest coach in NCAA basketball history took so long to get his dynasty going. Wooden is a legend. Lucky for UCLA, they were patient back then.

Edited June 6, 2010 by TheTastyGreek

[CMJ]

Wooden won 2 titles before Gilbert came on the scene(and if I recall Alcindor signed with the Bruins before Gilbert arrived too). There is no doubt Gilbert's involvement with UCLA complicates Wooden's legacy a great deal (even tho questions remain how much Wooden knew), and I don't mean to minimize it (because I have read tons of stuff on all the things Gilbert allegedly provided - which are really stunning), but the big time programs in the 50's thru 70's were all cheating like crazy.

The NCAA didn't have(or show) teeth until the early to mid 70's - by which time Wooden's dynasty was ending.

Edited June 6, 2010 by CMJ