home

John Wooden, R.I.P.

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Off Topic
Posted on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 09:43:03 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

The greatest basketball coach in history, John Wooden, has passed away:

John Wooden, a staid Midwesterner who migrated to U.C.L.A. and became college basketball’s most successful coach, earning the nickname the Wizard of Westwood and an enduring place in sports history, died Friday at Ronald Reagan U.C.L.A. Medical Center, where he had been hospitalized since May 26. He was 99.

< Souter On Constitutional Interpretation And The Kagan Hearings | Joran Van der Sloot Arrives at Lima Police Station >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    John Wooden, R.I.P. | 21 comments (21 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

    It's sad (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by jbindc on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 09:50:33 AM EST
    But it's not. He was 99 and had a good full life.

    May he rest in peace.

    Wow (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Ga6thDem on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 10:38:11 AM EST
    he lived an amazing 99 years!

    This is how we put our socks on, gentlemen (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by Dadler on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 11:48:38 AM EST
    Classic. RIP.

    For want of a nail (none / 0) (#8)
    by jondee on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 11:51:50 AM EST
    a shoe was lost, for want of a shoe a horse was lost..

    Parent
    Perfect (none / 0) (#9)
    by Dadler on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 12:02:19 PM EST
    BTW, trying to get the memoir blog back on track after our adoption experience, and had an ironic Memorial Day in that respect.

    Parent
    IIRC, students at UCLA actually (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by observed on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 12:48:24 PM EST
    graduated, which is the most important accomplishment a college coach can claim.

    RIP (none / 0) (#2)
    by ruffian on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 09:52:12 AM EST
    His UCLA team and 'the streak' made me a basketball fan. Here's to a long life well lived.

    88 wins in a row (none / 0) (#14)
    by brodie on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 12:50:01 PM EST
    is mind-boggling, especially given some of those hostile places they had to play every year (schools in WA and OR in particular) and with no shot clock, so less skilled teams would try to get a lead then simply hold onto the ball.

    7 titles in a row.  Making it to the Final Four 7 times in a row would be outstanding, but to win each time is amazing.

    10 titles in 12 yrs is a basketball dynasty even greater and more impressive, because of the one-and-done nature of the tournament, than the Celtics run in the 60s.

    Parent

    Definitely more impressive than any such (5.00 / 1) (#15)
    by ruffian on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 03:12:15 PM EST
    streak in pro sports, since there is a lot more player turnover in college sports. It is a new team nearly every year, with Lew Alcindor  (Kareem abdul-Jabar later) and Bill Walton as the bookends.  I think those of us sentient at the time were very lucky.

    Parent
    Sports radio show last night (none / 0) (#3)
    by oculus on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 10:31:37 AM EST
    was going nuts.  But a couple people they interviewed who were close to Wooden for many years sd. Wooden told them he was ready to go.  Stopped eating.  

    Read His Autobiography (none / 0) (#5)
    by john horse on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 11:28:15 AM EST
    a few years ago and it made me appreciate Wooden even more, as a player, as a coach and as a person.  

    May he rest in peace.

    RIP Mr Wooden (none / 0) (#7)
    by jondee on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 11:50:42 AM EST
    People always talk about those UCLA vs Houston games, but the one I'll always remember is the high drama, intensity and aerial thrills (via David Thompson) of that UCLA - NC State game.

    With many other games in (very) close second place.
     

    Parent

    That is the first one that pops into (none / 0) (#10)
    by ruffian on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 12:07:16 PM EST
    my mind too. Blew my young mind with how tense sports could make me just watching on TV. My brothers and I were absoltuely stuck to the TV.

    Parent
    The six four David Thompson (none / 0) (#11)
    by jondee on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 12:19:27 PM EST
    rising up and blocking FROM BEHIND one of Walton's above-the-rim lay-ins..

    That image stays in my mind..

    Parent

    No question Thompson (none / 0) (#12)
    by brodie on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 12:44:36 PM EST
    was a great collegiate player, and probably better than the UCLA coaches expected to see that day.  One of the greatest vertical leapers in the history of the game.  Of course, in Walton's defense, the NCAA had outlawed the dunk, so he necessarily had to finesse the ball into the basket to avoid the silly technical foul, instead of slamming it in, as he would do in the pros.

    Great game, and NC State was probably the one team that matched up really well with the Bruins that year at several key positions.   Also didn't hurt their chances that they played the game in their home state.

    Can't win 'em all, and by that time UCLA had won 7 titles in a row and as an earlier game showed that year, opponents were really gunning for them and the Bruins were showing signs of being mortal.

    Parent

    Oooh, the latent pain is coming back... (none / 0) (#16)
    by ruffian on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 03:17:39 PM EST
    Two great players. No shame in being beat by David Thompson, that's for sure. But that was a tough day for the young Ruffian! Big Bill Walton probably took it better.

    Parent
    Not from some of the public (none / 0) (#17)
    by brodie on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 04:12:43 PM EST
    comments I recall hearing -- Walton took it hard.  Almost blamed himself for the loss, his final season for UCLA and Wooden.  He was still talking about it (when someone would impolitely bring it up on air) decades later.

    Of course Wooden was never one for scouting an opponent or preparing his team specifically to play a given opponent, so this was probably one of those very few times when such an unusually narrow approach was not going to work.  And it's a virtual certainty that the NC St coach did have UCLA well scouted.  Plus he had available the not insignificant first-hand input from fellow ACC member Maryland and their brilliant coach Lefty Driesell, whose very talented and high rated team nearly beat the Bruins earlier that year -- at UCLA.

    As for David Thompson -- what might have been what should have been, in terms of a great pro career and the HoF.  But I think he came along when hard drug use (i.e., cocaine) was rampant in the NBA, and he got badly caught up in it, iirc, and couldn't pull away.  But man could that guy elevate.  

    Parent

    He had all the tools to be (none / 0) (#18)
    by jondee on Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 05:27:51 PM EST
    one of the greats; he even had a good outside shot. He also had, if I recall correctly, along with the substance abuse issue, a couple of fairly serious injuries that slowed him down considerably. But it was probably the drug problem that put the final nail in the coffin.

    That game was just a classic case of two very evenly matched teams, who probably would've gone to a seventh game in any best-of-seven series; if college basketball had such a thing. Neither team had anything whatsoever to be ashamed of.  

    Parent

    1972 NCAA Finals - UCLA 81, FSU 76 (none / 0) (#21)
    by john horse on Sun Jun 06, 2010 at 09:31:49 AM EST
    The game I'll always remember was one of the first NCAA finals I saw on tv - the 1972 Finals.  I remember the 1972 UCLA team because I was and am a big FSU supporter.  

    Talk about a cinderella team, how about the 1972 FSU Seminoles.  All coach Hugh Durham had to do to win the national championship was to beat Adolf Rupp (Kentucky), Dean Smith (North Carolina) and John Wooden.  

    FSU were heavy underdogs against Wooden's UCLA team led by Bill Walton.  FSU had a pretty tough center by the name of Dave Cowens.  FSU made it close but just fell short.

    I don't know if the 1972 national title was Wooden's best coaching effort but sometimes being a great coach is being able to win the games you are expected to win.


    Parent

    UCLA's 1963-4 and 64-5 (none / 0) (#22)
    by brodie on Sun Jun 06, 2010 at 10:04:22 AM EST
    championship teams, the undersized and underdog teams.  No starter taller than 6'5", iirc, first implementation of the full-court press, fast-breaking, exciting teams with Walt Hazzard and Gail Goodrich in the backcourt and the fluid Keith Erickson helping out underneath.  After these two title years, the program would be built around a tall center or strong front court, and the formerly scrappy little Bruins of the mid-60s would become overdog monsters that everyone wanted to see beaten.

    Re the 1972 FSU squad, Cowans actually had graduated a couple years before (had to look that up), although that matchup with Walton would have been fun to watch.  In any case, FSU nearly pulled it off that year for sure.  And Cowans of course went on to a stellar NBA career, probably the best small center ever in the pros.

    Parent

    My mistake on Cowens (none / 0) (#23)
    by john horse on Sun Jun 06, 2010 at 01:29:48 PM EST
    You are right about Cowens not being on the 72 FSU team that lost to UCLA.  Thanks for the correction.  Memory is not what it used to be.

    Parent
    John Wooden, R.I.P. | 21 comments (21 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment