Category — John Wooden

A tip of the cap to Sports By Brooks for this gem.
Just days after the passing of John Wooden, the L.A. Times made the mistake of recycling a story about the late Sam Gilbert and his influence on the UCLA basketball program. The newspaper also printed some questionable info in Wooden’s obituary, published June 5.
The Gilbert piece, titled “The Dark Side of UCLA Basketball” and written by Chris Dufresne, ran June 8 and rehashed old stories that had been told years ago. Nothing new.
I asked to a friend about why the Times would pull out the Gilbert story, particularly when it offered no new material, less than a week after Wooden’s death. We concluded the large pro-USC wing at the Times must have gotten wind of the NCAA getting set to bust the Trojans’ golden egg. Kidding of course.
Former UCLA basketball player Andy Hill, who wrote “Be Quick, But Don’t Hurry,” about Wooden’s philosophies, was none too pleased with the obit or the Gilbert piece. Though he isn’t mentioned in the Gilbert piece, he rips Dufresne a new one.
Money Players

Bill Walton, who gave John Wooden more gray hairs than any of his UCLA players, Gail Goodrich, Walt Hazzard and Jerry Norman offer their thoughts and perspective on the late coach, who passed Friday at the age of 99. Goodrich and Hazzard played on Wooden’s 1st national championship team in 1964.
L.A. Times

As T.J. Simers says, much will be said and written about the legendary coach during the next week or so. We’ll start with Simers, who spent considerable time with the Wizard in the past few years.
L.A. Times

The legendary coach passed today after being hospitalized since May 26 for dehydration. He was 99.
Wooden guided UCLA to 10 national championships and was college basketball’s greatest coach. He retired from coaching in 1975 after leading the Bruins to his final national championship. Reports of Wooden being in “grave” condition began circulating Thursday night.
We’ll obviously have more on the coach during the weekend.
ESPN LA

John Wooden celebrates No. 99 today. And so do we. Here are 99 facts you should know about one of the greatest of all time.
L.A. Times