Wooden

John Robert Wooden (born October 14, 1910) is a retired American basketball coach. He is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player (class of 1961) and a coach (class of 1973). more...

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He was the first person ever enshrined in both categories; only Lenny Wilkens and Bill Sharman have since been so honored. His 10 NCAA National Championships while at UCLA are unmatched.

High school and college

Born in the small town of Hall, Indiana to Roxie Anna and Joshua Hugh Wooden, his family moved to a small farm in Centerton in 1918. After his family moved to the town of Martinsville when he was 14, he led the High School team to the state championship finals for three consecutive years, winning the tournament in 1927. He was a three time All-State selection. After graduating in 1928, he attended Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, where he was a three-time All-American guard. He helped lead the Boilermakers to the 1932 National Championship, as determined by a panel vote rather than an NCAA Tournament which began in 1939. John Wooden was named All-Big Ten and All-Midwestern (1930-32) while at Purdue University where he was coached by Piggy Lambert. He was also selected for membership in the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Wooden is also an honorary member of the International Co-Ed Fraternity Alpha Phi Omega. Wooden was nicknamed "The Indiana Rubber Man" for his suicidal dives on the hardcourt. He graduated from Purdue in 1932 with a degree in English, and later earned his Master's Degree at Indiana State Teacher's College (now Indiana State University) where he spent 1946-48 as athletic director and basketball coach.

After college, Wooden spent several years playing professionally with the Indianapolis Kautskys (later the Indianapolis Jets), Whiting Ciesar All-Americans, and Hammond Ciesar All-Americans while teaching and coaching in the high school ranks. During one 46 game stretch he made 134 consecutive free throws. He was named to the NBL's First Team for the 1937-38 season. In 1942 he enlisted in the Navy where he gained the rank of lieutenant during World War II.

Family

John Wooden met his future wife, Nellie Riley, at a carnival in July 1926. They married in a small ceremony in Indianapolis in August 1932. Afterwards, they attended a Mills Brothers concert at the Circle Theatre to celebrate. John had three brothers; Maurice, Daniel, and William. His two sisters died before reaching the age of three. One was unnamed and died in infancy, while Cordelia died from diphtheria when she was 2. John and his wife had a son, James Hugh Wooden, and one daughter, Nancy Anne Muehlhausen. Nellie passed away on March 21, 1985 from cancer.

Read more at Wikipedia.org