John Wooden

By Ron Maly

John Wooden coached UCLA in 767 basketball games, and I was on hand for nearly a dozen of them.

I was in the arena when the Wizard of Westwood claimed one of his 10 NCAA championships, and I was in the arena when he lost a game in the semifinal round of another Final Four.

I was in the arena at South Bend, Ind., in January, 1974, when Notre Dame ended an 88-game winning streak for Wooden and his Bruins, 71-70.

On that afternoon, 6-11 center Bill Walton--injured back and all--played.

Two nights earlier, I had been in Chicago Stadium to see a UCLA team methodically smash Iowa, 66-44, without Walton being in the lineup because of his injury.

Whenever I was in southern California in the week prior to the Rose Bowl football game, I always hoped UCLA was playing a home basketball game at Pauley Pavilion in Westwood so I could again closely observe Wooden's magic.

I jotted down some of the dates and scores of the games after hearing the sad news yesterday that Wooden had died at 99 years of age.

John Wooden was one of the major reasons I enjoyed being a sportswriter.

I certainly didn't know the man well. I'm not sure many writers did.

He was someone who always seemed low-key on the UCLA bench and everywhere else.

He had the reputation of never getting too excited about a victory--of which there were many--or too depressed about a defeat--of which there were few.

But maybe that low-key stuff wasn't always the case.

Wooden usually had that folded game program tailored to look like a cylinder in his hand, and people would sometimes tell me he'd occasionally let the referees know how he felt about their whistle-blowing without everyone else in the arena knowing it.

John Wooden's teams won 10 NCAA championships between 1964 and 1975, including seven in succession.

On UCLA's way to the 1969 title at Louisville, of course, it survived a major scare from Maury John's Drake team in the semifinal round.

UCLA finally won, 85-82, and went on to pummel Purdue, 92-72, in the championship game.

John Wooden has been called America's best basketball coach ever, and I believe it.

I also believe no one will ever win 10 national titles and seven straight again.

Not with players these days leaving college so they can compete professionally after one or two seasons.

The dynasties are over. They ended when Wooden retired.

He was quite a coach.

And quite a man.