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John Wooden

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John Robert Wooden is considered the greatest NCAA basketball head coach of all time. But many people knew him simply as a coach. On the court, Wooden led the UCLA Bruins men’s basketball program to an impressive number of wins, with a 664-162 record, and was named NCAA College Basketball Coach of the Year six times.

In his more than 40 years as a coach, and through his years as head coach at UCLA, Wooden built teams, an elite athletic program, and a legacy that astounded the sports world. While his success on the court is heavily celebrated, Wooden’s teachings extend far beyond the realm of sports. A master teacher, he created the Pyramid of Success and wrote several books to share his philosophy with the world.

John Wooden was born Oct. 14, 1910, in Hall, Indiana, to Roxie Anne and Joshua Hugh Wooden. He grew up on a modest farm with no electricity, where he rose early every morning to help milk the cows and do other farm chores before he headed to school. It was his father that gave him the very first foundation of what would later become the Pyramid of Success.

Wooden began playing a rudimentary version of basketball with his three brothers Maurice, Daniel, and William—with a homemade basketball and a tomato basket as a hoop in a barn. But 17 years later, after moving to Martinsville, he would lead the town’s high school basketball team to the Indiana State championship in 1927.

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