MAGAZINE
March 29, 1998 | BILL DWYRE, Bill Dwyre is sports editor of The Times
I am just steps out of John Wooden's condo when I realize he has, once again, transformed me into Jack Nicholson, gazing across the dinner table at Helen Hunt. Wooden has made me want to be a better man. My professional life is so much the antithesis of Wooden. It is basketball players with orange hair and boxers with an appetite for ear. In my world, Charles Barkley says he doesn't want to be a role model, and I thank the heavens. I am cynical, with both reason and pride.
SPORTS
April 24, 2008 | Kurt Streeter
The voice on the phone was familiar, if a bit weak. It's been a tough year, John Wooden said, reluctantly, because he doesn't like to make a fuss. He was in his Encino condominium, and had just been asked about the flu he'd fought off in January and the bone-breaking tumble he'd taken soon after. "It's been a bit hard, but I'm getting better," he assured. "Now, if Val's team performs to their abilities this week, that would put a smile on my face."
SPORTS
February 6, 1992 | JERRY CROWE, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Don MacLean, who needs only 45 points to do so, will soon replace Lew Alcindor as UCLA's scoring leader. But Alcindor's legacy as perhaps the most dominant player in college basketball history will remain. Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, could have put his scoring records out of reach if he had been so inclined, former UCLA coach John Wooden said this week. He could have scored more points, Wooden said, than the all-time leader, Pete Maravich, who averaged 44.
SPORTS
February 20, 2008 | Sean Ceglinsky, Special to The Times
Tyler Trapani couldn't have been more than 6 when his great-grandfather, John Wooden, decided to begin teaching him a thing or two about the game of basketball. The legendary coach was patient with his great-grandson, initially going over the fundamentals while being careful not to discourage the impressionable youngster. More than 11 years later, Trapani, a senior at Simi Valley High, doesn't remember much about those early lessons.
BUSINESS
June 2, 2008 | Jerry Hirsch, Times Staff Writer
John Wooden is generally regarded as the nation's greatest basketball coach. His UCLA teams during the 1960s and 1970s won 10 NCAA men's basketball national championships and set records for consecutive victories. But since retiring in 1975, the 97-year-old coach has gained fame as a philosopher and motivator. His "Pyramid of Success" guide to life is revered by former players and business leaders for its insight on how to help individuals to grow and how to manage organizations.
NEWS
December 29, 1999 | ROBYN NORWOOD, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Time was, this was Titletown. It was true for college basketball perhaps more than any other sport. And who needed an entire century, anyway? The last of John Wooden's 10 NCAA championships at UCLA came in 1975, ending that unrivaled era with a quarter-century to spare. In a remarkable 32-year span from 1964 to 1995, Los Angeles area basketball teams won an astounding 15 major college national titles--11 in men's basketball and four in the burgeoning women's game.
SPORTS
October 11, 1997 | TIM KAWAKAMI, TIMES STAFF WRITER
There are crises now, and there were crises 30 years ago--even at the height of the John Wooden run, even during the dynasty's finest hours. Wooden, though voicing empathy for Coach Steve Lavin's predicament, did not want to comment specifically on UCLA's indefinite suspension of starters Kris Johnson and Jelani McCoy for unspecified violations of athletic department policies and team rules.
SPORTS
January 15, 2008 | Bill Dwyre
This is about a tempest in a teapot, a condition found frequently in the silly bureaucracy of the NCAA. Just before the start of this college basketball season, UCLA received a letter of inquiry from the NCAA, seeking information about possible illegal contact between a recruit and a person representing the interests of the university. The recruit was Kevin Love, now the Bruins' star freshman center. The person representing the interests of the university was John Wooden.
SPORTS
July 1, 2008 | T.J. SIMERS
The granddaughter has been talking lately to Sissy and Fada, her two imaginary friends. The other day she was playing hide-and-seek, and asked her father to hide with her until Sissy found them. I wouldn't be surprised to learn the Grocery Store Bagger is still hiding, any reason to avoid going to work. Tough to know, though, because the former daughter took the 7-Eleven Kid to Arizona a few months back because she thought the child's father was more important than the baby's grandparents.
SPORTS
December 8, 2007 | Diane Pucin, Times Staff Writer
Seventh-ranked UCLA will play Davidson after undefeated St. Mary's plays San Diego State today in the 14th annual John R. Wooden Classic at Anaheim's Honda Center, and it was the man in the middle of the dais, the sprightly 97-year-old whose "classic" this is, who was the star attraction Friday.