John Wooden

John Wooden was a great coach. He had a lot of heart and dedication to basketball. John Wooden is a great man because he has overcame a lot of difficulties.

John Wooden was born on his parents’ farm on October 14, 1910. Their farm had no running water and money was always short for his parents. In 1924 his parents farm went bankrupt and they moved to Martinsville, Indiana. This was were John was first introduced to basketball.

John soon became the star player for his basketball team, taking them to state 3 years in a row and winning it twice. John also met the love of his life in High school, Nelle Riley. John then enrolled in Purdue University to study civil engineering, but he went and got his English major instead. While at Purdue John was an all-American three years in a row, and won a place in the hall of fame.

After graduation John was asked to join the Boston Celtics. He declined their offer and went on to start teaching and to marry Nelle. His first teaching spot was at Dayton, Kentucky where he only taught high school English. He was also in charge of all athletics activity. The basketball team had a losing season the first year he coached them. That was his only losing season at that high school. In 1948 John took a coaching spot at UCLA. John took UCLA to 22-7 in his first year of coaching and in 1964 John brought UCLA to an undefeated season and winning the NCAA championship.

John Wooden is one of my heroes because he was never afraid of a challenge. He was born in a small town and he was became very successful.