UCLA Bruins Basketball: Mt. Rushmore

John Wooden. The Pyramid of Success is an influential landmark in coaching and teaching and is credited for its impact far beyond sports. Arriving from Indiana, where as a player he was a three-time All-American for Purdue, Coach Wooden took the UCLA basketball team to dizzying heights during his tenure, winning ten titles in 12 seasons including an unfathomable seven in a row from 1966 – 1973. With a 620-147 record and .808 winning percentage, any conversation of “Greatest Coach Ever” begins and ends with Wooden. The Wizard of Westwood’s influence on his players is legendary. Even today, seven years after his passing and 42 years after last coaching a game, he is still universally beloved and remembered.

Wooden is enshrined in the Indiana Hall of Fame, as well as the collegiate and professional Basketball Hall of Fame. The current court at Pauley Pavilion is also named after Wooden, the Neil & John Wooden Court. As a testament to his selflessness, the court was originally named ‘John & Neil Wooden Court’ but he asked for the renaming to show his devotion to his wife. Wooden also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003, the highest honor a civilian can receive.