WOODEN'S WINNING WAYS; UCLA COACH HELPED PLAYERS ON, OFF COURT.

Byline: Holly Andres Staff Writer

John Robert Wooden, whose achievements were so outstanding that he was inducted twice into the Basketball Hall of Fame, takes pride in the way that he helped develop winners on the basketball court and in life.

Wooden has been an Encino resident for many years, but he was born to Joshua and Roxie Wooden on Oct. 14, 1910, on a 60-acre farm near Centerville, Ind.

The farm had neither running water nor electricity. Rural life in the 1920s was not prosperous for the Woodens, who went bankrupt and lost their farm. In 1924, they moved to Martinsville, Ind.

Here he began to attain the kind of success that would mark the rest of his career.

Wooden became a star basketball player on the Martinsville High School team and went to the state championships three times.

Wooden attended Purdue University, where he was an English major. He won letters in basketball and baseball. From 1930-32, the 5-foot-10-inch Wooden was an All-American basketball guard. He captained Purdue's 1931 and 1932 teams that went on to capture two Big Ten championship titles and also the 1932 national championship.

For his college performance on the court, Wooden was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, for the first time, as a player. In 1976, Wooden was inducted again for his outstanding coaching ability, the only person to have been so honored.

His name was inscribed on Purdue's academic honor role in 1932. He was awarded the Big Ten Conference medal for merit and proficiency in scholarship and athletics in 1932.

He married Nell Riley in 1932 after graduation from Purdue. They would be married until her death in 1985. Wooden has two children, seven grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.

He began his teaching career at Dayton High School in Kentucky, teaching English and coaching all sports at the high school. His first basketball team had a losing season, the only one in Wooden's entire career. In 1934, the Woodens moved to South Bend, Ind., staying for nine years. Wooden taught English at South Bend Central High School and coached basketball, baseball and tennis.

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943 and served until 1946 with the rank of full lieutenant. He was ordered to report to the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, which was in the South Pacific. Fate stepped in, however, when he needed an emergency appendectomy before he could join the ship. A Japanese kamikaze plane crashed into the ship, killing all those on board, including the officer who had taken his place.

After the war, Wooden accepted a job at Indiana State University, where he was the athletic director. He coached the basketball and baseball teams for two years before he accepted the call from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1948.

In the late '40s, the Bruins were considered the weakest team in the Pacific Conference. But the team won 22 out of 29 games in Wooden's first season as coach. The following year, the Bruins record was 24-7 and they won their conference championship. The team from Westwood won the Pacific Conference title again in 1952, 1956, 1962 and 1963.

The Bruins had a perfect season in 1964, winning the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship that year. The following year, the team's record was 28-2 and the Bruins again won the NCAA title.

``We try to control the speed of the game. That's fundamental. We strive to be in better condition, but that can't be proved in a 40-minute game unless we can run them tired in the first 30 minutes. If we are in better condition, it will show in the last 10 minutes. We sprint a lot on the floor to achieve that condition, because we feel the game is played in short bursts of speed. The fast break is my system. We'll win 50 percent of our games by outrunning the other team in the last five minutes,'' Wooden said about his game philosophy.

Among the great basketball players that Wooden coached were Lew Alcindor, later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton. Wooden retired from coaching in 1975 after 27 years at UCLA. Under his leadership, the Bruins won 10 NCAA championships, including seven in a row. His teams established the all-time NCAA consecutive win-streak record of 88 wins over a four-season period.

Besides all the statistical records, Wooden is remembered for the rules to live by that he shared with his students and enthusiastic basketball fans. The three rules that his players had to abide by were: be on time, use no profanity during the game and never criticize a teammate. His ``Pyramid for Success'' formula, shared with the public, includes industriousness, enthusiasm, faith and patience. Success will be attained if these four principles are followed, he said.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Coach John Wooden, center right, is shown with the 1963-64 UCLA Bruins, who won their first NCAA Championship that season.

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(2) no caption (John Wooden)

Stan Troutman and Norm Schindler/UCLA