TERRE HAUTE — John Wooden’s NCAA championship glories came later at UCLA, but his .746 winning percentage in two seasons at Indiana State remains a Sycamore coaching record. And that run, from 1946-48, has, at last, brought Wooden induction into the Missouri Valley Conference Athletics Hall of Fame.
Wooden, now 98 and living in California, will be inducted into the MVC Hall on Friday, March 6, when The Valley conducts its annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony in St. Louis.
For the sixth time in seven years, The Valley will conduct its annual Hall of Fame ceremony as part the State Farm MVC Men’s Basketball Tournament weekend on March 5-8, 2009. The 2009 Missouri Valley Conference Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place at Scottrade Center in St. Louis on Friday, March 6. The event will begin with an 8 a.m. breakfast, followed by the induction ceremony at 8:45 a.m.
A native of Hall, Ind., Wooden is the ninth honoree in the Missouri Valley Conference’s Lifetime Achievement category. The Lifetime Achievement category honors, when appropriate, former players, coaches, administrators or alumni who competed, worked or attended a current league school.
Prior to achieving legendary success as the head coach at UCLA, Wooden began his collegiate coaching career and served two years as head men’s basketball coach, baseball coach and athletics director at Indiana State from 1946 to 1948. While earning his master’s degree at Indiana State, he compiled a 44-15 record as basketball coach while leading the Sycamores to postseason tournament appearances each year and two conference championships.
In 1947, Indiana State received an invitation to play in the NAIB Tournament in Kansas City, but Wooden refused the invitation citing the NAIB’s policy banning African-American players. Clarence Walker, an African-American student-athlete from East Chicago, Ind., was a member of the squad.
In 1948, the NAIB changed the policy, and this time Wooden accepted the invitation to play in the tournament. Walker, a reserve guard for Indiana State, became the first African-American to play in any postseason intercollegiate basketball tournament. Indiana State went on lose to Louisville in the final.
Wooden then moved on to UCLA, beginning with the 1948-49 campaign. Over the course of his 27 seasons with the Bruins, he posted 620 career victories and led UCLA to 10 NCAA national championships. A six-time NCAA College Basketball Coach of the Year (1964-67-69-70-72-73), he was also selected as The Sporting News Sportsman of the Year in 1970.
A member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and coach, he was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1964 and the Indiana State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1984.
With his induction, Wooden becomes the fifth Indiana State recipient in the league’s Hall of Fame. He joins basketball star Larry Bird, track standout Holli Hyche, wrestling great Bruce Baumgartner and former student-athlete and coach Duane Klueh, who was inducted in 2006 in the Lifetime Achievement category.
Joining Wooden in 12th MVC Hall of Fame class are basketball standout Junior Bridgeman of Louisville, track and field coaching legend John Coughlan of Illinois State, late head basketball coach Eddie Hickey of Creighton and Saint Louis, women’s hoops star Lorri Bauman of Drake and late coach and athletics director John L. Griffith of Drake.
“The Missouri Valley Conference has always been progressive in its approach to collegiate athletics, and our Hall of Fame ceremony provides the stage to honor six individuals who were instrumental in the development of the Conference and its member schools,” said Commissioner Doug Elgin, who is in his 21st year with The Valley.
“These six individuals all played a significant role — at the institutional, conference, national and/or international levels -- in the evolution of collegiate athletics. These individuals collectively span a century of greatness, and we’re proud to honor them for their accomplishments as Missouri Valley Conference ambassadors.”
College
Related Photos
Discussion
Former ISU coach Wooden to enter MVC Hall of Fame
- College
-
-
ISU hurdler Swift becomes 5th Sycamore to make NCAAs
Indiana State sophomore Greggmar Swift became the second member of the men’s team and the fifth Sycamore overall to qualify for the 2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Finals at Drake University, placing second in the second heat of the 110 meter hurdle quarterfinals Saturday at the NCAA East Preliminary Round.
-
FROM THE PRESS BOX: ISU baseball has pluses, minuses for tourney bid
Last Thursday, when Indiana State’s baseball jumped around in a celebratory dogpile after clinching the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship at Bob Warn Field, no one thought that a little over a week later, the dreaded NCAA Tournament bubble would fly over Terre Haute. -
Lou Watson, former IU player and coach, dies at 88
Former Indiana University player and coach Lou Watson died on Thursday in Fairfax, Va., the school announced. He was 88.
-
METRO ROUNDUP: ISU’s Pounds qualifies for NCAA Championships
Brandon Pounds of Indiana State missed the 2011 outdoor season with a hand injury but has made up for lost time, qualifying for the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Drake University with a fifth place finish in the men’s hammer throw at the NCAA East Preliminary Friday.
-
Rose’s Liz Evans wins fourth NCAA high jump title
Junior Liz Evans became the first Rose-Hulman athlete to earn four career NCAA Division III championships by winning the women’s high jump at Friday’s 2012 outdoor national meet at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
-
Indiana State throwers advance to NCAA championships
A pair of Indiana State juniors punched their ticket to Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday as Felisha Johnson finished fifth and Mary Theisen ninth in the women’s shot put at the 2012 NCAA East Preliminary track and field championships on the University of North Florida campus.
“Both were very focused and had great starts,” ISU women’s track coach Angela Martin said. “They did just what we wanted them to … be relaxed, have fun, and do what they have already done this season.” -
Blanked by Blach: ISU drops MVC tournament opener
Things went wrong for Indiana State’s baseball team in its Missouri Valley Conference Tournament opener against Creighton, but one statistic glowed white-hot.
-
MVP of the MVC: Lucas first Sycamore to earn Player of Year honors
Indiana State’s baseball team got the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season hardware last week and it’s hoping to grab more gold this week in its quest to win the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament.
-
Sycamores try to catch Missouri Valley Conference tourney vibe
A Missouri Valley Conference championship season has bloomed for the Indiana State baseball team in 2012. The Sycamores have been dominant through most of the season.
-
FROM THE PRESS BOX: Subtle switch has fostered MVC baseball parity
When Indiana State was crowned as the regular season baseball champion of the Missouri Valley Conference last Thursday, it marked the fifth different regular season champion the league has had since 2005.
-
ISU claims Missouri Valley Conference baseball title
Entering Thursday’s game against Indiana State, Missouri State starting pitcher Nick Petree had gone 72 1/3 innings without surrendering an earned run, an unofficial NCAA record.
-
ISU baseball in familiar territory with MVC title on line
First place is there is for the taking for Indiana State's baseball team this weekend … so is redemption.
-
A time for firsts: SMWC seniors have national title aspirations
Even though St. Mary-of-the-Woods College has won eight national titles in softball in the last 16 years, seniors Sara Goelz and Jessica Jonas are among the many current Woods players who have not been part of a national championship team.
-
Win over SIU puts Sycamores in first place
As Indiana State’s baseball team tried to climb to the top of the Missouri Valley Conference mountain on Saturday against Southern Illinois, it stood to reason that the air would get more rarefied as they neared the summit.
-
Major Clay takes fourth straight MVC high jump title
For the fourth straight year, Indiana State’s Major Clay will climb to the top spot on the awards podium as the Sycamore captured his fourth high jump championship at the 2012 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference outdoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday.
The competition was conducted at Cessna Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University. -
Edgewood takes Western Indiana Conference golf crown
Edgewood and senior Jackson Cowden took top honors in the Western Indiana Conference boys golf championship played Saturday at Idle Creek.
-
North grad wins 10,000 at Big Ten Championships
Terre Haute North alumnus Zach Mayhew ran a Dan McClimon track record at the University of Wisconsin to win the 10,000 meters at the Big Ten Championships.
-
Top-seeded Rose-Hulman falls in opener of HCAC Tournament
A couple of Rose-Hulman streaks came to an end Thursday night in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament action, but the home-team jinx looks to be still alive.
-
ISU's Ort getting hot at right time for Sycamores
Indiana State’s baseball game notes list game-by-game performance for each Sycamore batter. It lists them box score-style: at-bats, runs, hits and RBI.
-
Terre Haute native getting national attention as freshman for Kentucky
On a day where Terre Haute native A.J. Reed returned home to continue his college career, he got plenty of time to be on-stage.
-
Top seed, home field doesn’t guarantee Rose success
On the surface, serving as host for the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament would appear to benefit Rose-Hulman’s No. 1-seeded team, which finished the regular season 27-12 overall and 18-6 in the conference.
-
Metro roundup: ISU’s Lucas honored by Missouri Valley again
For the fifth time in the last nine weeks, Indiana State junior catcher Jeremy Lucas has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week.
-
Sycamores top Shockers in 10 innings in MVC series opener
If free baseball is what you want, Indiana State has what you need. For the sixth time in the span of a month, ISU’s series opener went extra innings.
- METRO ROUNDUP: Rose baseball team takes first game of doubleheader
-
ISU starting pitchers in rhythm heading into Wichita State series
“Gettting into rhythm” is such an oft-used cliché in sports that it’s hard to hear the term and fight the urge to not let it enter one ear and escape another.
-
ISU goes to well too many times
Perhaps the most unnecessary pursuit for a Wabash Valley sports fan during the now-completed weekend was watching the first few innings of nonconference college baseball between Indiana State and visiting Nebraska-Omaha.
-
ISU baseball living on the edge
Indiana State’s baseball team got its game against Nebraska-Omaha in Saturday between morning and evening rain showers. But in the wake of another walk-off 3-2 victory against the struggling Mavericks, one might be forgiven if they felt the Sycamores are walking between the raindrops a bit.
-
PREP ROUNDUP: North Central baseball improves to 10-2
North Central lost a 7-1 game to Vincennes Rivet, and then Nolan Kinnett pitched the Thunderbirds to victory, adding a double and three RBIs against Riverton Parke in a pair of high school baseball games on Saturday.
-
METRO ROUNDUP: Jenkins, Goatee win inaugural Rush the Punter 5K
Steve Jenkins and TaPring Goatee were the 5K winners in the inaugural Rush the Punter event on Saturday at Fairbanks Park.
-
Providing perspective: ISU’s vets have 2009 as window into 2012
Indiana State’s baseball team has reached dizzying heights, but if the Sycamores have any trouble keeping their feet on the ground, they can turn to three teammates who can remind them how dangerous it can be to get complacent.
- More College Headlines
-
ISU hurdler Swift becomes 5th Sycamore to make NCAAs
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Astronauts Enter World's 1st Private Supply Ship
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Today in History
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Shell Readies Arctic Drill Ship
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Passenger Restrained on Flight to Miami Arrested
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
Raw Video: Soldiers Plant Flags at Arlington
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Police: Gunman Has Hostages in Realty Office
Dragon Arrives at Space Station in Historic 1st
Beer Here!: An Historic Exhibit
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Wild weather for Memorial Day weekend
Inspiration for the class of 2012
Colorado College Student Shot While Trespassing
Will Smith & Josh Brolin on "Men in Black 3"
80-Year-Old Skydiver's Nightmare Jump
JWoww Sizzles in a Black Bikini
Sliders on the Grill
Cruise ship crunch
Backstage With Beyonce
Ultimate Creamy Potato Salad
Pope's Personal Butler Under Arrest
Jenny McCarthy's New Man
Tyler's Classic Coleslaw
Britney Spears Under X Factor Fire
Flesh-Eating Bacteria Victim Hits Milestone
Hurricanes and Heat Waves Across America
Kristen Stewart Is Red Hot
Shark Attacks Australian Fishing Boat
Bradley out for playoffs
Kayaker Survives Trip Over Washington Waterfall
