Over the years of his illustrious coaching career and since his death, Coach John Wooden has received numerous awards that simply reinforce what a great individual he was. As mentioned previously in my previous blog post called 10 John Wooden Quotes, Coach Wooden was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame twice -- both as a player and a coach, becoming the first person to do so. That was not the only hall of fame he would be a member of, however.
On November 17, 2006, the
National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inducted it's first set of members. The inaugural class featured 5 individuals who have had the most distinct effect on the development of college basketball since the sport's creation in the winter of 1891 by one James Naismith. Dr. Naismith headlined this inaugural class, being the pioneer of the sport in general. The four other members to join him were Dean Smith, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson and John Wooden. Coach Wooden was inducted has been inducted into other hall of fames, however, the Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame are the only ones directly related to the sport he was most knowledgeable about -- basketball.
In 1984, Coach Wooden was inducted into the Indiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame and in 2009, he was also inducted into the Missouri Valley Conference Althetics Hall of Fame. You may be wondering, "well wasn't he inducted into UCLA's Hall of Fame?? Does UCLA even have a Hall of Fame?" The answer to both of those questions is a resounding YES! UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame was created in 1984 and like the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, Coach Wooden was a member of the inaugural class for his contributions.
Sources: http://www.uclabruins.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=30500&ATCLID=208580962
https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=John_Wooden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball#Creation
