Published: October 23, 2008 11:53 am         

Former ISU coach Wooden to enter MVC Hall of Fame

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.”