Sunday Surprise

Every Sunday, I read the letters to the editor in the Sports section of the Seattle Times. Yesterday, I surprised to see that mine was published, I had written to columnist Steve Kelley to comment on a column that he had written on the late UCLA coach John Wooden. The Times decided to publish it, you can read it here....

The picture above is Coach Wooden with Lew Alcindor from the 6os, along with a more recent picture of the pair. Alcindor, of course, would change his name to Kareem Abdul Jabbar and go on to a long and storied NBA career.

So Long Coach John Wooden

<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=fe05494a-5c31-4e28-b502-278d098cd3a8&amp;from=IV2_en-us_foxsports_articles" target="_new" title="Remembering John Wooden">Video: Remembering John Wooden</a>

Former UCLA Basketball John Wooden died today at 99. The first college basketball game that I remember watching on television was UCLA vs Houston in the Astrodome. Wooden was the coach of that UCLA team, they lost on that night but they would go on to win the national championship, one of seven in row. The school also went on an 88 game win streak in the early 70s. I saw him coach in person one year, I was living in Walla Walla and was visiting my Mother in the University Of Washington Hospital. I was excited to have the chance to see a big time college basketball game in person. The Bruins were being beaten badly by the Huskies. Wooden sat in his chair and never showed any expression. John Wooden was truly a unique individual. The sporting world will miss him.