John Wooden Trivia Quiz

Answer: Indiana

John Wooden was born in Hall. Wooden was an outstanding high school athlete and student in the Hoosier State. Although Wooden eventually moved to the glitz and bright lights of Los Angeles, he maintained the values of modesty and hard work which he had learned growing up in Indiana.

Answer: Purdue

John became a star basketball player for the Purdue University Boilermakers, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. Wooden was a three-time All-American player (1930-1932) for Purdue, and he helped the Boilermakers to win the unofficial 1932 NCAA National Championship.

In 1961, Wooden was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player. Wooden was also an excellent student at Purdue, earning a Bachelor's Degree in English. Minnesota is known as the Golden Gophers, Indiana's teams are nicknamed the Hoosiers, and Penn State is nicknamed the Nittany Lions.

Answer: Indiana State

Sycamores in Terre Haute in 1946. Wooden coached the Sycamores for two seasons, and his teams had a regular season record of 44-15. While at Indiana State, Wooden also coached the baseball team and earned a Master's Degree in Education. Wisconsin's teams are known as the Badgers, Missouri is nicknamed the Tigers, and Ohio's teams are nicknamed the Bobcats.

Answer: Pete Maravich

Wooden joined UCLA for the 1948-49 season, but he didn't win his first NCAA title until the 1963-64 campaign. The 1963-64 Bruins were not a very tall team, but players such as Walt Hazzard, Gail Goodrich, and Fred Slaughter were quick, hard-nosed competitors. Wooden's teams used a full-court zone press to force numerous turnovers, leading to easy baskets for the Bruins. "Pistol" Pete Maravich was a star basketball player for LSU from 1966-1970. Maravich led the NCAA in scoring three times during his career with the Tigers.

Answer: Texas Western

Don Hoskins and the Texas Western Miners defeated the Kentucky Wildcats by the score of 72-65 in the final game. This was the only time that John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins did not win the NCAA championship between 1964 and 1973. During the 1965-66 season, UCLA "only" had a record of 18-8, and Oregon State won the Pacific-8 Conference title that year.

Answer: Wizard

John Wooden received the nickname after the Westwood Village of Los Angeles where the UCLA campus is located. Wooden supposedly never liked the moniker "wizard" because he felt this word implied that magic or voodoo contributed to his team's success. Wooden believed that his squads won games because of hard work and superior motivation. Wooden also insisted that his UCLA Bruins were usually better prepared than their opponents were.

Answer: Pyramid of

John Wooden's "Pyramid of Success" was the cornerstone of his basketball and life philosophy. Wooden preached that 15 basic building blocks such as enthusiasm and team spirit were essential for any successful endeavor in life. Wooden often said, "Perfection is impossibility but striving for perfection is not. Do the best you can. That is what counts". Star players such as Lew Alcindor and Sidney Wicks embraced the Pyramid of Success long after they had graduated from UCLA.

Answer: Bill Walton

Center Bill Walton was one of the greatest stars at UCLA during the Wooden era. In the 1973 NCAA title game, Walton had a game for the ages. Walton hit 21 of 22 shot attempts to rack up an impressive total of 44 points in UCLA's 87-66 victory against Memphis State. Walton led Wooden's UCLA Bruins in back-to-back 30-0 seasons in 1972 and 1973. Walton would later lead the Portland Trail Blazers to an NBA title in 1978. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor) played for UCLA from 1966 to 1969. Marques Johnson and Lynn Shackelford were forwards at UCLA.

Answer: Pauley Pavilion

Pauley Pavilion, built on the campus of UCLA, became synonymous with college basketball excellence during the John Wooden Era. This indoor arena was named after Edwin Pauley, a University of California Regent who donated money to help build the facility. Pauley Pavilion opened for the 1965-1966 UCLA basketball season, and the Bruins were nearly impossible to defeat on their home court during the Wooden era. Between 1965 and 1975, Wooden's UCLA teams compiled a staggering record of 149-2 at Pauley Pavilion.

Answer: Gene Bartow

Gene Bartow had the unenviable task of filling John Wooden's gigantic footsteps. Bartow, a native of Missouri, had previously coached at Memphis State and at Illinois before taking over at UCLA for the 1975-76 season. Bartow coached the Bruins from 1975 to 1977, compiling a solid record of 52-9.

However, Bartow wasn't able to lead the Bruins to an NCAA basketball title. In 1977, Bartow left UCLA to become head coach of basketball at Alabama-Birmingham.