It is really very heartbreaking news that Legendary UCLA basketball coach John R. Wooden has died at the age of 99. A record of seven consecutive NCAA Division I National Championships was won by him. There will be a small, private funeral will be laid to rest in short time. At this time, there are no official funeral arrangements or memorial service plans. At the basketball court where he triumphed, less the 24 hours after his death there were memorials being shared.

At UCLA Medical Center, the causes of his death are natural, as per ESPN. The game of basketball was transcended by Wooden as he won 10 national championships in his 27 year occupancy with the Bruins. Today, there is sadness all through the basketball world. Jerry West said on Wooden’s death: “We’ve lost a real giant.” His condition was fluctuating between critical and grave, for the past two days the greatest basketball coach in the history of the game was ill.

“I know him as well or better than probably anyone other than his immediate family,” said Gary Cunningham, who played for Wooden from 1960 to 1962, served as an assistant under him for 10 years, then coached the Bruins from 1977 to 1979. “Or rather, I knew him so well. … It’s still sinking in for me that he’s gone,” Cunningham said.

To share the memories of players, an invitation was extended to a large group of Wooden’s former players by UCLA. Many wanted to attend but still felt too raw with emotion at his passing to appear in front of cameras and microphones so soon. An old story was also told by Cunningham, Keith Erickson, John Vallely, Marques Johnson, Jamaal Wilkes and Andre McCarter who attend the funeral.

The relationship between the coach and his players was a unique one only they can understand or express. He had made and molded players into the men they became, but their greatness and readiness to be molded had made him into the celebrated coach he became. “He didn’t swear. But what he did was, he would blow that whistle and everyone would turn, and he would say ‘Goodness gracious!’ and you knew you were in big trouble when he did that,” Erickson said. “Instead of unloading with every four-letter word.”

“When it was time to practice, there was no messing around. It was all business. He had these little 3-by-5 cards, and he had every minute down so at 3:23 we were going to be down at that basket and going over defensive rebounding drills. And then at 3:28, we’d be at this basket going over defensive stance. So it was from there to there, blow the whistle, to over here, the entire time. So when we did it with a quick pace and we did it properly, we were in and we were out in two hours. We didn’t need three or three and a half hour practices like other teams.”

Wooden’s life was a life well lived and he definitely deserves to be rewarded for his life. Today a legend has been lost by the sports but now it is time to celebrate the excellent person and basketball coach that is John Robert Wooden.

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