LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), a member-supported public media network. Hear our news on-air at our partner site:
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
You most certainly don't have to be a Bruin to mourn the loss of UCLA basketball coaching legend John Wooden, who died yesterday at age 99, but for many Bruins, the loss is powerful.
Tributes began to pour in for the quotable coach with a staggering championship win record and a longstanding legacy of positivity and the pursuit of excellence. They began right outside UCLA's Ronald Regan Medical Center, where the ailing Wooden died following a brief hospitalization. A group of about 500 gathered at the facility, chanting "Wooden," and sharing their thoughts on the passing of the beloved man. "He was bigger than just our school," one student told a reporter. "He was college basketball."
"He was at peace, having embraced a long life so rich, so influential and, in the eyes of all who were fortunate to know him, so honorable," remarked the OC Register's obituary. "John Wooden died too young," began the Daily News.
On his 99th birthday last October, LAist Sports Editor Jimmy Bramlett lauded Wooden as "arguably the best coach in sports history."