Born in 1910, John Wooden grew up on a farm in Martinsville, Indiana. He excelled at basketball because of his natural quickness and was a three-time Indiana High School All-State selection. At Purdue University, he played for future Hall of Fame coach Piggy Lambert and earned consensus All-America honors each varsity season from 1930-32. After college, he played professionally in the National Basketball League while also working as a high school teacher and coach. In 1942, Wooden joined the Navy and served two years during World War II.

Following the war, he became the head basketball coach at Indiana State Teachers College (now Indiana State University), pulling off a 44-15 record in two seasons. In 1948, Wooden accepted the head coaching position at UCLA, where his teams would win a total of 15 Pac-12 Conference titles. Over a 12-year period, 1964-75, UCLA won the national championship 10 times. No other men’s coach has won more than five total championships or two consecutive championships. Wooden’s coaching style directly contrasted with many other high-profile coaches of the era; he rarely showed emotion but instead focused on treating his players with respect and training with extreme attention to detail.