Legendary Basketball Coach And Player John Wooden Dead

June 5th, 2010 - 7:34 pm ICT by GD  

By Madhuri Dey
johnLos Angeles, June 5, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Legendary Basketball Coach John Robert Wooden breathed his last on Friday, June 4.

The former player as well as coach of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) was admitted at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on May 26 after he suffered from dehydration. He expired at the hospital due to natural causes on Friday, aged 99. The news of the death of the legendary player and coach has devastated not only the players and the management of the UCLA basketball team but the whole sports fraternity of United States.

As the news of the death of John Robert Wooden spread on Friday, hundreds of students gathered at the campus of University of California to mourn the death of John Robert Wooden. Hundreds of people also gathered in front of the hospital on Friday night for a candle light remembrance of the legendary figure who had contributed immensely to the field of basketball.

Steve Hathaway, the President of the Los Angeles Athletic Club said: “We are devastated to lose Duke”. He added that John Robert Wooden symbolized “everything that is right about college athletics and amateur sports”. Steve Hathaway praised the deceased as a man who had led an incredible life and had touched the lives of many as he moved ahead in his life.

John Robert Wooden led the UCLA basketball team to win 10 national championships between 1960s and 1970s. He also acted as a coach for 40 years and is considered as one of the legendary coaches.

He became the member of the Basketball Hall of Fame both as a player in 1961 and as a coach in the batch of 1973.

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