John Wooden, the Player: The Streak That Still Stands

1910–2010 · South Bend Central, 1934–1946

John Wooden's coaching belongs to the People and Schools records of this history; his playing career belongs here, because it ran alongside his South Bend years, and because it was, on its own, a Hall of Fame career. Born October 14, 1910, in Hall, Indiana, and schooled at Martinsville, he was a Purdue guard from 1929 to 1932: the first player ever named a consensus All-American three times, the Helms Player of the Year in 1932, and the engine of the 1932 Purdue team later recognized as national champion by the Helms Foundation and the Premo-Porretta poll. As a professional — the Indianapolis Kautskys from 1932 to 1937, the Whiting and Hammond Ciesar All-Americans in 1937–38, the Kautskys again in 1938–39, in the National Basketball League — he was the NBL's scoring leader in 1933 and an All-NBL First Team selection in 1937–38. In one 46-game stretch he made 134 consecutive free throws, still the professional record; the NBA's mark is 97, set by Micheal Williams in 1993.

The South Bend overlap is the point. Wooden taught English and coached at South Bend Central from 1934, and the professional game was weekend work — his own account describes six years of weekend semi-professional ball with the Kautskys — so the streak and the All-NBL years ran concurrently with his first Central seasons, ending in 1939. Navy service took 1943–46; he left South Bend in 1946 for Indiana State, and UCLA followed in 1948. He became the first person inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player, in 1960, and a coach, in 1973. The player came first, and part of the player was here.

Sources

1. Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame — the playing record, the dual induction of 1960 and 1973.
2. The standard registers — the Purdue All-America years and Helms honors, the Kautskys and Ciesar seasons, the 1933 scoring lead, the 134 consecutive free throws against Williams's NBA mark of 97.
3. This history's People record — the Central teaching and coaching years, 1934–46, against which the professional seasons overlap.