SoCal High School & Prep Tourney News

Wooden Inaugural H.S. Invitational:
Chatting With Wooden and Wooten--(December 5,1997)

You didn't think we'd spend six hours in an arena that was only somewhat filled (we're being generous) to watch a whole bunch of high school hoops, with both John Wooden and Morgan Wootten sitting across the aisle and not talk to them. We may be crazy, but we're not nuts.

There was plenty of opportunity to meet and talk with a lot of interesting people at this little soiree.

We did chat briefly with Coach John R. Wooden, had him sign a couple of commemorative T-Shirts, and yes, he's feeling fine, the cold he was suffering from before the game was seemingly better. I guess that's where I got mine from. Wooden is not one for idle chit-chat, but I did ask him how he felt about the high school games, and whether he cared more for the college game. He basically said (I can't remember his exact words, so I won't purport to quote, just paraphrase), that he prefers fundamental basketball, and that regardless of the scoring in the three games we saw, he saw some great potential in many of the players out there. I asked him to name names, but of course, he declined. We talked a bit about Kareem's 50th Birthday Party last year, about his Pyramid of Success, and he said that he's been cutting back on the speaking engagements lately. But he feels great, and he looks good too.

Also got a chance to talk with Morgan Wootten after the game. For those who don't know, Wootten is among The Legends of High School Coaches. During the 1990's there were four of them: Bill Krueger, of Clear Lake, Texas was one. Ralph Tasker of Hobbs, N.M. is another. Robert Hughes of Fort Worth's Dunbar is another. And then there's Wootten. Between them they've coached for 177 years, and have more than 4,500 wins and nearly two dozen state titles. Wootten's De Matha teams have finished No. 1 more than any high school team ever.

Wootten's career record is 1,123 wins and 173 losses, after a preseason opening win on Tuesday. Make that 1,124 after last night. Wootten is 66 years old and he's fully recuperated from his liver transplant that he underwent this last summer. He's written more books about coaching than he can remember, perhaps even more than John Wooden, who wrote the foreword on his most popular title "Coaching Basketball Successfully" (Leisure Press, 1964). There are a lot of other coaches who believe he's the best. Dean Smith for one. Mike Krzyzewski, Chuck Daly, Pat Riley, Lute Olsen, Rick Pitino. The list goes on. They all respect and revere him. He is a man who knows the game.

We talked briefly outside the locker room following the game, and he is one of the nicest, most pleasant men in the game today. There were a few reporters who were waiting to interview Bogans and Forte, and Wootten, somewhat jokingly pattend them on the backs, congratulated them on their games, and sent them off to be interviewed, saying "Now don't stutter guys." He winked as he said it.

He says he feels great. "I'm living proof in the power of prayer and hard work" he said. "I've never felt better, and with this team, there's a few guys you'll be hearing from. Believe me." He said he can't even think about not coaching. "I love what I do." He said that the team would be going up to Tahoe to play, would be going to Gonzaga to play in a game, and would also be playing St. Vincent Pallotti from Laurel, Maryland (a team that's in their league in Maryland, and which is also ranked by USA Today--DeMatha is No. 8, and Pallotti is No. 16). They'll play at a tournament somewhere here on the west coast.

We'll be doing a separate profile on Wooten in the next day or two. Stay tuned.

Oh yeah, there were also a bunch of other folks at the John R. Wooden Inaugural High School Invitational. Orlando Woolridge; Anne Meyers-Drysdale; Byron Scott's former ASU coach and his current summer camp director Jim Newman; John Sally, Vince Ferragamo, Eric Karros, Kobi Jones of the Galaxy, and Kim Alexis. Kareem Abdul Jabbar (the real one), Michael Holton from UCLA, Walt Hazzard (who was in a wheelchair), and a bunch of other former players, including one from Wooden's first UCLA team who was introduced at half-court during a pregame ceremony honoring Wooden. Oh yeah, and Tawny Kitane played basketball in blue jeans a T-shirt and black boots in the celebrity game. What an amazing night.

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