Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden has withdrawn his
support for the prestigious John R. Wooden Award, which is given
out annually to the nation’s top male and female college
basketball players.
Wooden, who turns 95 in October and set the modern standard for
excellence in collegiate athletics with 10 national titles, said
last Friday that he has decided not to personally hand out the
award with his name on it. Wooden will no longer appear at the Los
Angeles Athletic Club, the sponsor of the John R. Wooden Award, as
an ambassador of the game he helped revolutionize.
While Wooden’s name will not be removed from the national
award because of contractual obligations, he will distance himself
from the award banquet indefinitely.
“I have decided to end my association with the Los Angeles
Athletic Club and its presentation of the Wooden Award, which has
been given annually since my retirement from coaching to college
basketball’s player of the year,” Wooden said in a
statement released to the Los Angeles Times.
The Wooden Award dates back almost 30 years as Duke Llewellyn
approached Wooden to endorse an annual award that could potentially
compete with the prestige and tradition of college football’s
Heisman Trophy. Wooden and Llewellyn’s subsequent agreement
began a happy partnership that promoted the growth of college
basketball with more national exposure.
“While I have great respect for Duke Llewellyn and am
deeply appreciative of all his efforts and those of the club to
promote the award over the years, I must withdraw my support for
this award and will no longer have any personal involvement with it
because of disagreements with the club over the use of my
name,” Wooden said.
The cause of the disagreement between Wooden and the LAAC that
led to the permanent split, according to sources close to Wooden,
stems from the club’s disapproval that Wooden had allowed his
name to be used for another award.
As a man who has a history of using his celebrity status to
promote numerous charitable foundations, Wooden allowed an
organization known as Athletes for a Better World to use his name
in presenting annual awards to professional athletes who illustrate
social commitment. The organization presented what is now called
the Wooden Cup to Indianapolis Colt Peyton Manning at the Biltmore
Hotel in Los Angeles in January.
LAAC President Steve Hathaway said he was “shocked and
saddened” by Wooden’s decision. Members of the LAAC
felt their ownership of the Wooden Award was being diminished,
while Wooden took issue with the hostility displayed by the
athletic club.
“As part of its stewardship of the award, the club has a
legal duty to defend its trademarks that protect the award,”
Hathaway said in a press release. “Failure to do so would
cause the loss of these trademarks. But we certainly have no
interference with coach Wooden’s ability to make use of his
highly respected name in any way that does not cause confusion with
the Wooden Award.”
Wooden has signed agreements giving LAAC the John R. Wooden
trademark for the men’s and women’s collegiate award.
Wooden announced that he will not try to rescind those signatures
and will not contest LAAC’s continuance of those awards.
The legendary name of John Wooden has obviously been well known
in the nationwide basketball community in addition to Westwood for
the last quarter century. The Wooden family agent, Mark Humenik,
said the decision to disassociate with the LAAC was made to ensure
the spirit of Wooden’s illustrious legacy in American
sports.
“Coach Wooden’s legacy extends far beyond what he
and his teams accomplished, and Coach simply wants to ensure his
family will remain the caretaker of his legacy for generations to
come,” Humenik said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the
Los Angeles Athletic Club has a different view of how Coach Wooden
should be able to use his name.”