John Wooden and Family Was Published by the Indiana Historical Society in Their Journal THG: Connections
In its original form, this two-part article about John Wooden and family was published by the Indiana Historical Society in their journal THG: Connections. Part 1 of the article appeared in the Spring/Sum- mer 2012 (Vol. 52) Issue of that journal, and Part 2 appeared in the Fall/Winter 2012 (Vol. 52) Issue. The article has been edited and reformatted for placement on this website. John Wooden A Revised Beginning, Part 1 Curtis H. Tomak, Joanne Raetz Stuttgen, and Norma J. Tomak 2012 John Robert Wooden, a native of Morgan County, Indiana, passed away on June 4, 2010, at the age of 99. He was an extraordinary individual whose advantageous mix of abilities, personal characteristics, family life, mentors, religious faith, and background in Indiana basketball enabled him to become an exemplary person and an exceedingly accomplished basketball player, coach, and teacher. As residents of Wooden’s hometown of Martinsville, Indiana, the authors have had a long-standing inter- est in him and his family. What we knew about the Woodens was derived from written materials, the media, local stories, and research. Over time it became apparent that accounts of Wooden’s early life frequently re- peated the same stories and contained a noticeable amount of inconsistent, inaccurate, and unsubstantiated information. As a result and in celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth in 2010, we made a focused examination of the family history, trying to determine what was correct and what was incorrect, add details to the published stories, and discover previously unknown information. Our primary objective was to provide an accurate, documented, chronological narrative of the family’s history in Morgan County.
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