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Post by efg72 on Jan 22, 2020 8:26:49 GMT -5
Hall of Fame DeMatha Basketball Coach Morgan Wootten passed away last evening. A great teacher, coach, and leader who was loved by his players and those who got to know him. He and Joe Gallagher, former St John's Coach, ran the DC basketball world for years. His teams won 1274 games, 5 National Championships and in 1965 DeMatha defeated Power Memorial and Lew Alcindor. His son Joe, the basketball coach at O'Connell gave him a kidney a few years back to keep him alive.
I was able to work his basketball camp on a couple of occasions and watch him in action. As I said above Morgan was a great coach, but he was an even better man and father.
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Post by hchoops on Jan 22, 2020 9:10:23 GMT -5
A true legend.
When I was an assistant coach, our team lost to his great Adrian Dantley squad.
Requiescat in pace
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Post by rgs318 on Jan 22, 2020 9:50:03 GMT -5
May hos soul rest in peace and his name be remembered.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jan 22, 2020 10:20:02 GMT -5
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Post by matunuck on Jan 22, 2020 10:23:28 GMT -5
There was a great tribute to Wootten this morning on sports talk radio 980 in DC. Lots of former players and coaches offering their thoughts. Anyone know if any of his players ended up at HC?
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Post by hchoops on Jan 22, 2020 10:28:44 GMT -5
There was a great tribute to Wootten this morning on sports talk radio 980 in DC. Lots of former players and coaches offering their thoughts. Anyone know if any of his players ended up at HC? I do not know of any |
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Post by efg72 on Jan 22, 2020 10:46:50 GMT -5
There was a great tribute to Wootten this morning on sports talk radio 980 in DC. Lots of former players and coaches offering their thoughts. Anyone know if any of his players ended up at HC? Pretty sure the answer is no but Bobby Ferry and Percy White took official visits. Bobby, son of Bullets GM Bob Ferry who drafted Garry Witts, went to Harvard Percy, a very solid PF, who had the potential to be great for us opted for W KY |
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Post by hc87 on Jan 22, 2020 12:47:01 GMT -5
Absolute legend....won't be many more of his ilk in the HS coaching ranks again sadly.
Heard him speak first at HC hoop camp in the 70s...a couple times later at clinics.
It is a bit odd to me that none of his players ended up at HC ovah the years...oh well.
Wasn't there a run at DeMatha under Wooten that all of his players (starters?) received scholarships for years at one point?
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Post by timholycross on Jan 22, 2020 14:02:36 GMT -5
Remember in the Valvano 30-for-30 it was recalled that Wooten had the NC State job wrapped up and decided to stay coaching high school (it was said in other places that the only college job he wanted was Maryland, and it was never offered to him).
Also, when Derek Whittenberg was breaking down the final play of the Houston 1983 title game, he said he caught a bad pass because of "Morgan Wooten...Fundamentals...Catch The Ball With Two Hands".
He coached football for several years at DeMatha as well.
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Post by efg72 on Jan 22, 2020 16:13:39 GMT -5
Absolute legend....won't be many more of his ilk in the HS coaching ranks again sadly. Heard him speak first at HC hoop camp in the 70s...a couple times later at clinics. It is a bit odd to me that none of his players ended up at HC ovah the years...oh well. Wasn't there a run at DeMatha under Wooten that all of his players (starters?) received scholarships for years at one point? Under Morgan I believe DeMatha had all of the senior basketball players receive scholarships or opportunities to play in the Ivy League in the 60s- early 90s might have continued until he retired, but AAU ball and a new world of HS recruiting , including his son Joe who was at O’Connell, Paul DeStefano at St John’s, Dick Myers at Gonzaga, and Stu Vetter at Monroe’s Christian, began to reduce the depth on the roster |
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jan 25, 2020 20:19:46 GMT -5
McDonalds paid for a full color, full page tribute to Wootten in the WaPo today, thanking him for his role in fostering the McDonalds All American game. The corporate association was understated.
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