John Miles Ecker (born October 12, 1948) is a German-American former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and coach. He played

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for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

under Coach

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed the Wizard of Westwood, he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as head ...

, winning three straight national championships from 1969 through 1971. Ecker played and coached professionally in Germany, where he also became a naturalized citizen in 1977. He also taught at a high school in Germany. Ecker is married to German

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold-medal winner Heide Ecker-Rosendahl. Their son,

Danny Ecker Daniel "Danny" Ecker (born 21 July 1977 in Leverkusen) is a former German athlete competing in the pole vault. Biography His current personal best is 5.93 metres, but through his indoor best performance of 6.00 metres he has a place in the ...

, became one of the top German

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

ers.

Early life

Playing basketball at University High in

West Los Angeles West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped differently by di ...

, Ecker was named to the All-Western League Second Team in 1965. As a senior, he averaged 20.7 points per game and was named to the All-Los Angeles City First Team. He was also named to the All-Western League First Team along with fellow senior teammate Bill Seibert.

College career

Ecker was not a marquee player for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Over three championship seasons, he played in nearly every game, though his playing time was limited and typically came when the outcome of the game was already decided. The skinny, reserve served as a backup at both

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

. He is one of 14 players who won three National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) titles at UCLA under Coach

. Ecker entered UCLA as a

walk-on Walk On may refer to: Music * ''Walk On'', a 1994 album by Boston, and its title song Albums * ''Walk On'' (Boston album), 1994 * ''Walk On'' (John Hiatt album), 1995 * ''Walk On'' (Randy Johnston album), 1992 *''Walk On'', a 2007 album by ...

without an

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, and was a starter on the freshman team in 1966–67. He was joined in the lineup by Seibert, his former high school teammate. The following season, Ecker

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

and did not play. He made the 15-man varsity squad for 1968–69, and served as the team's third-string center. On the first day of practice in 1969–70, students at UCLA had scheduled a walkout to protest the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. Ecker joined teammate Andy Hill, who was also a former high school teammate, in requesting Wooden to cancel practice to support of the antiwar effort, but the coach refused. With the graduation of three-year starting center Lew Alcindor (known later as

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name Karim * Karim A ...

), Ecker was promoted to second-string as starter Steve Patterson's backup. During the season, Ecker made a

layup A layup in basketball is a two-point shot attempt made by leaping from below, laying the ball up near the basket, and using one hand to bounce it off the backboard and into the basket. The motion and one-handed reach distinguish it from a Jump sh ...

with five seconds remaining for a 72–71 win over

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

. He had entered the game for a jump ball with 16 seconds left after

Sidney Wicks Sidney Wicks (born September 19, 1949) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A native of California, he played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins. Wicks was selected by the Portland ...

had fouled out, and controlled the tip before making the winning shot. UCLA finished the season 28–2, and won the national championship game over

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. At the annual team banquet after the season, Seibert delivered a speech that was highly critical of Wooden. Afterwards, the coach was determined to eliminate "all possible sources of trouble" from the team. He interrogated Ecker, Hill, and

Terry Schofield George Terence Schofield (born June 16, 1948) is an American former basketball player and coach. He played college basketball with the UCLA Bruins, winning three national championships (1969–1971) under Coach John Wooden. Schofield played profes ...

, advising them to transfer from UCLA if they agreed with Seibert, but all three players insisted that they wished to stay. In 1970–71, Ecker made two

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...

s in the final seven seconds in a 57–53 win over

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

. The team's top free throw shooter at 88 percent, he made the shots in place of an injured Schofield. The Bruins won their fifth straight national championship, and seven of the previous eight.

Professional career

Ecker played in Germany for TuS 04 Leverkusen from 1971 though 1983. He briefly returned to the U.S. for 15 months starting in 1974, when he served as an assistant coach with UCLA. Ecker later coached in Germany as well. From 1975 though 2010, he was also a high school teacher at Landrat-Lucas-Gymnasium in

Opladen Opladen, now a district of Leverkusen, used to be the capital of the Rhein-Wupper-Kreis (Rhine-Wupper-District) until 1975. Opladen station is located northeast from Cologne on the railway to Wuppertal. It is also on the Autobahn A3. Population ...

Personal

Ecker met his wife,

Heide Rosendahl Heidemarie Ecker-Rosendahl (; ; born 14 February 1947) is a retired German athlete who competed mainly in the pentathlon and long jump. On September 3, 1970, at the 1970 Summer Universiade in Turin, she set a world record in the long jump at 6. ...

, in 1971 on his third day in Leverkusen. Rosendahl won two gold medals in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

in the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

in Munich. They married in 1974 and have two sons: David and

Danny Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to the male name Daniel. It may refer to: People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist *Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer *Danny Baker (born 1957), English journalis ...

, who became one of Germany's top

ers. Ecker became a German citizen in 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecker, John 1948 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Germany American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from Los Angeles Bayer Giants Leverkusen players Forwards (basketball) German basketball coaches German men's basketball players Naturalized citizens of Germany UCLA Bruins men's basketball coaches UCLA Bruins men's basketball players