Morgan Bayard Wootten (April 21, 1931January 21, 2020) was an American
high school basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
coach for 46 seasons at
DeMatha Catholic High School
DeMatha Catholic High School is a four-year Catholic high school for boys located in Hyattsville, Maryland, United States. Named after John of Matha, DeMatha is under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a member of the Washington ...
in
Hyattsville, Maryland
Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and also a close, urban suburb of Washington, D.C. The population was 21,187 at the 2020 United States Census.
History
Before Europeans reached the area, the upper ...
. He led the Stags to five national championships and 33
Washington Catholic Athletic Conference
The Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) is a major high school athletic league for boys, girls, and co-ed Catholic high schools of the Archdiocese of Washington & Diocese of Arlington Schools located in the Washington Metropolitan Ar ...
(WCAC) titles. In 2000, he was the third high school coach to be inducted into the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...
and the first high school only coach to be inducted.
Early life
Wootten was born in
Durham, North Carolina
Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
on April 21, 1931, the son of a
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
officer Charles Thomas Wootten, Jr. and grandson of photographer
Bayard Wootten
Mary Bayard Morgan Wootten (1875–1959) was an American photographer. She named Pepsi Cola and created its logo for her neighbor Caleb Bradham, who invented the drink.
Biography
Wootten was born in New Bern, North Carolina in 1875 to Mary and ...
. He grew up in
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...
and attended
Gonzaga College High School
Gonzaga College High School is a private Catholic college-preparatory high school for boys in Washington, D.C. Founded by the Jesuits in 1821 as the Washington Seminary, Gonzaga is named in honor of Aloysius Gonzaga, an Italian saint from the 16 ...
and
Montgomery Blair High School
Montgomery Blair High School (MBHS) is a public high school located in Four Corners, Maryland, United States, operated by Montgomery County Public Schools. The school's total enrollment of 3,600 makes it the largest public high school in Montgo ...
, from which he graduated in 1950.
Wootten enrolled at
Montgomery College
Montgomery College (MC) is a Public college, public community college in Montgomery County, Maryland. Founded officially in 1946 as Montgomery Junior College, its name comes from the county in which it is located. The earliest start date that c ...
and in 1951 began coaching baseball, football, and basketball at St. Joseph's Home and School for Boys, an orphanage in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
He transferred to the
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...
in 1953 and became the junior varsity basketball and football coach at
St. John's College High School. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1956 with degrees in physical education and history.
Coaching career
In 1956, Wootten was hired as a history teacher and the coach of the football and basketball teams at DeMatha Catholic High School
DeMatha Catholic High School is a four-year Catholic high school for boys located in Hyattsville, Maryland, United States. Named after John of Matha, DeMatha is under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a member of the Washington ...
in Hyattsville, Maryland
Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and also a close, urban suburb of Washington, D.C. The population was 21,187 at the 2020 United States Census.
History
Before Europeans reached the area, the upper ...
. Led by star player John Austin John Austin may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* John P. Austin (1906–1997), American set decorator
* Johnny Austin (1910–1983), American musician
* John Austin (author) (fl. 1940s), British novelist
Military
* John Austin (soldier) (180 ...
, the basketball team won its first conference title in 1961 and the national high school championship in 1962. In 1965, Wootten made national headlines when his DeMatha team beat Lew Alcindor
Lew or LEW may refer to:
People
* Lew (given name)
* Lew (surname)
Places
* Lew, Oxfordshire, England
* River Lew, in Devon, England
Transport
* LEW Hennigsdorf, a rail vehicle factory in Hennigsdorf, Germany
* Lew (locomotive), a British narro ...
's Power Memorial Academy
Power Memorial Academy (PMA) was an all-boys Catholic high school in New York City that operated from 1931 through 1984. It was a basketball powerhouse, producing several NBA players including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Len Elmore, Mario Elie, Chris Mul ...
and ended its 71-game winning streak.[
Although his football teams had won three league titles, Wootten decided to focus on basketball after the 1968 season. He continued to teach world history to every DeMatha freshman until reducing his class load in 1980.][
When he retired in 2002, Wootten's career coaching record stood at 1,274-192. In 46 seasons as the head coach of DeMatha basketball, he won five high school national championships, 22 Washington, D.C. titles, and 33 WCAC championships.][ Wootten has the second most wins as a head coach in the history of boys high school basketball, behind Robert Hughes.
Wootten never had a losing record, with his worst performance coming in the 1957–58 season, when DeMatha went 17–11, the only year his team did not have at least 20 wins. He had two perfect seasons, the first coming in 1977-78 (28-0) and the other in 1990-91 (30-0).
More than a dozen of Wootten's players went on to play in the ]NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
, including Adrian Dantley and Danny Ferry
Daniel John Willard Ferry (born October 17, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and an All-American college player at Duke University. He most recently served as interim genera ...
. Mike Brey
Michael Paul Brey (born March 22, 1959) is an American college basketball coach. He has been the men's head coach at the University of Notre Dame since July 14, 2000.
Early life and education
Brey, the son of Olympic swimmer Betty Brey, graduate ...
, head coach of Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish Men's Basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. The program competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference of NCAA ...
, also played under Wootten.[
UCLA basketball 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 ...
(1910–2010) described his admiration for Wootten when he said, "I know of no finer coach at any level – high school, college or pro. I stand in awe of him." In 2000, Wootten became the third high school coach to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...
,[ and the first to be admitted solely as a high school coach.][ His overall record at the time was 1,210 wins and 183 losses. Wootten was one of the founders of the ]McDonald's All-American Game
The McDonald's All-American Game is the all-star basketball game played each year for American and Canadian boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the concl ...
, whose annual player of the year award
Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award.
Association football
In association football, this award is h ...
is named in his honor.
During his coaching career at DeMatha, located just away from his alma mater, he received job offers from North Carolina State
North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...
, Georgetown, and American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
, as well as interest from Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...
, Wake Forest, and Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. Wootten turned down the offers, according to ''Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'', because the Maryland job, which was not forthcoming, was the only college job he wanted.[
]
Personal life and family
Wootten resided in University Park, Maryland with his wife, Kathy, whom he married in 1964. He had five children, Cathy, Carol, Tricia, Brendan, and Joe.
In 1996, Wootten nearly died because of a malfunctioning liver and was quickly rushed to the hospital for a liver transplant. Several years later, aged 75, one of his kidneys failed, and he received a transplant; the donor was his son, Joe.[
Joe became a basketball coach at ]Bishop O'Connell High School
Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School (also known as DJO) is a Roman Catholic college preparatory school founded in 1957 in Arlington County, Virginia. It was established by the Diocese of Richmond, but it has been under the direction of the Di ...
in Arlington, Virginia
Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...
. Wootten and his son both led one of the largest camps in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, Coach Wootten's Basketball Camp, held in Frostburg, Maryland
Frostburg is a city in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, and is at the head of the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located west of Cumberland, the town is one of the first cities ...
at Frostburg State University
Frostburg State University (FSU) is a public university in Frostburg, Maryland. The university is the only four-year institution of the University System of Maryland west of the Baltimore-Washington passageway in the state's Appalachian highlan ...
and at Bishop O'Connell High School.
Wootten died January 21, 2020, at his home in Maryland, at the age of 88. He was surrounded by his wife Kathy and family.[
]
Media
Wootten co-authored two biographies with Bill Gilbert: ''From Orphans to Champions'' (1979), and ''A Coach for All Seasons'' (1997).
In 1992, Wootten wrote a manual for coaching, ''Coaching Basketball Successfully'', with co-author Dave Gilbert. As second edition of the book was published in 2003, and a third edition in 2012, co-authored with Joe Wootten.
In 2017, the documentary film ''Morgan Wootten: The Godfather of Basketball'' was released. The film explores Wootten's coaching journey from a baseball coach at a small orphanage to the first high school basketball coach in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...
, as well as his personal and family life. It was produced and directed by Bill Hayes, and features top coaches, players, and sports journalists, including Coach K
Michael William Krzyzewski ( ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980 to 2022, during which he led the Blue Devils to five nati ...
, Roy Williams, Mike Brey
Michael Paul Brey (born March 22, 1959) is an American college basketball coach. He has been the men's head coach at the University of Notre Dame since July 14, 2000.
Early life and education
Brey, the son of Olympic swimmer Betty Brey, graduate ...
, James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...
, John Feinstein
John Feinstein (born July 28, 1956) is an American sportswriter, author and sports commentator.
Early life
Feinstein was born to a Jewish family in New York City on July 28, 1956. His father was heavily involved in the arts having been the Gen ...
and more.
Wootten appeared in the 2020 documentary Basketball County along DeMatha alums Victor Oladipo
Kehinde Babatunde Victor Oladipo (born May 4, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers, where in the 2012-2013 sea ...
and Adrian Dantley. Wootten is one of the individuals memorialized in the ending of the film.
Head coaching record
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wootten, Morgan
1931 births
2020 deaths
Sportspeople from Durham, North Carolina
University of Maryland, College Park alumni
Montgomery College alumni
Basketball coaches from North Carolina
High school basketball coaches in Maryland
High school football coaches in Maryland
Liver transplant recipients
Kidney transplant recipients
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees