This stamp honors John Wooden (1910–2010), the legendary coach who led to a record-setting 10 Division I men's basketball national championships.
It features a portrait of Wooden looking intently out beyond the viewer. In the deep Blue background, a player defends a shot. The numbers on the two players' jerseys, 4 and 10, evoke four perfect seasons and the 10 national championships during Wooden's tenure.
Often considered the greatest coach in the history of American sports, Wooden was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame twice. The National Collegiate Athletic Association named him College Basketball Coach of the Year six times. In 1948 he helped break a color barrier in collegiate basketball, and he is also remembered for teaching his players how to achieve excellence not only on the court but also in life.
Wooden accepted the offer as head coach of men's basketball in 1948. In the early 1960s, he decided to implement a disruptive defensive strategy called the full-court press, and soon mastered this difficult-to-learn and extremely taxing tactic, confounding their opponents. In 1964, the team achieved a perfect season and won its first national championship.
The 1965 team won the national championship, too, becoming only the fifth ever to win two consecutive titles. They would enjoy four perfect (30–0) seasons, and, during the 1971 through 1974 seasons, would win 88 consecutive games, exceeding the previous record by 28 wins. All of these records remain unbroken.