UCLA Men's Basketball Sets Record

On Jan. 27, 1973, John Wooden and his UCLA Bruins men's basketball team broke the consecutive victories record in NCAA basketball Jan. 27, 1973.

Their 61st consecutive win was an 82-63 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame figured prominently into the eventual 88-game winning streak of the Bruins. Notre Dame was the last team to beat UCLA as the streak started.

They were also the next team to defeat Wooden's squad to end the streak at 88 games.

The 88 game win streak was the longest in history in any major North American professional sport or collegiate sport.

He would also coach four undefeated teams in 1964, 1967, 1972 and 1973. The 1972-1973 teams continued their unbeaten streak into 1974, which was 88 game win streak team.

John Wooden, nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period—seven in a row  – as head coach at UCLA, an unprecedented feat.

Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games. Wooden was named national coach of the year six times.

Wooden would win 664 games in his career as a head coach and only lose 162, to have a winning percentage of .802 (just over 80 percent).

As a player, Wooden was the first to be named basketball All-American three times and he won a national championship at Purdue. Wooden was named a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player (inducted in 1961) and as a coach (in 1973), the first person ever enshrined in both categories.

Only Lenny Wilkens and Bill Sharman have since had the same honor.

He was one of the most revered coaches and was beloved by his former players, among them Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton.

Wooden was renowned for his short, simple inspirational messages to his players, including his "Pyramid of Success". These often were directed at how to be a success in life as well as in basketball.

In 2006 Wooden was part of the founding class for the College Basketball Hall of Fame, which is located in Kansas City, Mo.