Morgan Wootten facts for kids

Morgan Bayard Wootten (born April 21, 1931 – died January 21, 2020) was a famous American high school basketball coach. He coached for 46 seasons at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. Coach Wootten led his team, the Stags, to five national championships. They also won 33 titles in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC).

In 2000, he became the third high school coach ever to join the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was also the very first coach to be inducted into the Hall of Fame based only on his high school coaching career.

Early Life and Education

Morgan Wootten was born in Durham, North Carolina, on April 21, 1931. His father, Charles Thomas Wootten Jr., was an officer in the United States Navy. Morgan grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. He went to Gonzaga College High School and then Montgomery Blair High School, graduating in 1950.

In 1951, while attending Montgomery College, Wootten started coaching. He coached baseball, football, and basketball at St. Joseph's Home and School for Boys. This was an orphanage in Washington, D.C.. Later, he transferred to the University of Maryland, College Park in 1953. There, he coached junior varsity basketball and football at St. John's College High School. He finished college in 1956 with degrees in physical education and history.

Coaching Basketball at DeMatha

In 1956, Morgan Wootten began working at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. He was a history teacher and coached both the football and basketball teams.

Early Successes

His basketball team, led by star player John Austin, won its first conference championship in 1961. The next year, in 1962, they won the national high school championship. A few years later, in 1965, Wootten's DeMatha team became very famous. They beat Lew Alcindor's team, Power Memorial Academy, ending their amazing 71-game winning streak.

Focusing on Basketball

Even though his football teams had won three league titles, Wootten decided to focus only on basketball after the 1968 season. He continued to teach world history to all freshmen at DeMatha until 1980.

When he retired in 2002, Coach Wootten had an incredible record. His teams won 1,274 games and lost only 192. In his 46 seasons as head coach, he won five national high school championships. He also won 22 Washington, D.C. titles and 33 WCAC championships. He has the second-highest number of wins for a boys' high school basketball coach, right after Robert Hughes.

Amazing Records

Wootten's teams never had a losing season. His worst year was 1957–58, when DeMatha went 17–11. This was the only year his team didn't win at least 20 games. He had two perfect seasons where his team didn't lose any games. The first was in 1977-78 (28-0), and the second was in 1990-91 (30-0).

Many of Wootten's players went on to play in the NBA. These include famous players like Adrian Dantley and Danny Ferry. Mike Brey, who later became a head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team, also played for Coach Wootten.

High Praise and Hall of Fame

John Wooden, a legendary UCLA basketball coach, greatly admired Wootten. 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 was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the first person to be inducted solely as a high school coach. At that time, his record was 1,210 wins and 183 losses.

Wootten also helped start the McDonald's All-American Game. The award for the best player of the year in that game, the Morgan Wootten National Player of the Year, is named in his honor.

Turning Down College Offers

DeMatha High School is only about 2 miles from the University of Maryland, where Wootten went to college. During his career, he received many job offers from big college teams. These included North Carolina State, Georgetown, and American. Duke, Wake Forest, and Virginia also showed interest. However, Wootten turned them all down. According to Sports Illustrated, the only college job he wanted was at the University of Maryland, but that offer never came.

After Wootten retired, DeMatha hired one of his former players, Mike Jones. Mike Jones had been an assistant coach under Wootten for four seasons. He then led the Stags from 2002 to 2021.

Personal Life and Family

Morgan Wootten lived in University Park, Maryland, with his wife, Kathy. They got married in 1964. They had five children: Cathy, Carol, Tricia, Brendan, and Joe.

In 1996, Wootten became very ill because his liver was not working correctly. He was rushed to the hospital and received a liver transplant. Several years later, when he was 75, one of his kidneys failed. His son, Joe, donated a kidney to him.

His son, Joe, also became a basketball coach at Bishop O'Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia. Both Morgan and Joe Wootten ran one of the biggest basketball camps in the United States. It was called Coach Wootten's Basketball Camp. It was held at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland, and at Bishop O'Connell High School.

Morgan Wootten passed away on January 21, 2020, at his home in Maryland. He was 88 years old and was surrounded by his wife Kathy and his family.

Books and Documentaries

Morgan Wootten co-wrote two biographies with Bill Gilbert. The first was From Orphans to Champions (1979), and the second was A Coach for All Seasons (1997).

In 1992, Wootten wrote a coaching guide called Coaching Basketball Successfully with Dave Gilbert. A second edition came out in 2003, and a third in 2012, co-written with his son, Joe Wootten.

In 2017, a documentary film about him was released. It was called Morgan Wootten: The Godfather of Basketball. The film showed Wootten's journey from coaching at an orphanage to becoming the first high school basketball coach in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. It also looked at his personal and family life. The film was made by Bill Hayes. It featured many top coaches, players, and sports journalists, like Coach K, Roy Williams, Mike Brey, James Brown, and John Feinstein.

Wootten also appeared in the 2020 documentary Basketball County. In this film, he was featured alongside DeMatha alumni Victor Oladipo and Adrian Dantley. Wootten is one of the people remembered at the end of the film.