This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 9/9/2007.
Similar to the Heisman Trophy in college football, the John R. Wooden Award is the college basketball equivalent. Named after legendary UCLA men's basketball coach John Wooden, it is awarded annually to the most outstanding college basketball player by the Los Angeles Athletic Club. John Wooden was the first of only three to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach, followed by Lenny Wilkens and Bill Sharman. The full award consists of the Player of the Year award as well as All American Team honors. Given exclusively to male athletes at the time of its inception in 1977, the award was extended to women's basketball in 2004. The Player of the Year award is a trophy consisting of five bronze basketball player figures, based on a sculpture by Don Winton, a prolific American sculptor whose work has appeared in the Smithsonian Museum. Set on a 7-3/4" two-tiered pentagonal wood base, there are five bronze basketball players cast atop the platform. Each is in a different basketball pose, passing, shooting, dribbling and guarding. Each figure shows incredible detail, down to the tiny bumps on the basketball. On the front is a plaque that reads "The Los Angeles Athletic Club, John R. Wooden Award, Presented Annually To The Outstanding Collegiate Basketball Player In The United States, 1979 Larry Bird, Indiana State University." The trophy is an exact duplicate of the one presented to HOFer Larry Bird and is in NRMT condition with minimal wear.