Wootten ends stellar 46 years

Morgan Wootten, a Blair alumnus and the celebrated coach of DeMatha Catholic High School's acclaimed basketball team, retired on Nov 6, ending his career with more wins than any high school, college or professional coach in basketball history.

Inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000, Wootten led DeMatha's teams to an unprecedented 1,274-192 record and to the number-one ranking in the area 22 times in the Washington Post basketball poll in the 46 years he has coached. Wootten's teams were national champions five times during his tenure.

As a Blair graduate, Wootten still has "wonderful memories" of the school, where he played for the football and basketball teams. "Blair was a very special school at a special time in my life. I got the fundamentals of life itself, and [Blair was] a great launching pad for the career to follow," he said.

Wootten announced his plans to retire after a triumphant final season in which 18 consecutive wins highlighted a 32-2 record and another number one ranking for DeMatha. "I would rather [retire] on the way up than on the way down," he said.

In addition to his impressive basketball record, Wootten has devoted much of his time to teaching. He taught freshman World History at DeMatha, located in Hyattsville, Maryland, for 32 years and was honored by the Walt Disney Company as an "Outstanding Teacher of the Year" in 1990.

Wootten feels the greatest reward from his career has been the influence he has had on students. "[I enjoyed] the privilege to work with America's most important resource, the young people, and the opportunity to touch people's lives," he said. "Hopefully, I helped someone along the way."

Sidney Lowe, once one of Wootten's students and now the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, recalled the impact Wootten made on his life. "He told me things that stuck with me for the rest of my life," Lowe said in an ESPN article.

Though coaching was not his original goal, Wootten found an interest in it by working with children throughout the Washington, D.C., area. "I thought I was going to be a lawyer, but I took a job coaching baseball at the local orphanage. I just enjoyed working with young people so much, so I switched to education and became a coach," he said.

During his retirement, Wootten plans to continue running his basketball camp in Frostburg, Maryland, during the summer and to finish writing his seventh book. He also plans to devote time to traveling and spending time with his family. "Hopefully, I will be a good ambassador for basketball. I'll continue to be involved in the game," Wootten said.