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In 1996 Coach Boren met
Coach John Wooden at a clinic in California. Upon learning that Boren was a free throw shooting coach, Coach Wooden told the
story about when he was playing semi-pro ball in the 1930's for $50 per game, he was
able to string together a long streak of free throws made. It took several games, but when he
got to 100 without a
miss, the owner of the team stopped the game, came out on the court,
and gave Wooden a
$100 dollar bill. Coach Wooden mentioned that at the time, he
had never even seen a
$100 dollar bill. Boren then asked Coach Wooden how much
longer the streak lasted, and the answer was," I'm not sure, I think I finally missed at about
137 or 138". After
substantial research, this appears to be the world record longest consecutive streak of
made free throws by any basketball player, amateur or professional,
in game conditions.
Most people these days think of Coach Wooden as one of the most
successful coaches of
all time, but he was obviously a terrific player as well. The
above story about the $100
for his first 100 made free throws is covered in his book
Wooden on Leadership, which
Coach Boren strongly recommends every basketball player read.
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