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UCLA coaching legend John Wooden has ended his support of the Los Angeles Athletic Club’s J

Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden has withdrawn his support for the prestigious John R. Wooden Award, which is given out annually to the nation’s top male and female college basketball players.

Wooden, who turns 95 in October and set the modern standard for excellence in collegiate athletics with 10 national titles, said last Friday that he has decided not to personally hand out the award with his name on it. Wooden will no longer appear at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, the sponsor of the John R. Wooden Award, as an ambassador of the game he helped revolutionize.

While Wooden’s name will not be removed from the national award because of contractual obligations, he will distance himself from the award banquet indefinitely.

“I have decided to end my association with the Los Angeles Athletic Club and its presentation of the Wooden Award, which has been given annually since my retirement from coaching to college basketball’s player of the year,” Wooden said in a statement released to the Los Angeles Times.

The Wooden Award dates back almost 30 years as Duke Llewellyn approached Wooden to endorse an annual award that could potentially compete with the prestige and tradition of college football’s Heisman Trophy. Wooden and Llewellyn’s subsequent agreement began a happy partnership that promoted the growth of college basketball with more national exposure.

“While I have great respect for Duke Llewellyn and am deeply appreciative of all his efforts and those of the club to promote the award over the years, I must withdraw my support for this award and will no longer have any personal involvement with it because of disagreements with the club over the use of my name,” Wooden said.

The cause of the disagreement between Wooden and the LAAC that led to the permanent split, according to sources close to Wooden, stems from the club’s disapproval that Wooden had allowed his name to be used for another award.

As a man who has a history of using his celebrity status to promote numerous charitable foundations, Wooden allowed an organization known as Athletes for a Better World to use his name in presenting annual awards to professional athletes who illustrate social commitment. The organization presented what is now called the Wooden Cup to Indianapolis Colt Peyton Manning at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles in January.

LAAC President Steve Hathaway said he was “shocked and saddened” by Wooden’s decision. Members of the LAAC felt their ownership of the Wooden Award was being diminished, while Wooden took issue with the hostility displayed by the athletic club.

“As part of its stewardship of the award, the club has a legal duty to defend its trademarks that protect the award,” Hathaway said in a press release. “Failure to do so would cause the loss of these trademarks. But we certainly have no interference with coach Wooden’s ability to make use of his highly respected name in any way that does not cause confusion with the Wooden Award.”

Wooden has signed agreements giving LAAC the John R. Wooden trademark for the men’s and women’s collegiate award. Wooden announced that he will not try to rescind those signatures and will not contest LAAC’s continuance of those awards.

The legendary name of John Wooden has obviously been well known in the nationwide basketball community in addition to Westwood for the last quarter century. The Wooden family agent, Mark Humenik, said the decision to disassociate with the LAAC was made to ensure the spirit of Wooden’s illustrious legacy in American sports.

“Coach Wooden’s legacy extends far beyond what he and his teams accomplished, and Coach simply wants to ensure his family will remain the caretaker of his legacy for generations to come,” Humenik said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the Los Angeles Athletic Club has a different view of how Coach Wooden should be able to use his name.”