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1946-49 Chuck Clustka UCLA Basketball Letterman's Sweater - John Wooden's 1st Captain (Family Provenance with Personalized Photos from Wooden)
After leading the Indiana State to the NAIB National Championship Game in 1948, John Wooden left Terre Haute to take the head coaching job at UCLA, where he would coach for twenty-seven seasons, winning ten NCAA titles in twelve seasons and forging a legacy as the greatest coach in college basketball history.However, success did not come easy for Wooden and the Bruins. Saddled with the disappointment of being unable to realize his dream of coaching at his alma mater, Purdue, a dearth of basketball talent at UCLA, the dismal state of the university’s athletic department, and difficulty adapting to a West Coast lifestyle, The Wizard of Westwood’s early years at UCLA were sprinkled with very little stardust. Still, through perseverance and a positive outlook, Wooden’s teams would get progressively better year-by-year, finally winning their first national championship in 1964.Despite his early hardships, Wooden would look back at his early days at UCLA with a great sense of nostalgia and satisfaction. And his first Bruins team, the 1948-49 edition, occupied a particularly special place in his heart for the rest of his life.The UCLA letterman’s sweater on offer here dates from Wooden’s historic inaugural season and belonged to team leader and high scoring forward, Chuck Clustka; an amazingly accurate shooter with a right-handed push shot from twenty to thirty feet out. Comprised of midnight navy blue, the long-sleeve, v-neck, pullover garment features a large “C” sewn-on front center in midnight navy blue on gold felt. The interior collar displays a “UCLA/H.L. Whiting Company” label over a blue felt swatch with “Clustka” embroidered in white chain-link.Aside from some light pilling on the body and a very tiny portion of missing gold felt on the border of the front “C,” the garment is in spectacular condition. The lot includes a 1949 publicity photo (10x8”) of Clustka inscribed and signed to him by Wooden in NRMT black sharpie; nine vintage photos from the 1948-49 season (each 4x5”, one signed by Wooden in NRMT black sharpie); 1949 newspaper with photo of Clustka; and a 1972-73 Bruins team photo (7.5x9.5”) inscribed and signed to him by Wooden in EX-MT blue sharpie.
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