For Woodens, an Argument in Name Only

For a moment, Nan Wooden Muehlhausen says, her father lost his temper last March.

John Wooden -- at 94 a man still sought out for his views on matters of basketball, sports and ethics, education and good manners, man-to-man defense and foul shooting, good behavior and bad -- was in a room full of lawyers and agents, family and old friends.

“My dad stood up and said, ‘I want my name back. I want to be able to use my name.’ At one point my brother had to hold Dad back because Dad wanted to go after Steve Hathaway,” Muehlhausen said.

Hathaway, president of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, said, “It wasn’t that bad.”

And there it is. The divide.

On one side is the Wooden family. Wooden turns 95 Oct. 15, and while he still attends UCLA basketball games and is an active speaker, he has given over control of his business affairs to Muehlhausen and his son, Jim. Wooden’s children have employed representation from Athletes First, a Newport Beach sports agency.

On the other, the athletic club, a family-controlled downtown institution for more than 100 years that has given out the Wooden Award to college basketball’s best for three decades. A deal was signed at the time granting the club exclusive use of Wooden’s name for the award.

Wooden was not paid, and never has been, for the use of his name. Nor did he ask to be.

That arrangement is at the heart of the rift, which caused Wooden to sever ties recently to the Wooden Award.

A dispute arose in January over Wooden’s decision to allow an organization known as Athletes for a Better World to present an award it called the Wooden Cup to pro and collegiate athletes for community service.

The LAAC felt the Wooden Cup might cause confusion with the Wooden Award, and that the coach needed to seek approval from the LAAC before he allowed his name to be used.

This dispute escalated until last week, when Wooden released a statement saying, “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.”

Muehlhausen said Thursday that the Wooden family has met only resistance from the club over what they think is a fair and obvious request.

“My dad would like to have the right to use his name,” Muehlhausen said. “What the Los Angeles Athletic Club wants, I’m pretty sure, is for us to go through them for everything.

“When it was mentioned to Daddy that the event Athletes for a Better World was trying to put on was bad for the Wooden Award trademark, Dad said, ‘I don’t understand,’ ” she said. “Daddy thought it was really an outstanding thing because it was for athletes who gave back to the community. Daddy thought it was great and was absolutely devastated when he heard the athletic club had problems with it.”

Fred Northup, president of Athletes for a Better World, said he had been taken aback by the LAAC’s concerns. The award was presented to Peyton Manning at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles in January.

“The athletic club wanted us to move our banquet to another city,” Northup said. “We changed the name from the Wooden Trophy to the Wooden Cup trying to address their concerns.”

The 2006 banquet will be held in Georgia, Northup said, “and I hope Coach Wooden can attend.”

Hathaway says his club is taking an unfair hit.

“All we’re doing is trying to protect the name Coach Wooden gave us,” Hathaway said Friday. “We have no desire to stop Coach Wooden or his family from giving his name out to other events.”

Hathaway said it was important that the club protect its trademark rights.

“If something comes out that is similar, we have an obligation to block that,” he said. “We didn’t necessarily want to block this. We suggested the organization change the name to something less confusing and that’s kind of where the Wooden family thought we were imposing our wishes on them, that they couldn’t give their name to this purpose. In reality, we’re just trying to protect them.”

The award the LAAC is trying to protect might suffer as a result.

CBS televised the Wooden Award ceremony last April. Spokeswoman Leslie Ann Wade said the network was waiting to hear from the athletic club.

“I’m still optimistic this issue can be reconciled,” Wade said.

But the Wooden Award without Wooden probably would be far less appealing for the network.

Hathaway said it is important to know “that we respect Coach Wooden very much and want him to remain associated with the event.”

Hathaway also said, “The Los Angeles Athletic Club has nurtured this along as a labor of love for 30 years. We’ve invested thousands of hours, spent countless money to build this award. ...

“We don’t feel it’s right to turn it over, to give it back.”

Mark Humenik, a representative for Athletes First who has been advising the Woodens, said the family quit asking for the trademark rights back.

“Originally we proposed that the club give the family the trademark rights and we would lease it back for three years. When that was rejected, we suggested a 25- or 30-year lease that would allow the club to still put on the event. When that was rejected, we dropped the request.”

Both sides say money isn’t the issue.

“It’s about doing the right thing for my dad’s name,” Muehlhausen said.

Hathaway said, “It’s about protecting the integrity of the trademark of the Wooden Award.”

In his eyes, the LAAC has no problem with Wooden and his family using the Wooden name as they see fit. His fear is that the club will lose its right to sponsor and administer the John R. Wooden Award.

“We’re trying to work it out,” he said. “We’re committed to sit down with the family and develop some guidelines to minimize this kind of problem from now until the future,” he said.

Muehlhausen said her father is “destroyed” by the controversy but that he is adamant about wanting to retain control of his name. “Both for himself and for his family,” Muehlhausen said.

“We don’t want to go through the club every time we want to use my dad’s name,” Muehlhausen said. “If they say anything else, they are lying.

“This is over.”