Jimmer Fredette wins the Wooden Award

The presenter and recipient of the John R. Wooden Award were both newsworthy Friday night at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Wooden’s son Jim delivered the award as college basketball’s player of the year to high-scoring Brigham Young guard Jimmer Fredette in the first appearance by a Wooden family member at the event in six years.

The legendary UCLA coach and the club had a falling out in 2005 over the club’s unhappiness with Wooden allowing his name to be used for another award given to Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.

But after Wooden died last June at 99, his family decided it wasn’t worth it to keep holding a grudge.

Nan Muehlhausen, Wooden’s daughter, said before the awards were presented that her family was returning to the ceremony because “we’re going by my dad’s philosophy that forgiveness sets you free. … I’m going with an open heart because I know that’s what my dad would like.”

The honor was Fredette’s sixth national-player-of-the-year award and could force his mother to get creative with finding a place for all the trophies.

“I have a pretty small house in New York,” Fredette said, “so I don’t even know if we’re going to be able to fit them all in. We might have to put them outside in a case or something.”

Fredette received 3,761 points in voting by nearly 1,000 members of the media, edging Connecticut’s Kemba Walker (3,356), Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger (2,637), Duke’s Nolan Smith (2,371) and Arizona’s Derrick Williams (1,913).

Fredette averaged a nation-leading 28.9 points during his senior season but acknowledged that he could have benefited from the fact that voting ended after the regional finals and before Walker’s postseason run of 11 consecutive victories culminated with a national championship.

“What he did with his team is unprecedented, unbelievable and everybody will tell you that,” Fredette said. “He deserved this award just as much as I do.”

Connecticut senior forward Maya Moore became the third two-time women’s award winner, joining Louisiana State’s Seimone Augustus and Tennessee’s Candace Parker.

Moore, who finished her career as the Huskies’ all-time leading scorer with 3,036 points, also won in 2009.

ben.bolch@latimes.com