Los Angeles Athletic Club
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Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC) is an athletic club in Los Angeles, California, USA. It awards the John R. Wooden Award to the outstanding men's and women's college basketball player of each year.
The LAAC was founded on September 8, 1880 and used several locations before settling into its own twelve-story building in downtown Los Angeles in 1912. The LAAC building was notable at the time for being the first building in Southern California to have a swimming pool on an upper floor.
Due to its position in the growth and development of Los Angeles, the LAAC had significant success during its first 60 years, with membership reflecting its position in Los Angeles society and early Hollywood. The club faced significant financial burdens due to World War II and the subsequent growth of suburbs.
During its heyday, the LAAC founded a number of other (now separate) institutions, including the California Yacht Club (1922) and Riviera Country Club (1926).
Athletes from the LAAC have earned numerous medals in the Summer Olympics, with a particularly high number during the 1932 Los Angeles Olympiad. The total medal tally for the LAAC is 97 medals, including 47 gold. [1]
[edit] Notable Members
- Charlie Chaplin
- Edward L. Doheny
- Mayor Fred Eaton
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
- Henry Huntington
- Duke Kahanamoku, member of LAAC swimming and water polo teams, also club's lifeguard
- Harold Lloyd
- Parry O'Brien
- Colonel Harrison Otis
- Mary Pickford
- Moses Sherman
- Rudolph Valentino
- Johnny Weissmuller
- Senator Stephen White
