DeMatha Catholic High School basketball coach Morgan Wootten will be awarded Circle of Legends Inductee at the D.C. Touchdown Club 3M Awards Dinner on April 18 for his contribution as a football coach.
Apart from his contributions in D.C. high school basketball over the last half century, Wootten has also excelled as a football coach. He has coached St. John’s Orphanage in Foggy Bottom for two years. Later he served as JV coach for both sports at St. John’s for three years. He was given the same dual sport role at DeMatha Catholic High School in 1956.
“My greater love was basketball, so I went that way. But I loved them both,” Wooten told WTOP.
With 1,274 career victories, 33 WCAC titles and five national championships, Wootten became the first high school coach ever to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.
Wootten has a piece of advice for young players: “Don’t let basketball use you. You use basketball to become the best all-around human being you can become.”
“That’s the beauty of basketball. Basketball can make you a better person, a better student, a better player, everything,” he added.
The Washington-area football community will come together for the awards dinner night at Congressional Country Club to honor local players and coaches.
Among other awards, the Founder’s Award will be given to Pro Football Hall of Famer Darrell Green, and Lifetime Achievement Award will be conferred to broadcaster Verne Lundquist.
PatriotPoint, the Military Bowl Foundation’s retreat for recovering service members and their families, will benefit from the proceeds of the dinner.
There’s a limited number of individual seats and tables available for purchase. For more ticket information, contact Steve Beck at 301-370-5454 or email him at sbeck@militarybowl.org.