Los Angeles Athletic Club
Encyclopedia
Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC) is an athletic club
and private social 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.
Athletic club
An athletic club may be*A private club which provides sports facilities to members.*A sports club dedicated to athletics, often professional and fielding competitive teams...
and private social club
Gentlemen's club
A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...
in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, USA. It awards the John R. Wooden Award
John R. Wooden Award
The John R. Wooden Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's and women's college basketball players. The program consists of the men's and women's Player of the Year awards, the Legends of Coaching award and recognizes the All–America Teams.The awards, given by the Los...
to the outstanding men's and women's college basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
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
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
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
Riviera Country Club
The Riviera Country Club is a country club with a championship golf course. It is located in Pacific Palisades, California, a community within the city limits of Los Angeles. The country club opened in 1926, with George C. Thomas, Jr. as the course architect. The course has been the primary host...
(1926).
Athletes from the LAAC have earned numerous medals in the Summer Olympics, with a particularly high number during the 1932 Los Angeles Olympiad
1932 Summer Olympics
The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, was a major world wide multi-athletic event which was celebrated in 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. No other cities made a bid to host these Olympics. Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations...
. The total medal tally for the LAAC is 97 medals, including 47 gold.
Notable members
- Arthur AlberArthur AlberArhur Alber was an attorney and a member of the Los Angeles, California, City Council from 1927 to 1929.-Biography:Alber was born September 16, 1892, in Birmingham, Alabama. His parents were Hermann Alber, a native of Germany, and Mary Wing of Cape Cod, Massachusetts...
, Los Angeles City Council member, 1927–29 - L. Frank BaumL. Frank BaumLyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
- Charlie Chaplin
- George P. CronkGeorge P. CronkNot to be confused with George H. Moore, Los Angeles City Council member, 1943–1951.George Parkman Cronk , who went by George P. Cronk, was an insurance man who was on the Los Angeles City Council from 1945 to 1952.-Biography:...
, Los Angeles City Council member, 1945–52 - Edward L. DohenyEdward L. DohenyEdward Laurence Doheny was an American oil tycoon, who in 1892, along with business partner Charles A. Canfield, drilled the first successful oil well in the Los Angeles City Oil Field, setting off the petroleum boom in Southern California.At first he was an unsuccessful prospector in the state of...
- Mayor Fred EatonFred EatonFrederick Eaton , known as Fred Eaton, was a major individual in the transformation and expansion of Los Angeles in the latter 19th century through early 20th century, in California, United States...
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.-Early life:...
- Robert Frederick Foster
- Louis F. GottschalkLouis F. GottschalkLouis Ferdinand Gottschalk was an American composer and conductor born in St. Louis, Missouri. The son of a Missouri governor, also named Louis, he studied music in Stuttgart, Germany, where his father, a judge, was American consul.He came to attention as conductor of the U.S. premiere of Franz...
- A.E. HenningA.E. HenningAugust E. Henning, known as A.E. Henning, was a civil engineer and businessman who was a member of the Los Angeles City Council between 1929 and 1933, disbursement officer for the California State Emergency Relief Administration from 1934 to 1937 and chief of the Park Division, California...
, Los Angeles City Council member, 1929–33 - Henry Huntington
- Duke KahanamokuDuke KahanamokuDuke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku was a Hawaiian swimmer, actor, lawman, early beach volleyball player and businessman credited with spreading the sport of surfing. He was a five-time Olympic medalist in swimming.-Early years:The name "Duke" is not a title, but a given name...
, member of LAAC swimming and water polo teams, also club's lifeguard - Harold LloydHarold LloydHarold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. was an American film actor and producer, most famous for his silent comedies....
- Parry O'BrienParry O'BrienWilliam Parry O'Brien, Jr. was an American shot put champion. Born in Santa Monica, California, he competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics where he won two gold medals and one silver medal . In his last Olympic competition he placed fourth. For this, he is inducted in the U.S...
- Colonel Harrison Otis
- Mary PickfordMary PickfordMary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
- Moses ShermanMoses ShermanMoses Hazeltine Sherman was a land developer who built the Phoenix Street Railway in Phoenix, Arizona, and later built other lines and owned property in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood, California. He also served on the Los Angeles Water Board.At the junction of his streetcar lines west of...
- Rudolph ValentinoRudolph ValentinoRudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
- Johnny WeissmullerJohnny WeissmullerJohnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...
- Senator Stephen WhiteStephen M. WhiteStephen Mallory White was an American politician and an U.S. Senator from California.-Life:Born in San Francisco, Stephen White attended Santa Clara College and read law in the office of Charles Bruce Younger Sr. in Santa Cruz, California and was admitted to the bar in 1874...
- Esther WilliamsEsther WilliamsEsther Jane Williams is a retired American competitive swimmer and MGM movie star.Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team...