Forever Stamps 2024 John Wooden – Basketball Coach, Commemorative Issue, First-Class Postage

On February 24, 2024, in Los Angeles, CA, the United States Postal Service issued the John Wooden stamp (Forever® priced at the First-Class Mail® rate) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps (Item 484500).

This stamp issuance honored John Wooden (1910–2010), the legendary coach who led the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins to a record-setting 10 Division I men’s basketball national championships. The stamp featured a portrait of Wooden looking intently out beyond the viewer. In the deep “UCLA blue” background, a player defended a shot. The numbers on the two players’ jerseys, 4 and 10, evoked the Bruins’ four perfect seasons and the 10 national championships during Wooden’s tenure. Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamp using original artwork by Alexis Franklin, based on a photograph by Norm Schindler from the early 1970s.