Lute Olson: Team Leadership

As Lute Olson entered his 24th season at The University of Arizona in November 2006, he has established both the Wildcat basketball program and himself as two of the preeminent figures on the collegiate basketball landscape.

Coach Olson was born on a farm just outside Mayville, N.D., on Sept. 22, 1934, and went on to attend high school in Grand Forks, N.D., for the 1951-52 season, where he led the team to the 1952 state basketball championship.

In college, Olson was a three-sport athlete (basketball, football, and baseball) at Augsburg (Minn.) College from 1953-56. As a senior in 1956, he was recognized with the Augsburg Honors Athlete Award, which is given annually to the top male student-athlete. Since that time he also has been honored by his alma mater with induction into the Augsburg Athletic Hall of Fame in 1977 and received the Augsburg College Distinguished Alumni Award in April 1986. Olson's autobiography, Lute!: The Seasons of My Life, tells the story of his more than forty years in basketball.

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