Sept. 22, 1934:ย Robert Luther Olson is born Sept. 22 on a farm outside Hatton, North Dakota.
Fall 1939:ย Olson's father, Albert, dies of a stroke at age 47. His brother, Amos, dies in a tractor accident the next spring.
Summer 1940: Olson's mother, Alinda, sells the family farm and moves to Mayville, North Dakota.
Winter 1952: Olson leads Grand Forks Central High School to North Dakota's Class A state basketball championship.
Fall 1952:ย Olson enrolls at Augsburg College. Plays four years of football and basketball and one year of baseball.
Fall 1953: Olson marries Roberta (Bobbi) Russell on Thanksgiving Day.
Summer 1956: Named head coach at Mahnomen (Minnesota) High School.
Summer 1957: Named head coach at Two Harbors (Minnesota) High School.
Summer 1961: Moves to Boulder, Colorado, to be a middle school guidance counselor.
Summer 1962: Moves from Boulder to Huntington Beach, California.
Fall 1962: Coaches the freshman basketball team at Western High School in Anaheim, California.
Fall 1963 Named varsity coach at Loara High School in Anaheim.
Fall 1964:ย Named head coach at Marina-Huntington Beach High School.
Summer 1969: Named head coach at Long Beach City College.
Spring 1973: Named head coach at Long Beach State.
Spring 1974: Named head coach at Iowa.
Spring 1979: Named Big Ten Conference coach of year after Iowa goes 20-8, sharing the Big Ten title and reaching the NCAA Tournament.
Spring 1980: Iowa beats Georgetown to reach Final Four.
University of Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson during a press conference in 1985.
March 29, 1983: Olson is named head coach at Arizona.
Fall 1983: Olson beats Northern Arizona 72-65 in first regular-season game.
Spring 1985: Arizona finishes 21-10, reaches NCAA Tournament.
Spring 1986: Arizona wins Pac-10 Conference and finishes 23-9.
Summer 1986 Coaches USA Basketball to a gold medal in the world championships.
Spring 1988: Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr and Tom Tolbert lead Arizona to its first Final Four, and the team finishes the season 35-3. Olson is named national coach of the year.
Spring 1989:ย Top-ranked Arizona loses 68-67 to UNLV in the NCAA West Regional semifinal. Arizona finishes 29-4.
Spring 1990:ย Arizona loses to Alabama in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and finishes 25-7.
Spring 1991: Arizona wins the Pac-10 Conference, reaches the Sweet 16 and finishes 28-7.
Spring 1992:ย Arizona loses to East Tennessee State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and finishes 24-7.
Spring 1993:ย Arizona loses to 15th-seeded Santa Clara in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and finishes 24-4.
Arizona coach Lute Olson and star point guard Damon Stoudamire embrace during the Wildcatsโ 1994 run to the Final Four in Charlotte, N.C.
Spring 1994: With Damon Stoudamire, Khalid Reeves and Reggie Geary leading the way, Arizona reaches its second Final Four before losing to eventual national champion Arkansas. The Wildcats finish 29-6.
Spring 1995: Arizona loses to Miami (Ohio) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and finishes 24-7.
Spring 1996:ย Arizona reaches the Sweet 16, losing to Kansas in the NCAA West Region semifinal, and finishes 27-6.
Spring 1997:ย Arizona defeats three No. 1 NCAA Tournament seeds en route to its first-ever national championship in basketball. "This is one tough group of Cats," he says. The Wildcats finish the season 25-9.
Arizona won the 1997 national championship.
Spring 1998: Arizona goes 17-1 in Pac-10 play but loses to Utah 76-51 in the West Region finals. The Wildcats finish 30-5 overall.
Summer 1998:ย Bobbi Olson is diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Spring 1999: Arizona is upset by 13th-seeded Oklahoma 61-60 in first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Feb. 26, 2000:ย The floor at McKale Center is renamed Lute Olson Court โย and is later changed to Lute & Bobbi Olson Court.
Spring 2000:ย Arizona upset by Wisconsin 66-59 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Lute and Bobbi Olson were arm in arm in March 2000 during the unveiling of Lute Olson Court at McKale Center.
Winter 2001: Olson leave of absence to be with his ailing wife. Bobbi Olson dies on New Year's Day. The coach returns on Jan. 15.
Spring 2001:ย Arizona reaches the NCAA championship game for the second time but falls to Duke. The Wildcats finish the season 28-8.
Spring 2002: Arizona wins the Pac-10 Tournament, reaches the Sweet 16 and finishes 24-10.
Sept. 27, 2002: Olson is inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in absentia; he is in Italy for son Steve's wedding.
March 29, 2003:ย Arizona loses 78-75 to Kansas in the NCAA West Regional final after holding the nation's No. 1 ranking for most of the season.
April 12, 2003: Olson marries 46-year-old Christine Toretti of Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Fall 2003:ย Matt Brase, Olson's grandson and a Catalina Foothills High School graduate, walks onto the UA team.
Nov. 24, 2003:ย Olson wins 500th game at UA, 107-73 over Northern Arizona.
Jan. 3, 2004: Olson career victory No. 700 with a 93-74 win at Arizona State.
March 18, 2004: UA blows a 14-point lead in the second half, loses to Seton Hall in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
March 26, 2005:ย Third-seeded UA blows a 15-point lead with four minutes to go, then loses in overtime to Illinois 90-89 in Elite Eight.
March 19, 2006:ย UA's season ends in 82-78 loss to top-seeded Villanova in second round of NCAA tournament at Philadelphia.
March 16, 2007:ย UA exits NCAA tournament with a first-round loss to Purdue.
Nov. 4, 2007: ย Olson announces a leave of absence for "a personal matter." Assistant Kevin O'Neill is named interim head coach.
Dec. 6, 2007: Olson extends his leave of absence for the rest of the season and files for divorce from his second wife, Christine.
March 16, 2008: Cats earn NCAA tournament bid for the 24th straight year, a No. 10 seed in the West Region.
March 24, 2008: Olson returns to work. A week later, he announces O'Neill will not return.
Oct. 1, 2008: Olson announces his engagement to future wife Kelly, 47, at a fundraiser.
Former Arizona Wildcats head coach Lute Olson and his wife Kelly chat with a friend as they take in the Arizona and California game at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, California. Arizona won 73-50. Photo taken: Saturday January 24, 2015
Oct. 23, 2008: Olson retires following 24 seasons as the UA's head coach. Assistant coach Russ Pennell is named interim head coach the following day.
Former head coach Lute Olson talks with reporters after a press conference at McKale Center. Olson came to McKale to watch Damon Stoudamire give a press conference about his return to Arizona as a coach.
Oct. 28, 2008: Olson's doctor announces the coach had a previously undisclosed stroke, likely within the previous year. Dr. Steven D. Knope says he advised Olson to retire "to take careย of health concerns."
March 14, 2009: Olson is inducted into the Pac-10 Hall of Honor.
April 2010: Lute and Kelly Olson are married.
Statue of former University of Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson on the north side of the McKale Memorial Center located at 1721 E Enke Dr, on Aug. 26, 2020.
April 12, 2018: The UA unveils a state of Olson outside the Jim Click Hall of Champions, located on the north side of McKale Center. "The hair was right," he says.
Feb. 16, 2019: Olson is admitted to Banner-University Medical Center after suffering what his doctor says is a minor stroke.
Nov. 24, 2019: Olson is reinducted into the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, 13 years after the organization automatically added anyone elected to the Naismith Hall of Fame.
Thursday: Olson dies at age 85.
