A True Legend I Never Knew

I woke up this morning around 8:15am and immediately went upstairs to get my usual morning coffee, 1 sugar no cream. I decided to finish the laundry I had started the day before and found out the dryer was having a major malfunction, aka not working. So I took it old school and my clothes are currently hanging on my deck railing drying, here's to praying the rain stays away for at least a couple hours. So after I do my best Beverley hillbillies impersonation, I then proceed back to my computer to do my daily sports rounds on the computer.

As I'm sure you are all aware, the great and legendary former UCLA basketball coach and icon John Wooden passed away and the old age of 99(1910-2010). In many highly respected circles, Mr. Wooden is regarded as the greatest basketball coach ever and a true ambassador of the sport. His accomplishments and accolades are off the charts and speak for themselves. As a guard at Purdue University, he was a 3 time consensus all-american, 1 time national player of the year and 1 time national champion. Amongst his players, coaches and national media, he was nicknamed "The Indiana Rubber Man" for his suicidal dives on the hard court. As a coach for the UCLA bruins, he won 620 games in 27 seasons and the national championship an unprecedented 10 times in a 12 year span, including 7 in a row. Ten times, thats right, I said ten! He was a 6 time NCAA coach of the year and was inducted into the 2006 founding class of the College Basketball hall of fame. Since 1977, the most coveted of four college basketball player of the year awards has been named the John R. Wooden Award. The list could go on and on, but im sure you get the picture here. Their truly isn't an accolade John Wooden didn't accomplish or receive. Even more impressive in my eyes is he never made more than $35,000 a year salary including 1975, the year he won his 10th national championship and he never asked for a raise or expected one. According to his own writings, Wooden turned down an offer to coach the Los Angeles Lakers from owner Jack Kent Cooke that may have been ten times what UCLA was paying him. Money simply wasn't important to him, life lessons and faith were.

From everything I have read, as impressive as his resume is regarding the game of basketball, its equally as impressive off the court. John grew up in a family of five, three brothers and two sisters(both who tragically passed at a very early age). He met his wife Nellie at a carnival in July 1926 and they married 6 years later in a small ceremony in Indianapolis. John and Nellie had two children, James and Nancy. They stayed devoted to each other for 53 years before Nellie passed away from cancer on March 21st, 1985. Even after her passing Wooden remained completely devoted to Nellie, until Wooden's own death. Since her death, John kept to a monthly ritual on the 21st, he visited her grave, and then wrote a love letter to her. After completing the letter, he placed it in an envelope and added it to a stack of similar letters that accumulated over the years on the pillow she slept on during their life together. In mourning Nellie's death, Wooden was comforted by his faith and looked to god for answers and tranquility. John was a Christian for years upon years and he made it known his beliefs were more important to him than basketball. He is quoted as saying, "I have always tried to make it clear that basketball is not the ultimate. It is of small importance in comparison to the total life we live. There is only one kind of life that truly wins, and that is the one that places faith in the hands of the Savior." Wooden's faith definitely influenced his life. He read the Bible daily and attended church daily. He often said that he hopes his faith is apparent to others, "If I were ever prosecuted for my religion, I truly hope there would be enough evidence to convict me."

This faith and knowledge transferred over to the basketball world. Mr. Wooden has compiled "life lessons" that have become legendary, here are couple of my personal favorite. "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." "Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be." Lastly,"Never mistake activity for achievement." These are the type of lessons and principles he instilled in his players and anyone he came in touch with. He wanted to not only be a basketball coach and maintain a winning program, but to sustain a positive growth and learning environment for the young men he considered his "sons". It was more important to John to see his players succeed off the court and build character to that will last them forever, then to win on the court. Maybe that's why his teams always won so many games because his players were mature, had character and played for each other and the good of the team, not for individual achievements. He preached hardwork, commitment and teamwork. He would often remind his players that you should never be afraid to fail, its not putting in maximum effort and taking risks that is the greatest failure of all.

I was born in June of 1982, so I never had the privilege of watching Mr. Wooden play basketball or coach and mentor his young college athletes. I never had the opportunity to see him stalk the sidelines and get the full effect of why he was nicknamed the "wizard of westwood." I was an athlete growing up, still play sports to this day and have followed sports thoroughly almost my entire life. I have seen many coaches in every sport come and go and to me Mr. Wooden stands out head and shoulders above the rest. He should be a benchmark for current and future coaches to follow and a playbook on how to tutor young college athletes who often lose their way in life. So thank you Mr. Wooden for not only being a great basketball coach and true ambassador of the game, but for putting life and character first. For instilling principles and life lessons in young athletes that is completely lost today in the world of sports today. You are the true definition of a leader and will never be forgotten. I'm just sad I was never alive to see it.