Oct. 14th came and went. The balmy Friday afternoon slipped into
night, and soon the dawn ushered in a Saturday full of memorable
sports moments ““ none more spectacular than the UCLA football
team’s overtime win over Washington State.
But that Friday carried an important footnote: a birthday for a
man who is responsible for the very stature of UCLA.
Last Friday, John Wooden turned 95. That’s right, the
“Wizard of WestÂwood” is just five years shy of
the century mark. Wooden’s 95, and when his sagely voice hits
your eardrums you realize he is about as sharp as most people half
his age. I’m 75 years his junior, and I wish to God I were as
perceptive as he is.
As another birthday has come and gone for the Wizard, it becomes
that much more important to celebrate the man, not merely for his
coaching abilities or for the number of banners he brought to
Pauley Pavilion over the years. Wooden is truly an American icon,
and his relevance to UCLA goes well beyond the court.
His coaching success is well-documented. Ten national titles
(seven in a row from 1966 to 1972), an 88-game winning streak and
six-time College Basketball Coach of the Year.
All are NCAA records. Wooden the coach has no parallel, whether
collegiate or otherwise. The sheer numbers are so lofty it’s
almost laughable.
But there have been great sports figures with questionable
values. Not Wooden. His moral compass resembles the philosophy of a
Buddhist monk, rather than the typical win-at-all-cost mentality of
a ball coach. Wooden’s less-heralded awards are in fact more
telling of what has defined his 95 years on this planet.
He was named California’s Grandfather of the Year by the
National Father’s Day Committee in 1974. In 1985, Wooden
became the first sports figure to receive the Bellarmine Medal of
Excellence. Other recipients are Mother Teresa and Walter
Cronkite.
Wooden’s “Pyramid of Success” is all too
familiar now, as it hangs in countless school gymnasiums and middle
school classes around the country. But look at the profundity:
“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of
self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best
you are capable of becoming.”
Sift through the corniness embedded in each cynic and allow
yourself to appreciate the tranquility, stubbornness and positive
energy Wooden still manages to convey as he shuffles around,
limited by the aging process.
The truest testament to Wooden’s influence as a teacher is
that his life lessons were often felt only years after his players
had moved on from UCLA’s championship dynasty. Hall of Fame
member and Bruin legend Bill Walton often tells tales of how
Wooden’s sentimentalism made sense when he suffered through
chronic knee problems, a divorce and a recurring speech
impediment.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played for Wooden when he was still
known as Lou Alcindor, has a story of his own. UCLA was on a road
trip through the South, and the basketball team stopped in for a
bite to eat at a diner. Abdul-Jabbar remembers someone saying,
“Look at that black freak!”
Abdul-Jabbar was shaken up and went off to the side with tears
rising from his swollen eyes. Then came Wooden, who very quietly
offered a piece of advice for his star player.
“Louis, people hate what they don’t know, what they
are afraid of. But don’t stop being yourself.”
Perhaps Wooden’s most endearing quality is his honesty
““ he practices what he preaches. In the pyramid, he further
explains this sense of self, which he defines as
“poise.”
“My definition of poise is very simple: being
yourself,” Wooden’s Pyramid states. “You’re
not acting. You’re not pretending or trying to be something
you’re not. You are being who you are and are totally
comfortable with that. Therefore, you’ll function near your
own level of competence.”
Wooden’s depth as a teacher, husband, father and now a
great grandfather is truly what has helped define UCLA and make the
university such a brand name.
On the simplest of terms, he built the school. Maybe not all by
himself, but look at what UCLA was when he arrived nearly 60 years
ago and what it is now. It becomes evident how much he means to
this institution.
As each day passes, there’s another tally for the old ball
coach, surrounded by loads of memorabilia and letters of
adoration.
As thousands of UCLA students pass through the pockets of
campus, not always realizing there still lives a man who’s as
responsible for the spirit of this school as anybody else.
Not just in sports, but throughout all facets of life, we reach
for public figures who fulfill some mythical persona that seems far
too naive to be real.
John Robert Wooden reminds us that people like that can be real.
He’s just too classy to acknowledge it.
But it’s not too late for others to acknowledge it on his
behalf.
E-mail de Jong at adejong@media.ucla.edu if you have
birthday wishes for coach Wooden, and de Jong will pass them along
for you.