In a fashion that paid homage to the legendary basketball coach, the UCLA community said one final farewell to John Wooden on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.
In a quick but unhurried memorial service that started exactly at 11 a.m., more than 4,000 family members, former players, friends and people who had their lives touched by Wooden, filed onto the floor of the court named after the late coach and his wife.
“Over the last 20 years, I have had the responsibility to talk at services like this about people associated with UCLA,” UCLA Chancellor Emeritus Charles E. Young said in a recorded video message. “There is no one I have ever had the opportunity to speak about that more embodies UCLA than John Wooden.”
The service began with music performed by Wooden’s dear friend and neighbor Deirdre Mary Rodgers and ended with a video tribute filled with the words of Wooden himself.
In between, pastors, famous commentators, former players and an array of UCLA representatives spoke for about four minutes each to an audience that included Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Dodgers manager Joe Torre and Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees.
During his time at the podium, UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero announced that the seat Wooden sat in to watch basketball games after he retired ““ Section 103B, Row 2, Seat 1 ““ will be officially retired. In honor of the late coach, the seat will remain unoccupied for all UCLA sporting events.
From that point forward a spotlight was shown on the seat.
The other spoken tributes ranged from a discussion of Wooden’s spiritual life to his comedic side, but seldom touched on basketball itself.
Sports announcer Dick Enberg shared a story about a bird pooping on Wooden’s head the Easter Sunday after he won the 1964 championship. UCLA men’s basketball coach Ben Howland shared the story of his last hospital visit to see Wooden, in which he found the coach stroking his beard, overgrown due to bed rest.
“I kind of feel like Bill Walton,” Wooden told Howland.
During his speech, Pastor Dudley Rutherford asked the crowd how many of them had received autographs from the always-generous coach. Hands flew up in waves across the floor. Then Rutherford synopsized the Bible in two commandments.
“Love God, and love others,” he said. “And those two phrases capture the essence of Coach Wooden.”
But perhaps the speakers who appeared most moved were Wooden’s former players: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Keith Erickson and Jamaal Wilkes.
All three spoke about how standing in Pauley Pavilion to honor their coach brought a degree of closure.
“When I came here 45 years ago on my visit to the UCLA campus, the floor wasn’t down,” Abdul-Jabbar said after the memorial. “It was the beginning of something, and I guess today, we come full circle on my association with Coach Wooden. To me it was very fitting.”
Erickson and Wilkes both appeared choked up as they completed their speeches. Erickson talked about his visits to Wooden’s modest condo in Encino.
“I had friends with me several times, and we’d be walking along, and they’d have tears in their eyes,” Erickson said. “They said, “˜This is one of the greatest days of my life.’ I’d say, “˜It’s not over yet.’ Often times he’d stand at the window and wave to you. He says good-bye. He says thanks for coming. We’d look, and there he was, waving.”
It was fitting then, that the final image in the closing 19-minute video “In His Own Words” was a picture of Wooden, standing at that very window, waving, this time to the thousands of people who had gathered to say good-bye to him.
“You will not enter the kingdom of Heaven except leaning on upon the arms of someone you helped,” quoted legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully in a video tribute. “If that be true, and I so believe, then John Wooden will arrive on a golden throne supported by many.”