Among the sea of UCLA affiliates who arrived to commemorate John
Wooden’s life on Saturday, Gary Laine stood out like a lone blip on the
radar, a brave soul behind enemy lines.
Laine stepped onto the UCLA campus at 4:30 a.m., the orange glow from the lit street lamps along Bruin Walk illuminating his cardinal cap with the unmistakable gold letters, his polyester cardinal jacket and a rather anxious facial expression.
He was a Trojan, and he was the first person in line.
For Laine, it was less a matter of causing a ruckus and more a desire to pay his respects to a man he held in high esteem. He just wasn’t sure if he would be getting a free pass that day.
“I was really kind of nervous about this, thinking, “˜Gosh, am I going to get in (Pauley Pavilion)?'” Laine said. “And I didn’t have to show up early; I was just going by what people said. As it turned out, I could have come later, but I wasn’t taking any chances because I wasn’t going to miss out on being here, for Coach.”
Although his allegiance lies with USC, Laine had no shame in pointing out that Wooden’s writings and teaching philosophies have had a profound impact on his life.
“I’ve read all of Coach’s books,” he said. “He just led by example. He wasn’t about the winning but was about the experience and what you learn from that, which I think we forget about because we’re always trying to win.”
“I believe in his philosophy; it comes from another time in America, yet everyone is willing to clamor back to that.”
Laine was one of about 4,000 people who came to memorialize the legendary basketball coach, a number of whom are current UCLA athletes.
“He left a very big legacy on athletics, and to be able to come to the memorial and witness it is a very big thing,” said Joy Eaton, a rising senior on the women’s track and field team.
Eaton came with Brittani and Brianna McCullough, the former, a senior gymnast and the latter, the team manager on the gymnastics team. Brianna reflected on their interactions with Wooden, noting that the coach was a regular at the gymnastics meets.
“He came to a lot of our gymnastics meets,” she said. “I think he’s a legendary person and it’s definitely an honor … I talked to him like a normal person because I think that’s what he wanted.”
There may have been plenty of unoccupied seats inside Pauley Pavilion, but according to Eaton, those in attendance each had his or her own personal ties with Wooden.
Whether it was a simple matter of having a book signed at basketball games or paying the coach a visit at his Encino home, the people gathered at Pauley were all enlightened by the coach in the same way.
“Those who came, came for (their own) reason,” Eaton said. “Somehow he touched you tangibly, and this was … a farewell. He’s still there, in Pauley, his spirit is still here around campus. Those who came, felt it.”
His illustrious coaching accomplishments aside, Wooden was a family man at heart, and this was reflected in the countless fathers, mothers, daughters and sons in attendance.
Michael Johnston, a UCLA alumnus and visiting assistant researcher at the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine, brought his seven-year-old son Elisha to the service.
An avid student of the “Pyramid of Success,” Johnston frequently brings Wooden’s teachings into his classroom.
But Johnston’s pupils are not the only ones to benefit from the coach’s teachings.
On the morning bus ride from Santa Monica to Westwood, Johnston and his son read quotes from Wooden’s book “Be Quick But Don’t Hurry,” particularly pulling lines from chapter three, “Focus on Effort, Not Winning.”
“Right now, (my son) is at a point in his life where people are telling him it’s important to win, and I want him to know it’s important to try your best,” Johnston said. “I can’t think of a better person than John Wooden for him to learn that from.”
And then there was Dave Baker, a man not prone to crying. But on this day of final farewells, there was no holding back, not even with two of his sons at his side.
It was quite a moving moment for the father of five, who brought along two of his sons, 16-year-old Alex and 13-year-old Michael, to share in perhaps one of the greatest father-and-son exchanges.
“My kids always talk about how they’ve never seen me cry their whole lives, but how can you not get teared up in this thing, right?” Baker said. “Then (Michael) looks at me with tears in his eyes and he says, “˜I’ve never seen you cry, Dad.'”
Baker first met Wooden at the age of 6 on a visit to UCLA with his mother, and has looked up to the coach ever since.
“I hope to model myself after John Wooden so that my kids can model themselves after me and pass it down,” the Irvine resident said.
In the closing minutes of the memorial service, a video montage was shown on the screen; pictures of a young Wooden and his high school sweetheart flashed by, blended with audio clips from Wooden himself about his endless love for that sweetheart-turned-wife, Nell.
The tribute struck a chord with 87-year-old Jim Klain, who soaked it all in with his wife of 62 years, Lois, at his side.
After graduating from UCLA in 1943, Jim Klain worked for the university for 37 years and served on a planning committee with Wooden for the original construction of Pauley Pavilion.
With Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” wafting out through the open doors, the Klains emerged from Pauley arm in arm, the video finale still fresh in their mind.
“We liked all the remarks about (Bill) Walton. It showed that (Wooden) had a sense of humor,” Lois Klain said, alluding to the occasional jests targeted toward the former UCLA basketball player during the video presentation.
While they appreciated the portrayal of Wooden’s lighter side, the essence of the man is what the two will carry with them.
“He was a great guy, a wonderful guy to know,” Jim Klain said. “A lot of good people are good because of him.”