Teaching the lessons of life
UCLA’s legendary coach
John Wooden takes pride
in his role as a teacher not
only of basketball, but of life.
By Christian Schreiber
Daily Bruin Staff
It’s easy to get lost in the numbers John Wooden produced in his
27 years as the head coach of the UCLA men’s basketball team
because, well, they’re staggering.
Discussion of Wooden’s legacy invariably focuses on those
numbers, be it his 40-year coaching record of 885-203, his four
seasons of 30-0, the school’s 88-game winning streak or his 10 NCAA
titles  twice as many as any school, let alone a single
coach. They are unparalleled and, quite simply, sometimes hard to
believe.
Yet to Wooden, they are secondary. The national championships,
the streaks, the awards, all of it. What matters most to him Â
and his sincerity is unmistakably striking  are his players.
And that’s it. They are his pride.
"I’m very proud that all of my players graduated and that they
are almost all doing well in society," he says. "I’m more pleased
about that than those national championships."
He means it. He will not waver from it. And he wishes everyone
would stop making such a fuss about all those victories.
His embarrassment was clear at having a tournament bear his
name, as one now does. He is the model of modesty. Louisiana State
coach Dale Brown, one of thousands of admirers, said Wooden taught
him "that a great coach can be humble."
And as for the man, well, John Wooden would rather not be
remembered as a basketball coach. It was just the way he got to
teach.
* * *
Wooden was born 84 years ago in Martinsville, Ind., a small town
just off the banks of the White River southwest of
Indianapolis.
Lost in the discussion of Wooden’s basketball life is his early
career in the sport. He was a three-time All-American at Purdue and
remains the only person to be inducted into the national Basketball
Hall of Fame as a player and a coach. After his playing days,
Wooden began coaching high school basketball, baseball and tennis
while teaching English at Central High School in South Bend.
It was during his stay at Central High that Wooden developed
many of his personal philosophies and coaching techniques he has
since made famous, including the oft-quoted Pyramid of Success. It
was also where his winning began.
An 11-year high school coaching career ended with 218-42 record
and served as the foundation for what was to come. Wooden credits
his time as an English teacher for a large part of his success as a
coach.
"Teaching English in high school helped me become a better
teacher of basketball," he says. "It helped me organize my
practices, which was always one of my strengths as a coach, because
I had to develop lesson plans."
Beyond that, Wooden points to his family as influential in his
success.
"My dad started me at a very young age to never try to be better
than someone else, just never cease trying to be the best you can
be. He tried to teach that in grade school  it was extremely
important that we learned that. And my wonderful wife for so many
years …"
Wooden trails off in mentioning his wife of 53 years, Nell, who
died in 1985 after watching most of Wooden’s momentous victories at
Pauley Pavilion. In fact, Wooden’s flashing of the "OK" symbol,
index finger and thumb joined and three fingers extended, was as
much a part of his pre-game ritual as the rolling-up of the game
program.
It is fitting that Wooden point to his family as more critical
to his success than a particular coaching technique or on-court
style. Wooden was always less of a basketball fanatic than he was a
"people person." The base of his Pyramid of Success is "Friendship
… a sincere liking for all," a philosophy that has marked his
career and life.
His expectations as a coach for a player were always outweighed
by his concerns as a human for another human. Basketball was just a
way to teach other things, and winning basketball was a way to
prove it worked.
"I always told my players that basketball will open doors for
you," he says. "I always tried to make every player feel important
in their role for the team. Some players weren’t going to play, but
that didn’t mean they were any less important.
"Some players were going to be the nut and some were going to be
the wheel. Which is more important? Well, without the nut, you
don’t have the wheel. That’s what I tried to teach."
Nearly all of Wooden’s philosophies stretch beyond the realm of
basketball, which is why he maintains that his style would continue
to work today.
"The key to basketball and everything is love and balance," he
says. "If you have true love, you wouldn’t need the other, but
balance is important in keeping perspective.
"Besides that, there are three things that enable you to be
successful. You have to be in the best possible condition, you have
to properly and quickly execute the fundamentals and you have to
teach team play. That doesn’t change over time."
As for today’s players, could he handle the attitudes?
"You don’t handle players, you handle things," he says tersely.
"You work with players."
* * *
Wooden laughs quietly when asked how he spends his days now.
Life without basketball? Some must think it impossible, but Wooden
is an accomplished scholar well beyond the court.
Author of several books, he has two more on the way, and neither
deals with basketball. One is a book of poetry (he’s already
written one) and a philosophy book. Besides writing books, he says
he’s an avid reader, which becomes clear when he quotes passages of
poetry to illustrate points.
When asked what coaches he admires, Wooden says, "I’m sure I
could name people you’ve never heard of." Then he does.
"But you know just because these coaches aren’t in the public
eye doesn’t mean they’re not doing a tremendous job." He then
recites a passage of poetry that asks if a flower unseen by others
is any less beautiful than one seen by many. "It’s the same for
coaches. Because they’re not in the limelight, does that make them
any less of a coach?"
Wooden’s words have been read by millions, but because he
dislikes traveling, they’re heard by only a few.
He has 18 speaking engagements in Southern California for an
area bank, and makes exceptions to travel across the country for
friends and special occasions. Those exceptions illustrate just
what kind of person Wooden truly is.
He has won 10 national championships, yet he is most proud of
his team’s 19 conference championships. He names an award given by
the Christian Church for his service to collegiate basketball and
mankind as special, and makes no mention of the dozens of other
awards as "Coach of the Century," "Father of the Year" or Hall of
Famer.
Ask him if there’s anything else, and he notes that in 1969,
Martinsville named a street after him while he was serving as the
King of the Morgan County Fall Foliage Festival and Grand Marshal
of the Festival Parade. And he’s serious.
Last year he was flown to New York for a Sports Illustrated
awards show honoring him as one of the most influential people in
sports over the last 40 years. In November he was honored as a
teacher by Disney in a ceremony in Washington D.C.
Was the Sports Illustrated award meaningful?
"Not particularly," he says. "Not like the Disney Teaching
Award."
And so it is fitting that Wooden wants not to be remembered for
the banners, but for the people he ably pushed into society as
doctors, lawyers, businessmen and clergymen. It is that of which he
is most proud.
"Oh, I hope they look back on me as a teacher, those that know
me well would call me that, and that’s how I want to be
remembered."