Coach taught more than basketball
Opinions & sacred cows
By Ron Goble
When John Wooden, 99, died on June 4, the world lost a great man.
Most people knew him as the greatest basketball coach of all time. No one came close to his success. Wooden’s record speaks for itself. He led the Bruins to 10 NCAA championships, including an unmatched streak of seven in a row from 1967 to 1973. Over 27 years, he won 620 games, including 88 straight during one historic streak.
But few knew that Coach Wooden spent his first four years at UCLA working two jobs. And it isn’t surprising to me that Mr. Wooden had a dairy connection. From 6 a.m. until noon he worked at a dairy in the San Fernando Valley, as a dispatcher of milk trucks and troubleshooter. At the end of his dairy shift, the not-yet-famous coach, would sweep out the place. Then he’d come into Westwood to coach his Bruins.
While Wooden was famous for his coaching success, his real success was teaching young athletes how to live life. His former players don’t talk about his coaching as much as how he instilled in them the importance of good character. Coach Wooden developed “The Pyramid of Success,” a graphic laundry list of character and personal traits that he used to inspire his players and thousands of other athletes, well after his coaching career ended.
Each athlete learned Wooden’s “pyramid,” which summed up his personal code for life. The base and foundation of the pyramid is industriousness, friendship, loyalty, cooperation and enthusiasm. The second level is self-control, alertness, initiative and intentness. The third level is condition, skill and team spirit. The fourth is poise and confidence, which all lead to the top block of the pyramid – competitive greatness.
It doesn’t stop there. The left side of the pyramid mentions ambition, adaptability, resourcefulness, fight and faith. The right side includes sincerity, honesty, reliability, integrity and patience – all essentials in life’s journey.
My youngest son, Ryan, recalled how Coach Wooden inspired him as a young basketball player. Later in life, Ryan was blessed to work at UCLA as an assistant men’s golf coach for five years, and crossed paths on several occasions with Coach, who he respectfully addressed as “Mr. Wooden.”
We can all learn from Coach Wooden because his message is timeless and will impact the lives of individuals for years to come. Here is some of my favorite Wooden wisdom:
•“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.”
•“Learn as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow.”
•“Don’t give up on your dreams, or your dreams will give up on you.”
•”The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.”
•”Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”
Even with his staggering accomplishments, Coach Wooden remained humble and gracious. He said he tried to live his life by advice from his father: “Be true to yourself, help others, make each day your masterpiece, make friendship a fine art, drink deeply from good books – especially the Bible – build a shelter against a rainy day, give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance every day.”
That pretty much says it all. Thanks Coach!
Have an opinion or response? E-mail Ron Goble, Associate publisher/editor, Western DairyBusiness at: rgoble@dairybusiness.com