Wooden Wisdom

Read any literature by or about John Wooden and you’re bound to be inspired. That’s the type of impact the legendary Wizard of Westwood imparts. The former college basketball coach led the UCLA Bruins to 10 national titles in 12 years. As a coach, he set an NCAA record with 88 consecutive wins over four years and compiled countless other victories as a person. Wooden died yesterday of natural causes at the age of 99.
I always knew about the legendary college hoops coach growing up, but began to really discover his uniqueness while studying as a freshman undergraduate student. I enrolled in a sports philosophy class geared towards interscholastic coaching. Coach Wooden was a major part of the course material, and one of the main reasons it remains my favorite class ever. Our text book was one written by the UCLA basketball coach himself. It was a personal manual and testament used to teach us about coaching philosophy and how to apply them to motivate and influence people. His teaching tools transcended the athletic field. There are people who are good at their jobs and people who are great at them. Then there are the Wooden types, who are simply the best at what they do. Wooden could unlock the potential of his players. He was a personable coach, who truly cared for each and every player individually. There will never be another Wooden. It would be difficult to duplicate the amount of unparalleled coaching success the Wizard incurred throughout his life. Even if you didn’t personally know him, you have to appreciate Wooden as an athlete. He coached at one job for 28 years. You can’t help but marvel at his accomplishments.
Wooden was undoubtedly a leader on the court, but perhaps his words left a larger impression on people. I remember learning about his Pyramid of Success. There are several great lessons to take from his guidelines for life. My favorite thing about Wooden was his affinity and love for poetry. He scribed poems about his teams and challenged his players with the written word. To me, there isn’t a better way to express oneself, build morale and cohesiveness. The Wizard of Westwood even wrote love letters to his late wife, Nellie. He wrote her a letter each year on the anniversary of her death. Wooden was married 53 years and the key to his success was simply, love and loyalty. I would have loved to have met such a remarkable icon as Wooden.

Parting Points: “Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be”- John Wooden
Happy Birthday to Brian McKnight.