Volume XXXII, No. 23 | October 15, 2010

Goodbye to the Greatest Coach in History—Remembering My Breakfasts with Coach Wooden

June 4, 2010, was a day of inevitability. John Wooden, legendary basketball coach, passed away a few months short of a century of life. The media was filled with stories, statistics, and reminiscences of this extraordinary man. In terms of college basketball, which accomplishment would be considered the most significant? Ten NCAA championships for the University of California at Los Angeles? His induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach? UCLA winning 88 straight games? Coaching the only basketball team in history with seven back-to-back undefeated seasons in the NCAA championship games?

As a young man in Southern California, I became a UCLA basketball fan—just in time for Coach Wooden to lead the Bruins to their first national championship in 1963-64 (in his 15th year at UCLA). A few years (and several NCAA titles) later, I was a UCLA graduate student, studying geography. Being on the campus gave me the chance to see some of the basketball players. Even at a university with 25,000 students, Swen Nater, Keith (Jamaal) Wilkes, and Bill Walton were easy to spot.

I started going for breakfast with a few of my fellow grad students in the UCLA student union. One day, we were seated when Coach John Wooden came over to our table and asked: “Would you fellows mind if I joined you?” He sat down with us, introduced himself, and proceeded to ask each of us who we were and what we were studying at UCLA. We chatted for a half hour or so, and then he excused himself. My friends and I could hardly believe it. This man, at the peak of his success as a coach, had taken the time to visit with us. He was genuinely interested in each of us.

A few months later, John Wooden sat with a different group of graduate students. Again, he went around the table gathering information about the students and why they were at UCLA. I was stunned when he looked at me and said, “Larry how is your research on conservation coming?” How could he have remembered that? Before my time at UCLA was over, I had a couple of other breakfast meetings with the Coach. He knew me and every other student with whom he dined.

I began to pay even more attention to this great man. He had transcended from an athletic coach to a life coach. Ultimately, that is what Coach John Wooden really was—an amazing coach of life who happened to be the greatest basketball coach in history.

I encourage teachers, leaders, and mentors to embrace the role Coach played. For the sake of our students, we should become even better teachers of life, not just content. Coach Wooden once observed that a Seven-Point Creed, given to him by his father, Joshua, upon his graduation from grammar school, was his life plan.

• Be true to yourself.
• Make each day your masterpiece.
• Help others.
• Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
• Make friendship a fine art.
• Build a shelter against a rainy day.
• Pray for guidance, and give thanks for your blessings every day.

Lawrence G. Miller, Chief Academic Officer

For further information, contact the author at Snead State Community College, 220 North Walnut, Boaz, AL 35857. Email.