Every individual’s experience with Coach, direct or indirect, are very different from each other, but are all blatantly the same.
John Wooden changed the lives of those who knew him profoundly.
Did I ever meet Coach Wooden in person? nope. Shoot, I don’t even play basketball anymore. I haven’t played basketball in a few years. I don’t even take an avid interest in the NBA anymore. NCAA basketball is what excites me.
So who was Coach Wooden to me in my life and how did he enter my life?
Coach wrote a book, Wooden: A LIfetime of Observations On and Off the Court. I was presented this book as a gift from my dad that I was to share with my brother. I’m not sure he ever read it, but I won’t say that he didn’t, since I don’t really know. This book was given to me at a time in my life where basketball was the center of my happiness. LIfe was all about watching NBA games, and playing HORSE, and playing pickup games with friends on the blacktops.
I had never heard of John Wooden before that book came into my possession, but I was itching to read it, since it dealt with basketball. But my dad wrote something on the inside cover to the tune of, this book is more than just about basketball. As a basketball-crazed-seventh grader, some of coaches ideas and teachings resounded and were easily absorbed and digested, while others were still far too lofty for my immature mind to handle. No worries. I didn’t just read that book once. In fact, this was the first book that I owned that I actually “marked up”. I was writing little things in the margins and highlighting stuff. Most people do this in college with their own textbooks and more commonly with Bibles. In seventh grade, I sure as heck wasn’t reading the Bible, let alone marking up a book. It would be almost five years before I would find myself reading the Bible. Coach’s book made a profound impact on me.
Coach’s teachings helped me understand the world and the people in it and how I was supposed to behave in it. I loved the section in the back of the book dedicated to Coach’s favorite maxims to live by. These are his famous one-liners that everyone (and myself) love to quote over and over again.
Not making the freshman basketball team was great for me. It showed me that I had absolutely no business on a basketball court playing for my school. From that moment on, Coach’s book ceased to be about basketball, but about character development and leadership.
High school marching band started. I was fit and in shape and band wasn’t physically taxing on me, at least not as bad as it was for others. I was also very prideful and high strung. Pair this problem with obvious talent, and its a classic recipe for disaster. My section leader, Bill Luo took me aside one day after like, the third day of school, and said, “Hey, you and I both know already that you’re the only one good enough who can be section leader next year. You have an attitude problem and it needs to be fixed, FAST.” I’d like to tell you that this is a grotesque exaggeration of my interpretation of what he said, but no. That was exactly what he said. And because I had already begun my Wooden digest, I was able to accept that truth without offense and knew that changing my character that drastically wasn’t going to happen over night. It changed enough for me to land the new leadership title, but striving for more patience was always something I knew was a weak spot. In hindsight, patience is the ability to extend a given amount of grace to an individual in a given situation revolving around a particular set of circumstances.
Coach’s teachings are straight up Biblical. No, he doesn’t recite scripture, but this book that I’ve read now at least eight times is the reason I love reading the book of Proverbs out of my Bible so much. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if that was Coach’s favorite book in the Bible either.
Coach’s book helped me get through a lot of unfavorable experiences in high school as well, both academically and personally. He really was first a teacher before a basketball coach. Basketball was never the end all, but the chosen vehicle to deliver his wisdom and teachings.
Don’t even get me started on the pyramid. That’s a whole other writing in itself.
You’re with Nellie again, Coach. You’re reunited with your beloved.
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