John Wooden: 1910-2010

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************************* John Robert Wooden was born October 14, 1910, in Hall, Indiana, one of four sons of a farmer and a housewife.

Wooden said he learned from his father true leadership — when to be firm, when to be flexible, when to have the strength to be gentle and when to have the strength to force compliance.

His mother made Wooden and his brothers their first basketball by tying together old rags and black cotton stockings. He began playing basketball at Martinsville High School, where they called him "Indiana Rubber Man" because every time he went down on the court, he bounced right back up.

At Martinsville, he won All-State prep honors in basketball for three consecutive years, leading his team to the Indiana state title in 1927 and runner-up titles in 1926 and 1928.

Losing the 1928 title game, he said decades later, "was the most disappointing thing that ever happened to me as a player."

At Indiana's Purdue University, Wooden won letters in basketball and baseball during his freshman year and later earned All-American honors as a guard on the basketball team, from 1930 to 1932.

He was captain of Purdue's 1931 and 1932 basketball teams and led the Boilermakers to two Big Ten Conference titles and the 1932 national championship. He was named college basketball's 1932 Player of the Year, received the 1932 Big Ten Conference medal for outstanding merit and proficiency in scholarship and athletics, and was inscribed on Purdue's academic honor roll. Shortly after graduating from Purdue in 1932, Wooden married Nell Riley, whom he had met at a carnival when he was 15.

They remained together until her death in 1985.

He considered his wife his "lucky Nell" — he never began a game without finding her in the stands and getting a wink and an OK signal from her. Wooden began his coaching and teaching careers at Dayton High School in Dayton, Kentucky.

There, he coached numerous sports teams, including the basketball team, which he coached to the only losing season in his entire career as either a player or coach. During World War II, he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and spent time aboard the USS Franklin in the South Pacific.

Following his discharge in 1946, he coached at Indiana Teachers College (now Indiana State University) for two seasons before coming to UCLA. Wooden said that his most gratifying UCLA season was his last, 1974–75, when the Bruins won a national championship despite having only one returning starter, David Meyers.

Four players from the previous year had been drafted by professional teams, including Walton and Wilkes. But even before the 1975 NCAA Championship game, Wooden had made his decision to leave coaching.

After the national semifinal game, a stunning 75-74 double-overtime victory against the University of Louisville, Wooden said he found himself not wanting to talk to the media.

He said he had never felt that way before and knew it was time to get out. He went to the locker room, gathered his players around him and announced his decision.

Wooden later recounted to UCLA Magazine that he told his players, "I don't know how we'll do Monday night against Kentucky, but I think we'll do all right. Regardless of the outcome of the game, I never had a team give me more pleasure. I'm very proud of you. This will be the last team I'll ever coach." The Bruins went on to defeat the University of Kentucky 92-85 in the finals, winning their 10th NCAA title in 12 years. After he left coaching, Wooden kept busy with basketball clinics, personal appearances and interviews, and wrote or co-wrote many books, including "The Essential Wooden," "Coach Wooden One-on-One," "Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success," "Wooden on Leadership" and "Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success," a children's book. Wooden was often called the "Wizard of Westwood," a moniker that he did not like. "I'm no wizard, and I don't like being thought of in that light at all," he told Marina Dundjerski, director of the UCLA History Project, in an interview in 2006. "I think of a wizard as being some sort of magician or something, doing something on the sly or something, and I don't want to be thought of in that way." He said he preferred being called simply "coach." Wooden is survived by a son, James, of Orange County, Calif.; a daughter, Nancy Wooden, who lives in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley; three grandsons and four granddaughters; and 13 great-grandchildren. Wooden often said that with the passing of his wife, Nell, he lost his fear of death. "I look forward to seeing her again," he told UCLA Magazine in 2007. On Dec. 20, 2003, the basketball floor in Pauley Pavilion was dedicated as the Nell and John Wooden Court.

************************* Coach John Wooden was known for reciting a seven-point creed for life he said he received from his father. The points:

- 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.

************************* Quotes by Coach John Wooden "People come up to me and say, 'Aren't you proud of all these players who went pro?' I am, but no more so than those who played for me, didn't play pro ball and still made a success of themselves." "I don't think I was a fine game coach. I don't think I was a great strategy guy. I think I was a good practice coach. I could tell you right now what we did at every practice I had at UCLA — every day, every minute. It's all on paper." "I don't believe in praying to win. The prayer I'd like to hear beforehand is for nobody to get hurt and that you participate to the best of your own individual ability." "There are three things an athlete must do. You must be in physical condition... You must execute properly and quickly the fundamentals... and you must have eagerness to sacrifice personal interests or glory for the welfare of the team." "There is no substitute for hard work. If you're looking for the easy way, if you're looking for the trick, you might get by for a while, but you will not be developing the talents that lie within you. There is simply no substitute for work." "Don't be afraid to fail. The greatest failure of all is failure to act when action is needed. Use the information that you've acquired in the past through the experiences you've had and act with self-control — but act."

"You can't have confidence unless you are prepared. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail." "I never met a person from whom I did not learn something." "Passion is temporary. It doesn't last long. Love is enduring. And that's the important thing. If we all had love in our lives to the degree that we should, it would be much happier." *************************