Great Article on John Wooden (Dedicated To His Great Grandson) on ESPN

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Reilly dedicated his column to UCLA freshman Tyler Tapani, who is a walk on in Coach Howland's basketball program. Tapani happens to be  the great grandson of Coach Wooden. Incredible article with excerpts selected by "elevated" below (BN Eds).

I don't normally like too much of Rick Reilly's stuff, but this article was great on John Wooden, here is the link, I selected some quotes after the jump.

Very good read, great article to wake up to :)

For instance, he and your late great grandmother, Nell, had the truest love I've ever seen. Junior high school sweethearts, they were married 53 years until Nell died in 1985. To this day, he writes her a love note every month and sets it on her side of the bed. He has never kissed anyone else.

I once asked him if we could write a book together about how to make love last. He agreed—until the day we were to start. I'd been waiting on his porch for half an hour when he finally opened the door, tears streaming down his face. "It's too soon," he wept. And Nell had been dead 15 years by then.

Your great grandfather is his own man. He changes his principles as often as his haircut, which is to say, never. He believes in team, not star. And so he loves Chris Paul and is "disgusted" by Allen Iverson. He hates the dunk and college's one-and-done rule. He admires you not for your unselfish style of play—although he sighs and admits you have "heavy feet"—but your 4.3 GPA. Oh, and he loves that you never mentioned him when you applied.

Read the whole column here.