Wooden Memories: The first time I met Coach

by ucla7477 on Jan 23, 2009 3:56 PM PST Comment 6 comments

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Thanks to a kind response to my posting, "64-60 in 1971," I promised to try to add some more vignettes about the Wooden championship years. And I'd like to start with as fond a memory as one could have.

The year was 1969, and I was a not very skilled high school basketball player. I didn't make the varsity, which was a good thing, because they (Palisades) were good enough to go to the L.A. City Championship game in Pauley Pavilion. So of course I had to go watch the finals against Reseda. Our team was mostly volleyball players who could leap (our star, Chris Marlowe, would go on to the Olympics); their team had two big names (Greg Lee, City player of the year, and Gary Franklin, both of whom were on their way to UCLA). Pali won, and won big, so it wasn't much of a game -- though we Dolphins were of course thrilled as we had never won City before (nor since).

At halftime I was standing in the concourse, halfway up, waiting for the dead time to end so we could finish off this championship. And Coach Wooden walked up to talk to me. Here is the most famous college coach in the nation (had just won his 3rd title in a row and 5th total) and on his own he comes up to a nondescript (nice way to say geeky) teenage spectator to ask how I was enjoying the game. It wasn't just a throwaway line; he engaged me in a short conversation. He had important people to talk to and important work to do, but to him everyone is of great value and worthy of his time, and he has a heart for young people, so he focused on me. He always says the greatest word is Love, and in a simple, quiet way, he shared it with someone he would likely never see again. This shows the measure of the man in a way that no box score ever could.

As a postscript, we would meet again, and he would have a much greater impact on my life -- which is another story if you want one. As another postscript, two years later I would end up in the UCLA dorms with Gary Franklin and we struck up a nice friendship.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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Nice Post

I met coach in 1997 when he addressed a friend’s Sports Psychology class. The professor displayed the wisdom and generosity of allowing every student the ability to bring ONE guest. I was lucky my friend invited me.

Coach talked about a great many topics. He explained the Pyramid of Success. He took questions and posed for pictures with us. Afterwords, we congregated in the courtyard outside the Psych Building and talked about what had just happened to us. Because that’s how we felt. A common theme among everybody was how we all felt we could accomplish anything. Someone made the comment that you can only imagine, if we felt this way after one sitting with him, can you imagine what his players and coaches felt like hearing him speak every day? We felt like we were floating. I made the comment that this must be what the Sermon on the Mount felt like. Jesus’ seminal moment of public speaking. Somebody agreed, and said they had thought the same thing, but didn’t want to sound foolish by making the comparison.

He said many great and wonderful things that day. Wisdom poured forth like water from a jug. But, the one thing he said that has stayed with me all these years, is a simple comment he made about raising children.

“The best thing you can do for your children is to simply love their mother.”

Thanks Coach. I’ll never forget. I’ll keep this one for the rest of my life and share it with as many people as I can.

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. John Wooden

by MexiBruin on Jan 20, 2009 9:38 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I never got to meet him

But I remember a little different side that I saw. He wasn’t some super-serious guy who just made appearances at his balcony and blessed the crowds. He used to go to baseball games and he would razz the umps. They knew exactly who was doing the yelling, because there were generally only about 20 or so people in the stands and his voice is distinctive. And between innings they would go back to the backstop and he would go chat with them and you could see them all laughing. He was (and undoubtedly still is) a fundamentally ordinary guy who enjoyed life and enjoyed people. He would probably be uncomfortable thinging that he is being beatified, and would rather just be remembered as being a guy who you could go sit with at Ships.

(Would someone figure out how to put up the HBO special on him, which included the “How To Put On Your Shoes” lesson? I had it on my favorites but somehow it disappeared.)

by Fox 71 on Jan 21, 2009 5:45 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

more please

I didn’t know who John Wooden was until I was probably a junior in HS. That’s sad because my dad went to UCLA when Wooden was leading the bruins to many championships.

I wasn’t really a big basketball fan either. I think it had something to do with my lack of height and shooting ability (I might be able to make 15% on free throws when I’m rested). Of course I heard a lot of stories about John Wooden once I was attending UCLA (and became a basketball fan), but most of them were just about win streaks, Bill Walton’s beard and putting on shoes. That does not begin to tell the whole story.

The more I hear about the man, the more impressed I become so please keep the stories coming.

by layout on Jan 21, 2009 8:10 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I was lucky enough....

to live around the block from Coach back in the early 70’s. I’d see him just about every day doing his incredibly fast cardio-walks around the block. He’d always say hi and ask how things were going. Many times he’d say hi before I could.

I may work with the Waves, but I'm still a Bruin!

by HoozierDaddy on Jan 22, 2009 11:42 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

i've met coach

He did stuff at arco, I spennt a few minuts in an elavader, with him

i did not ask for annythiong, we just exchanged smiles

by 10amla on Jan 24, 2009 2:44 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

When I was ten

I was actually coached by Wooden for about 10 minutes. UCLA had an exhibition game before a kids basketball tournament, run back then by “Direction Sports”, a 70s organization whose aim was to direct kids to sports and away from gangs and drugs. He addressed an assembly of all participants from through out East Los Angeles. Coach’s first topic was not basketball. He emphasized academics and character as the salient qualities of sports and life. Then he got to the nitty gritty. He selected me and Terry Schofield for demonstration purposes. He went over techniques of dribbling, passing, defensive positioning and feet movement. He complimented my on my defensive stance and shooting form. Imaging that, coached by Wooden himself, what thrill for a kid. I got all of the teams autograph except for Wicks and Patterson. And for some reason I did not get Coaches signature(darn.)

by brewinz on Jan 24, 2009 7:59 AM PST reply actions 0 recs