Two years ago, I wrote in this space about the death of Bill Walton.
In it, I mentioned briefly his close relationship with his coach at UCLA, the legendary John Wooden.
Wooden is someone I truly admire, and his mention reminded me of finding how his imprint is still relevant today.
Years ago, I was thumbing through the pages of my son’s agenda book when I found something astonishing: John Wooden’s Premier Character Development Agenda.
Throughout the agenda book were tips and wisdom from Coach Wooden on how to be a better student and person.
This wouldn’t have surprised me if I found this in a child’s school-issued literature in 1977. But to have this man’s words and insight still leading young people 50 years after he quit coaching was truly amazing.
I hope young people are still learning from John Wooden 400 years from now. Wooden, the former UCLA basketball coach, died 16 years ago, in 2010, at the age of 99.
Wooden’s college coaching career is legendary, including 10 national titles (including seven in a row) and a streak of 88 straight victories. I doubt those numbers will ever be matched.
But what I find more important is the impact his teaching and coaching had on others, and the principles he lived by and taught to others.
A sampling of some of Wooden’s quotes:
• A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.
• Ability is a poor man’s wealth.
• Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.
• Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
• Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.
• Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
• Failing to prepare is preparing
to fail.
• It’s about what is correct, not who is correct.
• Sports do not build character, they reveal it.
• Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.
• Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.
• If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
• If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.
• It’s not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.
• It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.
• It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.
• Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters.
• Never mistake activity for achievement.
• Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.
• Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.
• Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.
• Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
• The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.
• There are many things that are essential to arriving at true peace of mind, and one of the most important is faith, which cannot be acquired without prayer.
• Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.
• You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.
• You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
• It isn’t what you do, but how you do it.
Words to live by, and a life to emulate. Today, and forever.
• Len Robbins is the editor of The Clinch County News. He can be reached at lrobbins@clinchcounty news
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