They Called Him Coach

In the middle of July in 1987, my family piled into our Toyota minivan and drove from Minnesota to California. The highlights of the trip were supposed to be Disneyland and visiting family, and for most of us, they were. For my dad, however, the highlight was having his picture taken at center court at UCLA.

John Wooden, the inveterate coach of the Bruins who passed away yesterday, won ten national championships in twelve years. And, more importantly to me, he was my dad's hero. My dad owns an autographed copy of Coach Wooden's book They Call Me Coach (thanks to my mom), and he even met Coach Wooden in an elevator once (a story I've heard at least 200 times).

John Wooden was obviously an amazing coach, but he was an even more amazing person. He taught his players as much about life as he did about athletics, famously saying, "What you are as a person is far more important that what you are as a basketball player." If modern-day coaches (not to mention any other type of leader) could follow just one of Coach Wooden's famous maxims, imagine the world we'd live in:

"Make each day your masterpiece."

"Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability."

"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."

"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."

"The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones."

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

"Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character."

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."

And my personal favorite:

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."