Aug

31

John Wooden lived 99 2/3 years and is considered by many to be the greatest coach in history. His teams at UCLA won ten of 12 national championships, 88 games in a row, and he was a 3 time all American in college, once sinking 134 foul shots in a row. His players loved him and he developed several systems for success. After reading his book published shortly before what would have been his 100th birthday on October 14, 2010, I figured I could learn much from him.

Here are some of the things I learned. He kept good records. His father gave him a note card with suggestions. He attributes much of his success to his father. His father gave him 7 suggestions to follow and he has tried to live up to it every day of his life. Be true to yourself. Help others. Make each day your masterpiece. Read good books. Make friendship a fine art. Build for a rainy day. Be thankful for blessings each day. I liked better what his father gave him in three rules: Don't whine. Don't complain, don't make excuses.

He loved teaching. And I like the little fellow poem that guided him in his relations with his 3 kids and his students.

        A careful man I  want to be                                            
        A little fellow follows me                                             
        I dare not go astray                                                 
        for fear he'll go the self same way                                  
        I cannot once escape his eyes                                    
        What he sees me do, he tries.                                     
        Like me he says he's going to be.                                    
        The little chap who follows me.                                   
        He thinks that I am good and fine.                                   
        Believes in every word of mine                                      
        the base in me he must not see                                     
        the little chap who follows me                                    
        I must remember as I go                                            
        Through summer's sun and winter's snow.                              
        I am building for the years to be                                    
        that little chap who follows me.

He was married to his college sweetheart Nellie for 60 years and she came to every game he coached. Apparently he never earned more than 50000 a year, and he often turned down jobs that would have paid him much more because he had given his word and he never wished to tell a lie.

His pyramid of success is famous. It has at the bottom hard work, friendship, loyalty, cooperation, and enthusiasm then goes up to self control alertness action and determination. Then fitness skill term spirit poise confidence personal best.

How would I apply these things to markets? I like the never complaining and never boasting. The hard work, and loyalty and enthusiasm. The attributes of the pyramid of success would seem to be good for any activity.

His humility is a good model for all who wish to achieve success. He didn't have his hand out for money and went beyond the dollar and the clock The fact that he was such a good player must have made him a great coach. Apparently he had every minute of every workout planned. And he insisted on it being a team game rather than a forum for a star. I guess that's a bit easier when you have Alcindor and Walton on your squad.

I would have liked to know more about his day to day life and how that suited him to live to 100 and be loved by so many. Certainly the philosophy of life must and the pyramid of success much have had much to do with it.

He took losing very well, and always felt sorry for the teams that he beat.

I can't find anything that needs much improvement in his life as a model for a teacher, father, or speculator.

Charles Pennington writes: 

I thought the Chair disliked cooperative games like soccer and (I presume) basketball. What's the story there?

Fred Crossman writes: 

Never did I want to call the first time-out during a game. Never. It was almost a fetish with me because I stressed conditioning to such a degree. I wanted UCLA to come out and run our opponents so hard that they would be forced to call the first time-out just to catch their breath. I wanted them to have to stop the running before we did. At that first time-out, the opponent would know, and we would know they knew, who was in better condition.

He never called a time out at the end of the game either. Sat there with his program rolled up most of the game for he believed UCLA was better prepared mentally, too. His players knew exactly what to do. Confusion and pressure at the end of the game was their ally.
 


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4 Comments so far

  1. jeff watson on August 31, 2011 7:31 pm

    Here are some wise words from James E Counsilman aka “Doc Counsilman” They are taken from from his book “The Science of Swimming” (1968) which was my bible from 1967-1974 when I swam in age group swimming (AAU), and high school swimming. Counsilman was a man ahead of his time.

    To learn about the world around him, a scientist must ask, observe, suppose, experiment and analyze:

    In asking - the right question must be posed.
    In observing - the significant must be distinguished from the
    unimportant.
    In supposing - a workable answer (or hypothesis) may be predicted, but a scientist must be ready to abandon it.
    In experimenting - the right instrument must be chosen or borrowed from the tool kit of some other branch of science
    In analyzing - the scientist must, with his mind and his imagination, draw conclusions from the data his research has revealed.

    The coach must ask himself : “Am I a scientist? Am I asking the questions of other coaches, the athletes, and other experts?”
    “Am I constantly observing objectively, evaluating, and reevaluating, or have I reached the point where I look, but am not aware of what I see?
    Am I supposing or trying to find a workable answer for the problems which confront me. Once I arrive at conclusion, am I then inflexible or do I always keep an open mind?”
    “Am I experimenting? If possible, do I use tools from other areas of science such as motion pictures, physiological tests, and psychological tests. Do I also use tests within my area: tests of strength, flexibility, agility?
    In experimenting do I, within reasonable limits, try new ideas, that is, isometric contractions, and so on?
    In analyzing, am I arriving at logical conclusions or are my
    conclusions colored by prejudice, inadequate thinking, poor
    background, and lack of imagination?”

    The human pursuit for knowledge seems to follow a three-phase pattern: The first phase is curiosity which comes when the person’s interest is aroused and he begins to look at things, it is to be hoped, with some degree of objectivity;

    The second phase is that of confusion which comes about when the
    person is unable to analyze the situation immediately and sees no
    possible answer to the question or sees the possibility of several answers;

    The third phase is that of the search for the answer, the quest for knowledge. This is the never-ending phase, the one that will always keep man busy.

    The true scientist is curious. He is able to recognize the problem he is confused about, and often his confusion is what keeps him in search of the truth. In athletics, the intelligent coach and athlete are constantly searching for new approaches and improved methods. These are the people who advance. Other people less inspired and creative adopt their techniques.

  2. Bill Fallon on September 2, 2011 2:43 pm

    Bill Walton, who played center in the ’70’s during the ‘hippie’ era, showed up at the first day of practice with a beard and long hair. Wooden did not allow beards or long hair on his players. Walton told Coach he believed in personal freedom, that his beard was a statement of that freedom and as a matter of principle he was not going to shave it off.
    Coach told Walton that he understood Walton’s principled stand and respected him for it. Coach further assured Walton that wherever he ended up playing basketball, he wished him the greatest success.
    Walton shaved off the beard and UCLA was 30-0 during his career there.
    Bill Fallon UCLA ‘74

  3. vic on September 3, 2011 7:13 am

    Very Nice Story, Mr. Fallon. And it's the things like yours which make the daily spec "a joy". vic

  4. steve on September 3, 2011 12:04 pm

    with little prose here are some points.

    I have an autographed copy of his pyramid of success.

    He never talked about winning and losing. His whole goal was to have his players excel at their own level. He never compared them to others.

    Lewis Alcindor Kareem Abdul Jabbar could not play as a freshman under NCAA rules. The NCAA outlawed the dunk when Jabbar played. He told Jabbar that this will be a blessing in disguise to him. He always called him Lewis. He encouraged Alcindor to develop his famous sky hook which became ultimately unstoppable.

    He was the first person who was inducted into the basketball hall of fame as a player and a coach. The only other two are Lenny Wilkins and Bill Sharman.

    He began coaching UCLA in 1948 had success but did not win his first NCAA title until his 16th season as head coach. In a span of 7 years from 1966 to UCLA lost a total of 5 games.

    He coached two of the greatest centers in Jabbar and Walton. In 1973 Walton made 21 of 22 shots and scored 44 points. Their 88 game win streak was stopped by a 71-70 loss to Notre Dame in South Bend Indiana.

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