John
Wooden the Competitor
Who
was John Wooden? Rather, what was he like? The popular opinion seems to be, he
was a very kind man, a man of principles, and a Saint of sorts. In fact, John
Wooden has been nicknamed, St. John.
Thousands
will testify of his generosity and integrity. When calling for an appointment
at his Encino condominium, few have failed to get one. When with Wooden, one was
showered with wise sayings and poetry that illustrated such powerful truths, many
say, “A visit with Coach Wooden was a life-changing experience.” Books have
been written about his high moral standards and living a life above reproach. “Never
lie. Never cheat. Never steal. Never whine. Never complain. Never make excuses.”
He lived that.
Those
who tossed him flattery have seen his chin quickly drop to his chest, as if to
dodge the praise. When one gentleman told Coach how honored he was to be in his
presence, Coach told him, “I am not what I used to be. I’m working on becoming
better every day,” and then thanked the man for the reminder. Deeply and
soberly committed to keeping his ego down where it should be, to Coach Wooden, a
compliment was very much like Kryptonite.
But
make no mistake; John Wooden didn’t win the Indiana State high school
championship and the national collegiate championship as a player being a nice
guy. And he certainly didn’t win ten NCAA championships as a coach by being
everyone’s friend. The world may never have seen a more ruthless competitor. Within
the rules of course, he did everything he could to gain an edge and that did
not rule out “working the officials” and “working the opposing players.”
Following
are excerpts from a 1969 article in The Vault entitled, “Two Faces of the
Rubber Man,” John Wooden’s nickname as a player. He had won four championships
at this point.
Working the Officials
His scathing comments
can melt a referee’s whistle almost in mid-tweet. One official said, “I’ve seen
him so mad that I’ve been afraid he’d pop that big blood vessel in his
forehead. But I never heard him curse.”
“Dadburn it! You saw
him double dribble down there! Goodness gracious sakes alive! Everybody in the place
saw that!”
Eddie
Powell, a player for Wooden at South Bend Central High School, said, "Usually
sometime during the first half he would choose one incident, a close call, and
jump all over the referee," said Powell. "Just chew him out in a
gentlemanly manner, if there is such a thing, but let him know that there is
that side of him. During the half he'd seek out the referee and apologize to
him. He'd say, 'I know I should have known it was a close call. I was wrong.
It's just a job and you're doing the best you can.'
"And then they'd part with Wooden walking away meek
as you please. In the second half, if another close call arose, chances are the
referee'd call the play in Wooden's favor."
To make his full-court press as effective as possible,
Wooden wants referees to be acutely aware of the rule that gives a team only 10
seconds to get the ball across the mid-court line. Sometimes he carries a
stopwatch to the bench. He will not say a word about it and probably will not
check it, but he will make certain that the officials notice it.
"No official, no player has ever heard me use a word of profanity," he says. "I don't stand up and do anything to excite the crowd. That's one of the worst things coaches can do. You've never seen me throw a chair or a towel, or jump up and go down the floor yelling.
"I don't say, 'You're a homer!' I'll say, 'Don't be a homer! I'll say, 'See 'em the same at both ends!' I'll say, 'Watch the traveling,' or some such, but no profanity and nothing personal.
Working Opposing Players
"The thing I may be ashamed of more than anything
else is having talked to opposing players, not calling them names but saying
something like 'Keep your hands off of him' or 'Don't be a butcher' or
something of that type."
Walt Hazzard, the high scorer and imaginative passer who sparked Wooden's first NCAA title team in 1963-64, is a great admirer of Wooden's needling. "He is one of the best bench jockeys in the world. He has an 'antiseptic needle'—clean but biting. I've seen opposing players left shaking their heads, but there was nothing they could say."
I think you get the idea. But just in case,
let me finish with a story Coach told me. He and Denny Crum, his assistant who
went on to coaching greatness himself, regularly played Saturday morning golf.
Coach told me, “Denny was a much better golfer than I but he rarely beat me. I
had to do whatever I could to make the playing field more even. So, for
example, when Denny would line up a putt that would win him the hole, I might
say, on his backstroke, “Are you sure you accounted for the break?” Most of the
time, he missed the putt.
Does this information lower your opinion of
John Wooden? Not me. I admire him even more. In fact, I’ve taken notes. Wanna
play a round of golf?
