Wooden: A Coach's Life (100 page)

Authors: Seth Davis

Tags: #Biography, #Non-Fiction

Wooden was born too early to have a full-time playing career, but for several years he was one of the biggest draws in professional basketball.

Wooden (back row, second from right) with his first team at Dayton High School in northern Kentucky.

Clarence Walker, a reserve guard for Wooden’s 1946–47 and 1947–48 Indiana State teams, made history by becoming the first black man to compete at the NAIB tournament in Kansas City.

A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS

Having spent more than four years deeply embedded in the life of John Wooden, I have developed a profound appreciation for teamwork. So let me begin by acknowledging my most important teammate, Paul Golob, editor extraordinaire at Times Books. It is a part of the writer’s DNA to harbor a healthy suspicion (if not outright disdain) for that mercurial species known as “editor,” but Paul, who also edited my previous book,
When March Went Mad
, was once again an indispensable asset. His diligence, thoughtfulness, fairness, and impeccable judgment are reflected on every page. I thank him for his strong guidance, his gentle touch, and most of all, his enduring friendship.

The other member of my team’s inner circle is my literary agent, David Black. Once again, David went above and beyond the duties laid out in the agent’s handbook to serve as an invaluable reader and editor. David’s client list includes many authors who are far more talented and successful than I am, but I always know that David will take my call and have my back. Like Paul, he’s not just my teammate: he’s my very good friend, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The other critical voice in the editorial process belonged to Rob Fleder. Besides being one of the founding fathers of fantasy sports (how many of you are old enough to remember Rotisserie Baseball?), Rob is a gifted editor who provided some terrific notes that helped us pare down the first draft.

Managing the material for a research-intensive book like this can be tedious and cumbersome, so I took care to utilize (some might say “exploit”) the industriousness and enthusiasm proffered by my team of interns. These youngsters stand as a powerful counter against the suspicion that the future of journalism will be less substantive than its past. I heartily endorse them for any jobs they seek. They are: Matt Bloom, Steve Brauntuch, Paul “Bulldog” Brown, Elliot Cook, Ryan Eshoff, Ryan Feldman, Derek Johnson, Patricia Lee, Matt Norlander, Tessa Rabinowitz, Theo Rabinowitz, Steve Silver, and Kurt Wagner. Special thanks to Chris Taylor, director of Ball State University’s Sports Link program, for connecting me with Paul, Derek, and the rest of his fabulous students. Thanks also to my CBS colleague Wayne Fidelman for helping to compile the endnotes.

I benefited from the generosity of several sportswriting colleagues who provided recollections as well as transcripts and/or notes from their interactions with Wooden. The transcripts provided by Alan Karpick, John Akers, and ESPN’s Josh Krulewitz were very helpful, but I owe a special debt of gratitude to Joe Jares, formerly of
Sports Illustrated
. I could never have imagined when I walked into Joe’s Los Angeles home in the summer of 2010 that he would hand me a thick folder teeming with papers on Wooden that had been sitting in his file cabinet, just waiting for me to come and claim it. Many of those files included long quotes from key people in Wooden’s life who long ago passed away. Joe was also kind enough to provide me with copies of his handwritten notes from his own visits with Wooden.

As I went about my travels, I met with gracious hosts who showed me the sights and put me in touch with people I needed to see. That includes Jim Powers in South Bend and Joanne Stuttgen in Martinsville. Not only did Joanne share her wealth of knowledge about the history of Morgan County, she took me on a driving tour of Martinsville and then brought me to Centerton, where we paid our respects at the Wooden family cemetery. Seeing that headstone with the word “INFANT” engraved on it where Wooden’s sister was buried was my most moving experience while working on this project.

John Kovach, who works at the St. Joseph County Public Library in South Bend, did yeoman’s work assembling many years’ worth of newspaper clips on Wooden’s coaching days at South Bend. Without his thoroughness, I never would have discovered that Wooden had a losing season there, which had never been reported. Thanks as well to Charlotte Brown in the archives office at the Charles Young Research Library at UCLA.

Clarence Walker’s children, Kevin Walker and Adrienne Garrett, cooked me dinner in East Chicago, Indiana, and shared memories of their father. They also provided me with a copy of Clarence’s diary from his playing days at Indiana State.

As for the extended UCLA basketball family, I am of course grateful to all of the people I interviewed for this book. Their contributions are recognized in my endnotes, but I would like to give an extra thanks to Jerry Norman, who provided me with a list of contact information and sat with me as we watched old black-and-white films from Wooden’s early years, and Eddie Sheldrake, who invited me to several reunion lunches at his Polly’s Pies restaurant in Carson, California. (I loved those lunches even though Eddie always introduced me as “that goddamn liberal from New York.”) Lucius Allen, Keith Erickson, Gail Goodrich, and Andy Hill indulged me during multiple interviews so I could properly flesh out this story.

At UCLA, I am thankful for the help extended by athletic director Dan Guerrero, former basketball coach Ben Howland, and director of executive relations Marc Dellins. I also cannot say enough good things about Bill Bennett, the school’s former sports information director for men’s basketball. As I wrote in the text, Bill was UCLA’s steward for all things Wooden during the last decade of the coach’s life, and he continues to serve as keeper of the Wooden flame for the university. Bill and Coach shared a birthday, so it makes sense that they should possess the same gentle qualities. That is, if you believe in that sort of thing, which I suppose I do.

In the Wooden tradition, allow me to point a finger to acknowledge two critical assists. One came from Howard Deneroff, the executive producer for Westwood One radio and a longtime friend, who helped me score a key interview that had been eluding me for some time. The other assist came from Bill Boyd, who convinced his reluctant father, Bob, to meet with me.

I would be remiss if I did not call special attention to Ken Heitz, UCLA Class of ’69, who succumbed to cancer at the far-too-young age of sixty-five. The three-hour conversation I had with Ken in his law office was the most enjoyable, productive interview I conducted for this book. I had several subsequent conversations with Ken, and he stayed in constant touch through e-mail to help me chase down his fellow Bruins. Ken was also kind enough to invite me to his gorgeous house for a UCLA reunion. I miss him, but not nearly as much as his teammates do.

I am blessed to be a part of two of the most prestigious brands in sports journalism in CBS Sports and
Sports Illustrated
. I’ve got a lot of bosses who are great at what they do, and I appreciate that they take a genuine interest in my career. (Not that I’m sucking up or anything.) So thanks to the powers that be at CBS (Sean McManus, David Berson, Harold Bryant, Steve Karasik, and Dan Weinberg) and
SI
(Paul Fichtenbaum, Terry McDonell, Chris Stone, Jon Wertheim, Matt Bean, and B. J. Schecter). I also want to give a shout-out to my superlative management team at IMG: Sandy Montag, Ira Stahlberger, and Aimee Leone. I’m not really
that
high maintenance, am I? (Don’t answer that.) And at Times Books and Henry Holt, I would like to thank Stephen Rubin, Maggie Richards, Patricia Eisemann, Katie Kurtzman, and Emi Ikkanda.

Thank you, Sons of Equinunk.

Finally, and most important, I want to acknowledge my loving and supportive family, who fill my world with all the
naches
and
mishegoss
that make life worth living. Thanks to Lanny, Carolyn, Josh, and Jeremy Davis; Nevin and Elaine Gibson; David, Marlo, Jake, Sydney, and Devon Sims; Harvey and Gail Cohen; Ian, Allison, Samantha, and Benjamin Cohen; and the most beautiful of them all, my grandmother-in-law, Miriam Cohen.

This book is dedicated to my three sons—Zachary Charney Davis, Noah Michael Davis, and Gabriel Frances Davis—who drive me crazy and keep me sane at the same time. I realize it will be some time before you guys are old enough to read this book, but when you do, I hope it helps you understand why I was such a stickler about making sure you put on your shoes and socks properly before soccer practice. As for Melissa Beth Cohen Davis, aka “The Big Boss,” I can only say that I have never felt more grateful, humbled, and blessed that you decided to marry me, of all people. Thank you for being my best friend. Now what say we move to California?

Ridgefield, Connecticut

May 2013

ALSO BY SETH DAVIS

When March Went Mad:

The Game That Transformed Basketball

Equinunk, Tell Your Story:

My Return to Summer Camp

A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR

S
ETH
D
AVIS
is the author of the
New York Times
bestseller
When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball
and the memoir
Equinunk, Tell Your Story: My Return to Summer Camp
. In 1995, he joined the staff of
Sports Illustrated
, where he is currently a senior writer. He is also an on-air studio analyst for CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network during coverage of college basketball and the NCAA tournament. A graduate of Duke University, he lives with his family in Los Angeles.