Wooden: A Coach's Life (87 page)

Remarkably, Wooden only lost his train of thought a couple of times, at one point growling, “Oh, gracious, I’m so bad about remembering names.” He recited his “years have left their imprint” poem yet again, but when he was through he said he had meant to recite something else. “I have trouble starting ’em. But I started the wrong one.” He giggled as he said it.

I also asked him about his more temperamental days as a high school coach in South Bend. Jim reminded him of the time when Wooden was driving with baby Nan in the backseat and a car rammed into them. “What did you tell the guy?” Jim asked.

“I said, if you hurt my wife or baby, I’ll kill ya,” Wooden replied. “His father was going to have me arrested for threatening his son.”

When Wooden asked if I had any children, I reminded him that my wife and I had two young boys and that our third child was due in December. “Nellie wanted three,” he told me. “The third one miscarried. We had problems, and the doctor said she should never try anymore. I disagreed.”

I was surprised to hear Wooden say he still made about thirty speeches a year—when he felt up to it, that is. He was having a difficult time recovering from a recent month-long bout with pneumonia. “He went into rehab at the end of March. We literally had to force him,” Jim told me. Wooden added, “I have a doctor that I like, but every time you get near the hospital, he puts you in.”

He said that a big reason he didn’t like hospitals was that the nurses had to sponge-bathe him there. I told him that didn’t sound like such a bad deal.

“No, I get very embarrassed. Very embarrassed,” he replied. “One of the nurses who was bathing me saw I was embarrassed. She said, ‘Mr. Wooden, don’t be embarrassed. I’ve been working in this hospital for thirty years. I’ve seen every kind of penis there is.’”

I told him that so many people his age were depressed, yet he had done well to maintain his positive attitude. He agreed but added, “I’m ready to go.”

“Where are you ready to go?” Jim said.

“With you.”

“You want to go somewhere?”

After about two hours of conversation, I could tell he was tired. I got the idea that he would have let me prod him for a while longer, but only because he was too polite to ask me to leave. Finally, I stood up, shook his hand, and thanked him for his time. I did the same with Jim and Bill Bennett. As I stepped out of the den, I heard the gravelly voice say from the chair, “Good luck on the coming one.”

Somehow I knew those would be the last words John Wooden would ever speak to me. I left the condo thinking they were a fitting coda to our final visit, his way of nodding toward a gracious God who never closes one door without opening another.

N
OTES

The page numbers for the notes that appeared in the print version of this title are not in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for the relevant passages documented or discussed.

PROLOGUE: THE DEN

Interview: John Wooden

“For instance, he’d do it in a spiral form”: Neville L. Johnson,
The John Wooden Pyramid of Success
(Los Angeles: Cool Titles, 2000), p. 250.

he dove into the
Leatherstocking
tales and Tom Swift series: Ibid., p. 14.

he became close with Martha Miller, an elderly librarian: John Wooden interview with Purdue University, March 1989, courtesy of Purdue Sports Information Department (hereafter cited as Purdue interview).

Though his all-time favorite book was
The Robe
: Wooden interview with Academy of Achievement, Washington, D.C., Feb. 27, 1996 (hereafter cited as Academy of Achievement interview).

he wrote poems about how those events made him feel: Purdue interview.

1. HUGH

Interviews: Andy Hill, John Wooden

“We didn’t have much money”: Reporter’s file for
Sports Illustrated
from Dick Denny of the
Indianapolis News
, Aug. 10, 1960.

“Through it all, Dad never winced”: John Wooden with Steve Jamison,
My Personal Best: Life Lessons from an All-American Journey
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004), p. 8.

Wooden’s parents were not physically affectionate with each other in front of their children: John Wooden and Don Yeager,
A Game Plan for Life: The Power of Mentoring
(New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2009), p. 15.

shortly before he died, a group of local researchers discovered he had been mistaken: “Wooden Birthplace Information Clarified,”
Martinsville Reporter-Times
, June 5, 2010.

Some of Johnny’s favorite childhood memories involved riding with his dad on his horse-drawn carriage: John Wooden with Jack Tobin,
They Call Me Coach
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988), p. 23.

“particularly my father”: Purdue interview.

feet that were deformed: Johnson,
John Wooden Pyramid of Success
, p. 251.

“Daddy said her heart was broken”: Ibid., p. 240.

“John did not have an active social life as a kid”: Ibid., p. 256.

“Dogs that would scare me, he’d pet ’em and they would wag their tails”: Steve Bisheff,
John Wooden: An American Treasure
(Nashville, Tenn.: Cumberland House, 2004), p. 14.

“Dad tried to get across to us never try to be better than someone else”: Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame,
Indiana Basketball History
, Winter 1996.

The town was prospering due to bountiful artesian wells: Joanne Raetz Stuttgen and Curtis Tomak,
Postcard History Series: Martinsville
(Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2008), p. 7.

“I think that’s why Daddy always has been such a generous tipper”: Bisheff,
John Wooden
, p. 16.

“He said there’s always time for play”: Purdue interview.

Roxie made a ball by stuffing an old sock with rags: Johnson,
John Wooden Pyramid of Success
, p. 27.

it was made of sand and clay: Ibid., p. 273.

He even carved a diamond,
Field of Dreams
–like: Dwight Chapin and Jeff Prugh,
The Wizard of Westwood
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973), p. 49.

“Johnny says what helped him the most was the desire to play”: Johnson,
John Wooden Pyramid of Success
, p. 273.

“They were lucky if they had shoes”: Ibid.

“That little rat John”: Reporter’s file for
Sports Illustrated
, Aug. 10, 1960.

“I turned off the furnace. Guess who?”: Ibid.

So they pretended to sing it: Wooden and Yeager,
Game Plan for Life
, p. 29.

“I guess John wanted me to beg him to play”: Reporter’s file for
Sports Illustrated
, Aug. 10, 1960.

“Johnny Wooden learned early in life he was not a necessary article”: “Warriner-Wooden,”
Indianapolis News
, Mar. 22, 1972.

2. THE ARTESIANS

Interview: John Wooden

“Good Lord, man, why didn’t you say so long ago?”: James Naismith,
Basketball: Its Origin and Development
(New York: Association Press, 1941), p. 127.

a movement called “muscular Christianity”: Ibid., p. ix.

a Presbyterian minister named Nicolas McKay: A. H. Williams,
Big Bang of Basketball: Birth of a Celestial Star
(A. H. Williams, n.d.), p. 8; Herb Schwomeyer,
Hoosier Hysteria: A History of Indiana High School Basketball
(Greenfield, Ind.: Mitchell-Fleming Printing, 1970), p. 11.

“it is bound to be popular”: Schwomeyer,
History of Indiana High School Basketball
, p. 14; “Why Do Hoops and Hoosiers Go Together?”
Indianapolis Star
, Apr. 3, 2006.

Martinsville unveiled its grandiose landmark in time for its first game against Shelbyville: “Memories Remain,”
Martinsville Daily Reporter
, May 13, 1982.

a popular, nationally syndicated column by Robert Ripley: “The Two Faces of the Rubber Man,”
Sports Illustrated
, Jan. 6, 1969.

“We Martinsville fellows were city slickers and he was a country boy”: Reporter’s file for
Sports Illustrated
, Aug. 10, 1960.

“You’re not going to do to me what you did to my brother!”: Wooden with Tobin,
They Call Me Coach
, p. 36.

“no one has yet attempted to teach basketball through this medium”:
Artesian Herald
, 1936.

which was called the “cow barn”: Todd Gould,
Pioneers of the Hardwood: Indiana and the Birth of Professional Basketball
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998), p. 35.

“I didn’t have as much size as many”: Academy of Achievement interview.

“He could dribble with either hand”: Reporter’s file for
Sports Illustrated
, Aug. 10, 1960.

“John could palm a basketball. I never could”: Johnson,
John Wooden Pyramid of Success
, p. 246.

“They’d have these ‘Shoot the free throw’ contests”: Ibid.

“It really could have been dangerous, but he always had a toothpick”: Reporter’s file for
Sports Illustrated
, Aug. 10, 1960.

“When he’d get hold of an expression, he’d use it all the time”: Ibid.

“Pretty pert”: Ibid.

“Lord, no”: Ibid.

He told Wooden that he would never win important games because he wasn’t mean enough: Chapin and Prugh,
Wizard of Westwood
, p. 59.

a flashlight-wielding usher saying it was time to go home: Ed Powell interview with Joe Jares, Aug. 1968.

“I’ve never seen another player give everything, regardless of what might happen to him”: Reporter’s file for
Sports Illustrated
, Aug. 10, 1968.

3. NELL

Interview: John Wooden

she told him he looked like he was dribbling a basketball: Johnson,
John Wooden Pyramid of Success
, p. 237.

playing songs like “Ramona” and “In a Little Spanish Town”: Wooden and Yeager,
Game Plan for Life
, p. 99.

“He was always polite and my parents liked him”: Ibid., p. 15.

She encouraged him to take a public speaking class: “The Coach and His Champion,”
Sports Illustrated
, Apr. 3, 1989.

“Mother thought to herself, if he ever makes twenty-five dollars a week, I’ll be surprised”: Johnson,
John Wooden Pyramid of Success
, p. 15.

The arena had cost the school $1 million to build and had a capacity of fifteen thousand:
Indianapolis Star
, Apr. 3, 2006.

“the tumbling artist from Martinsville”: “John Wooden Lost Last Game Once,”
Easton Star-Democrat
, Apr. 4, 1975.

It was just the second time a sporting event was being recorded by the station: “The 1928 Game Broadcast Was Recorded,”
Martinsville Daily Reporter
, Jan. 27, 1989.

“a spectacular defensive battle”: “Coach Jolly’s Five Tops Martinsville in Final Tilt,”
Indianapolis Star
, Mar. 18, 1928.

Charlie Secrist, the Muncie center, realized that Martinsville could win by stalling: Dave Krider,
Indiana High School Basketball’s 20 Most Dominant Players
(Bloomington, Ind.: Rooftop Publishing, 2007), p. 246.

“It was the highest-arching shot I have ever seen”: Wooden with Tobin,
They Call Me Coach
, p. 39.

“almost without disturbing the net”: “Secrist Scores Winning Goal,”
Indianapolis Star
, Mar. 17, 1928.

“an explosion of gaiety rivaling the Armistice signing”:
Martinsville Daily Reporter
, Jan. 27, 1989.

“We just sat on the floor and cried”: Reporter’s file for
Sports Illustrated
, Aug. 10, 1960.

“I have never felt badly about that missed free throw”:
Indianapolis News
, Jan. 23, 1963.

caught the eye of Donnie Bush: Wooden with Tobin,
They Call Me Coach
, p. 42.

4. PIGGY

$70-per-semester tuition costs: Purdue interview.

Wooden made ends meet by waiting on tables: Wooden with Tobin,
They Call Me Coach
, p. 44.

“I’m not a good fraternity man”: Purdue interview.

Wooden did imbibe some home brew on one occasion: Johnson,
John Wooden Pyramid of Success
, p. 131.

“I would have gone to Indiana”: Purdue interview.

“When you don’t have much, you do”: John Wooden interview with Joe Jares, Aug. 13, 1968.

“That could easily have been my Alamo”: “1929 Incident Almost Ruined Wooden’s Career,”
Hillsdale Daily News
, Mar. 18, 1976.

“There was no problem hitchhiking in those days”: Purdue interview.

“Everybody knew he was going with his high school girlfriend”: Johnson,
John Wooden Pyramid of Success
, p. 16.

Lambert found out and ordered Wooden to stop: Bisheff,
John Wooden
, p. 19.

he turned into a pitch that struck him hard in his right shoulder: Ibid., p. 11.

That’s how he got the nickname “Piggy”: Kenneth L. “Tug” Wilson and Jerry Brondfield,
The Big Ten
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1967), p. 102; Alan Karpick,
Boilermaker Basketball
(Chicago: Bonus Books, 1989), p. 19.