by Seth Davis
As it turned out, I was extremely lucky. I had caught Wooden on a very good day. After breakfast, he invited me back to his apartment. Bill Bennett and I drove behind Jim’s van and pulled into the garage alongside them. On the way over, Wooden heard on the radio that Michael Vick, the NFL quarterback who had recently been released from prison after serving a nineteen-month sentence for setting up an illicit dogfighting ring, had found a new team.
“Did you hear Vick signed?” Wooden asked me.
“Yes,” I replied.
“With who?”
“The Eagles.”
He smiled. “As Mother Teresa said, forgiveness will set you free.”
When we got into Wooden’s apartment, Jim wheeled him into the den. I helped Jim lift his father out of his wheelchair and lower him into his easy chair. I could feel the bones in Wooden’s back. There was very little meat on his frame, but he was alert and eager to talk. I asked him about the confrontation with Bill Sweek, the falling out with Edgar Lacey, the awkwardness between him and Jerry Norman. I even asked him about Sam Gilbert. He didn’t flinch in the slightest. (“My conscience is clear.”) Since nobody seemed to know what his political views were, I asked if he minded if I pried him on it. “Go right ahead,” he said. He told me he had voted for Democrats and Republicans for president over the years, and he revealed that he had voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 election. “I didn’t vote for Barack Obama because I thought he was outstanding,” he said. “I just liked him better than the others. That’s all.” (Spino later told me that Wooden believed “only a fool” would want to be president of the United States.)
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.
NOTES
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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 want
ed 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.
“Our practices were hellish”: Charlie Caress interview with Alan Karpick.
Lambert insisted that they remain on campus: Karpick, Boilermaker Basketball, p. 30.
“He was way ahead of his time in fast break basketball”: Purdue interview.
a solution of benzoin and tannic acid: Ward L. Lambert, Practical Basketball (Chicago: Athletic Journal Publishing, 1932), p. 229.
Lambert himself was a smoker and inveterate poker player: Karpick, Boilermaker Basketball, p. 60.
“He taught me the value of a controlled offense”: Bisheff, John Wooden, p. 18.
“I’ve seen Piggy getting up, leading cheers, coaching, and officiating all at the same time”: Clyde Lyle interview with Alan Karpick.
“it’s an uncomfortable feeling to be calling them as you see ’em”: Wilson and Brondfield, Big Ten, p. 105.
“anxious to be relieved of the nervous strain and mental punishment”: Karpick, Boilermaker Basketball, p. 60.
the place was so jammed that some fans sat on steel trusses above the floor: Ibid., p. 23.
his habit of flinging his elbows when cradling the ball could be a menace to his teammates during practice: Ibid., p. 28.
“He was a beanpole”: Lyle interview with Karpick.
Gordon Graham, reported that Wooden “had proven himself capable”: “Boilermaker Quintet Looks Good in Opener Against Don White’s Bears,” Lafayette Journal and Courier, Dec. 16, 1929.
“I saw them at the hospital instead of at the game”: Wooden interview with Jares.
Wooden’s absence was “keenly felt”: “Butler Downs Purdue’s Cage Quintet, 36–29,” Lafayette Journal and Courier, Dec. 23, 1929.
“The Boilermakers, without a doubt, turned in one of the most disgusting exhibitions of basketball”: “Boilermakers Are Beaten by Montana State Outfield, 38–35,” Lafayette Journal and Courier, Jan. 2, 1930
.
Wooden “lacked the stamina”: “Coach Piggy Lambert Must Whip Five Into Shape for Conference,” Lafayette Journal and Courier, Jan. 4, 1930.
“the Bob Cousy of our day”: Reporter’s file for Sports Illustrated by Red Marston of the St. Petersburg Times.
“he often flew five or six rows into the stands”: Reporter’s file for Sports Illustrated by Jack Tobin, Aug. 9, 1968.
“You need to put two men on Murphy and two men on Wooden”: “Boilermaker Quintet Grabs 2nd Conference Triumph by Downing Purple Five, 39–22,” Lafayette Journal and Courier, Jan. 14, 1930.
“Lambert gave us considerable freedom in our play”: Reporter’s file for Sports Illustrated by Red Marston of the St. Petersburg Times.
“India Rubberman”: Lafayette Journal and Courier, Jan. 14, 1930.
“He never held a grudge and you simply couldn’t rattle the guy”: Reporter’s file for Sports Illustrated by Art Rosenbaum, Aug. 1, 1968.
“a sophomore who promises to become an immortal in this league”: “A.P. Places Murphy and Wooden on All Star Conference Team,” Lafayette Journal and Courier, Mar. 12, 1930.
Lambert called Wooden into his office to report that a well-to-do doctor in town had offered to take care of Wooden’s living expenses: Wooden with Tobin, They Call Me Coach, p. 45; Bisheff, John Wooden, p. 17.
“When you walk out of here, your head will be up”: John Wooden interview with Alan Karpick.
5. JOHNNY WOODEN, ALL-AMERICAN
Interview: John Wooden
“comparative midgets”: “Lead Purdue Net Champions Against Notre Dame’s Quintet,” Lafayette Journal and Courier, Dec. 15, 1930.
“The thing I remember the most is that he was so fast”: Krider, Indiana High School Basketball’s 20 Most Dominant Players, p. 247.
“It took a hunk of meat”: Wooden interview with Jares.
Wooden missed a chance to tie the score: “Free Throws Win for Easterners; Wooden Injured,” Lafayette Journal and Courier, Dec. 31, 1930.
