Wooden: A Coach's Life

by Seth Davis

  “Red had come in and captured the town”: Chapin and Prugh, Wizard of Westwood, p. 82.

  “We came out here and we were made to feel unwelcome”: Ibid., p. 83.

  A question mark appeared opposite that number: Ibid., p. 84.

  “I remember those figures because they just transposed the last numbers”: Marv Dunphy, John R. Wooden: The Coaching Process (Thesis, Brigham Young University, 1981), p. 55.

  “I didn’t say anything about their wind”: Ibid.

  The men’s gymnasium had been built in 1932: Andrew Hamilton and John B. Jackson, UCLA on the Move: During the Fifty Golden Years, 1919–1969 (Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1969), p. 70.

  “I took the easy job, I must say”: Heisler, They Shoot Coaches, Don’t They?, p. 18.

  “There were a hundred high school gyms in Indiana that were far, far better”: Wooden interview with ESPN, Mar. 12, 1998.

  “He was a tenacious, tough, hard-nosed, vicious competitor”: Johnson, John Wooden Pyramid of Success, p. 421.

  He derided that tactic as “negative rebounding”: “UCLA: Simple, Awesomely Simple,” Sports Illustrated, Nov. 30, 1970.

  “A coach who plays up-tempo style, as opposed to ball control, is less likely to be fired”: Chapin and Prugh, Wizard of Westwood, p. 230.

  “We had a saying”: Powell interview with Jares.

  one of the opposing coaches asked Wooden if he wanted to set up a scrimmage the following morning for players who didn’t get into the game: Ibid.

  “I was at a new place, trying to get established. You want to do well”: Wooden interview with ESPN, Mar. 12, 1998.

  11. THE NONCONFORMIST

  Interviews: Art Alper, Ralph Joeckel, Jerry Norman, Barry Porter, Paul Saunders, Eddie Sheldrake

  “You guys need another pigeon for bridge?”: Reporter file for Sports Illustrated by Jack Tobin, Aug. 9, 1968.

  “Wooden was a little cornballish and had some straitlaced ideas, and Jerry was a little more sophisticated”: Powell interview with Jares.

  “He was very profane”: Johnson, John Wooden Pyramid of Success, p. 42.

  “Our hope is to run Conley so much we cut him down to our size”: “Midwest Boasts More Top Cagers,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 6, 1950.

  Joeckel banked in a shot from just beyond half-court in the closing seconds: Hamilton and Jackson, UCLA on the Move, p. 177.

  Purdue sent three top administrators to Los Angeles: “How Purdue Failed to Snatch Wooden,” Los Angeles Daily Mirror, Mar. 3, 1950.

  Purdue also dangled perks: Wooden with Jamison, My Personal Best, p. 98.

  “They knew what I wanted to talk about”: Johnson, John Wooden Pyramid of Success, p. 35.

  “I guess they had learned enough about me”: Academy of Achievement interview.

  “My family likes it here and so I chose to stay”: “How Purdue Failed to Snatch Wooden,” Los Angeles Daily Mirror, Mar. 3, 1950.

  “I was irritated to say the least”: Johnson, John Wooden Pyramid of Success, p. 35.

  “If there was no hope of a new pavilion, there is no hope of keeping Wooden”: “OK Pavilion Plans,” Daily Bruin, Mar. 3, 1950.

  “Ridgway was being disciplined”: “Ridgway ‘Saw Light,’ Says UCLA Cage Coach,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 12, 1951.

  “Stop Norman and you can stop the Bruins”: “Bruins May Sew Up Title Tonight,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 29, 1952.

  “Norman has been our spark”: “Huskies to Collide with ‘New’ UCLA,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 4, 1952.

  “Mr. Wooden and I just had a few differences”: “Jerry Norman Transformed, Now Bruin Cage Team’s Spark Plug,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 20, 1952.

  “It was one of our worst games in quite a while”: “Wooden Sad, Feerick Glad Over Outcome,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 22, 1952.

  12. L.A. STORY

  Interviews: Art Alper, Jerry Evans, Ken Flower, Marv Harshman, Denny Miller, Ed Powell, Betty Putnam, Doug Sale, Bob Seizer, Eddie Sheldrake, Ron Tomsic, John Wooden

  “After all the trucks made their deliveries and came back, I would call the next day’s orders, sweep out the place, and head over the hill to UCLA”: Johnson, John Wooden Pyramid of Success, p. 36.

  “The better basketball players in the Midwest are no better than our basketball players in the far west”: “Midwest Boasts More Top Cagers,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 6, 1950.

  a member of the school’s faculty committee on finances recommended that the project be financed by raising the annual student fee by four dollars: “Pavilion Called Feasible by Rep Meet Speakers,” Daily Bruin, Apr. 24, 1952.

  “It was nothing but murder in there. Like walking into an oven”: Chapin and Prugh, Wizard of Westwood, p. 89.

  “It didn’t displease me that other teams felt that it was a sweatbox”: Wooden interview with Jares.

  “persecution complex”: Johnson, John Wooden Pyramid of Success, p. 38.

  “I don’t know how I got anything done”: Wooden interview with ESPN, Mar. 12, 1998.

  some 6,200 veterans enrolled: Hamilton and Jackson, UCLA on the Move, p. 107.

  “I’m just a common person”: Chapin and Prugh, Wizard of Westwood, p. 75.

  “He felt a little estranged from his son”: Johnson, John Wooden Pyramid of Success, p. 409.

  “Who’s in charge of this school?”: Bisheff, John Wooden, p. 251.

  when Wooden read the label and saw that it contained blackberry brandy, he refused to drink the stuff: Johnson, John Wooden Pyramid of Success, p. 407.

  “When he first came out west he was provincial, a little aloof”: Chapin and Prugh, Wizard of Westwood, p. 241.

  At one point he got her an appointment with a hypnotist, but it didn’t work: Bisheff, John Wooden, p. 40.

  “Too soon!”: “John Thinks His Pre-Game Bruin Ritual Needs Repairs,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 13, 1960.

  “I probably would have had a rough time at some place where you have to go out and get them”: Wooden interview with ESPN, Mar. 12, 1998.

  “You know, this is not a bad place to live”: Purdue interview.

  “We became settled”: Academy of Achievement interview.

  The only time they bickered in front of the kids was when he discovered she had again neglected to register checks she had written from their bank account: Bisheff, John Wooden, p. 40.

  13. WILLIE THE WHALE

  Interviews: Jerry Evans, Bill Johnston, Sherrill Luke, Bobby Pounds, Ed Powell, Morris Taft

  The Daily Bruin said Jackie looked like a “wasted robot”: Arnold Rampersad, Jackie Robinson: A Biography (New York: Ballantine Books, 1997), p. 73.

  “My last game in high school was in front of eighteen thousand people”: Chapin and Prugh, Wizard of Westwood, p. 91.

  “Johnny was the first person in my dressing room”: Reporter’s file for Sports Illustrated by Dick Denny, Aug. 10, 1968.

  “My mother doesn’t think that I should accept this money, and neither do I”: Willie Naulls, Levitation’s View: Lessons Voiced from an Extraordinary Journey (Laguna Niguel, Calif.: Willie Naulls Ministries, 2005), p. 29.

  When Naulls complained to Wooden, the coach told Naulls he knew nothing about such arrangements: Ibid., p. 127.

  “With Wooden, you don’t feel you can do this”: Chapin and Prugh, Wizard of Westwood, p. 300.

  Naulls enrolled in extra classes, got reimbursed for the books, and then he returned them to the bookstore and pocketed the refunds: Naulls, Levitation’s View, p. 74.

  “You do not deserve any special parking privileges”: Ibid., p. 73.

  “Our team will be helped and will improve when Naulls gets into shape”: “‘Loaded’ Bruin Hoopmen Rate as Powerful Title Contenders,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 10, 1953.

  They also sat together that night in a segregated movie theater: Naulls, Levitation’s View, p. 160.

  on a drive to the basket, he elbowed the guy in the mouth as hard as he could: Ibid., p. 163.

  “Two hands on the ball will get you mor
e playing time”: Ibid., p. 274.

  “I was tremendously insulted because he never even discussed it with me”: Chapin and Prugh, Wizard of Westwood, p. 299.

  “Oh, Wooden is the best college coach of all time”: Ibid., p. 274.

  14. THE DONS

  Interviews: Carroll Adams, Bill Eblin, Morris Taft

  Wooden ordered them back into the locker room, where he upbraided them for being so impressed: Naulls, Levitation’s View, p. 207.

  “I’m gonna whip you, boy, real bad”: Ibid.

  “the greatest job any one man ever did against UCLA”: “Utah Tops Tough Card for Diablos,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 22, 1954.

  “I always have felt the responsibility belongs to the team behind to change what they’re doing”: “Trojans Expected to Improve This Week,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 15, 1955.

  “I think both of them should give this game of basketball some thought as to what they are doing to it”: “Twogood Raps Bruin, Tribe Stalling Tactics,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 17, 1955.

  “Contrary to a lot of opinions, I’d like to see a lot more games just like that”: “John Wooden Speaks Up for 24-Second Rule,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 31, 1956.

  “We got out ahead of them and slowed down our style of play”: “Dons Favored by Eight over UCLA,” San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 30, 1955.

  “It stunned us—and it beat us”: John Wooden interview with Charlie Rose, Dec. 15, 2000.

  “Russell’s defensive play kills you”: “Dons Triumph over UCLA,” San Francisco Chronicle,” Dec. 31, 1955.

  “A man has to make up his own mind in a situation that affects so many others”: Naulls, Levitation’s View, p. 348.

  “I’ve heard some protests from the Bay Area regarding Venice High’s short floor”: “Cal Gets Its Chance to Halt Bruin Quintet,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 28, 1956.

  “Willie can do so many more things”: “Wooden Rates Naulls Better All-Around Cager Than Russell,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 1, 1956.

  “To this day I can’t understand how they could have passed up Willie Naulls”: John Wooden interview with ESPN, Aug. 13, 2002.

  15. PETE

  Interviews: Ned Averbuck, Bob Berry, Denny Crum, Gary Cunningham, Bob Dalton, Bill Eblen, John Green, Bill Kilmer, Bill McClintock, Tom Newell, Jerry Norman, Ben Rogers, Earl Schulz, Eddie Sheldrake, Roland Underhill

  the Oakland Tribune published an article alleging that UCLA football players were given $40 above the $75 in expenses permitted: “Report Says Bruins Got Secret Grid Pay,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 2, 1956.

  The PCC found the charges to be true and responded in heavy-handed fashion: “Entire UCLA Grid Team Faces Ban,” Los Angeles Times, May 22, 1956.

  more than fifty athletes a total of over $71,000: “SC Accused of Paying Athletes $71,235,” Los Angeles Times, May 24, 1956.

  the PCC imposed on UCLA a three-year suspension from championship and bowl competitions in all sports, plus fines totaling around $93,000: “Ban Against UCLA Blamed on Rivals,” Los Angeles Times, July 24, 1956; Hamilton and Jackson, UCLA on the Move, pp. 130–31.

  The Los Angeles City Council struck back by passing a resolution: “City Council Urges SC, UCLA to Bolt,” Los Angeles Times, July 14, 1956; “Will Bruins Bolt PCC?” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 30, 1956.

  “Our balance again proved true”: “Balance Makes Bruin Cagers Click,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 15, 1957.

  “It was a feeling of being alone and no one understanding the dark thoughts I was having”: Bruce Jenkins, A Good Man: The Pete Newell Story (Berkeley, Calif.: Frog, 1999), p. 182.

  “It would drive you up a wall”: Johnson, John Wooden Pyramid of Success, p. 326.

  “If you don’t want to shoot, go to Cal”: Jenkins, Good Man, p. 121; Joe Jares notes.

  “John didn’t like our slowdown style at first”: Jenkins, Good Man, p. 120.

  “the team making the fewer mistakes generally wins”: “We Don’t Concede Anything,” Sports Illustrated, Jan. 18, 1960.

  “a player should be conditioned to play the last five minutes of a game”: Ibid.

  Newell himself was on hand when they took on USC a few days before: “SC Upsets UCLA In 84–80 Cage Thriller,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 27, 1957.

  “They never played timeouts again with us”: Jenkins, Good Man, p. 119.

  the Cal faculty objected to its southern counterpart’s desire to move its campus: Hamilton and Jenkins, UCLA on the Move, p. 7.

  “This could be the tallest and also the slowest Bruin team I’ve had”: “Optimism Abounds at Cage Lunch,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 3, 1957.

  “They caught up with the fast break after a while”: H. Anthony Medley, UCLA Basketball: The Real Story (Los Angeles: Galant Press, 1972), p. 11.

  “I would not do that”: Heisler, They Shoot Coaches, Don’t They?, p. 19.

  The city announced in the fall of 1957 that an architect’s designs had been completed for a multipurpose arena: “Cage Scribes Given Latest Word on ‘the Hole’ at Weekly Meet,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 17, 1957.

  the regents and trustees at UCLA, California, and USC formally decided to withdraw from the league effective the summer of 1959: “UCLA and Cal Can Withdraw from PCC In ’58,” Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1957.

  “The rule would eliminate the occasional, farcical game”: “Wooden for 30-Second Cage Rule,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 4, 1958.

  earning the nickname the “Wizard of Westwood”: “Senior Cagers Falter, Bruins, Waves Roll On,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 26, 1962.

  he was sharing a motel bed with a prostitute: “Red Sanders and a Paradise Lost,” Bruin Report, July 26, 2010.

  Wooden “suffered in silence”: Chapin and Prugh, Wizard of Westwood, p. 81.

  “the most inexperienced team since I’ve been at UCLA”: “SC-Bruin Cagers Christen Arena,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 26, 1959.

  He hobbled on crutches for several weeks: “First Casualty of Cage Season Is Bruin Coach,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 24, 1959.

  “We allowed Oklahoma State to play its game and you can’t do that”: “Twogood Praises Kemp,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 15, 1959.

  “Why don’t you call a technical foul on me and get it out of your system?”: “Ref Let Game Get out of Control, Says Wooden,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 1, 1960.

  Wooden asked if he wouldn’t mind getting together in the off-season so they could talk about defense: Johnson, John Wooden Pyramid of Success, p. 401.

  Forrest Twogood accidentally elbowed Wooden in the face: “Players, Fans Riot at SC-UCLA Game,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 6, 1960.

  16. WALT

  Interviews: Bob Archer, Dick Banton, John Berberich, Bob Berry, Pete Blackman, Gary Cunningham, Chuck Darrow, Jerry Evans, Gail Goodrich, Larry Gower, John Green, Jerry Norman, Doug Sale, Fred Slaughter, Roland Underhill, Dave Waxman

  he would be “one of the best basketball players UCLA has ever had”: “Lawson Destined for Cage Stardom,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 24, 1960.

  “He never quite fit in”: Johnson, John Wooden Pyramid of Success, p. 326.

  “I once loved to play”: Los Angeles Times, Dec. 24, 1960.

  “I did not work with the parents that much”: Dunphy, John R. Wooden, p. 144.

  “Well, reluctantly”: Ibid.

  Lawson admitted before a New York grand jury that he had been approached by professional gamblers: “UCLA Cager Lawson Admits Bribe Offer, Quits School,” Los Angeles Times, May 30, 1961.

  “I’ve never had a boy who resented instruction and correction as much as Lawson did”: Chapin and Prugh, Wizard of Westwood, p. 98.

  “I would explain to my players that we’re like a machine”: Dunphy, John R. Wooden, p. 69.

  “Little things add up, and they become big things”: Wooden interview with ESPN, Mar. 12, 1998.

  “It disgusts me to see all these cartoons of raving maniac coaches”: Joe Jares notes of Wooden lecture at Kutsher’s Country Club, June 26, 1967.

  “The one word tha
t my players will hear from me more than any other in practice is balance”: Wooden interview with Jares.

  “A three and one look off-balance, and I like balance”: Joe Jares notes.

  “I wanted the business-like approach”: Dunphy, John R. Wooden, p. 123.

  “I never want my players to feel that winning a basketball game was any great accomplishment”: Ibid., p. 128.

  “John’s not the flippant type”: Reporter’s file for Sports Illustrated by George Ferguson, Aug. 1, 1968.

  “I love to play those teams that just came back from Hawaii”: Wooden interview with Jares.

  “If I see a boy giving up the baseline [on defense], I take him out for the rest of the half”: Joe Jares notes of Wooden lecture at Kutsher’s Country Club, June 26, 1967.

  “They learn that I stick by my demands”: Sports Illustrated, Mar. 19, 1962.

  “handled the team like a machine”: “UCLA Cager Raps Wooden, Quits to Play for San Diego St.,” Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1973.

  Naulls called Wooden to tell him about this young man: Naulls, Levitation’s View, p. 270.

  “We’re a running club”: “Wizards in the Land of Oz,” Sports Illustrated, Mar. 19, 1962.

  “He was fancy”: Hall of Fame interview.

  “My feeling was that we’d be better off not playing them that night”: “UCLA’s Negro Stars Benched for Aggie Tilt,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 27, 1961.

  “that doesn’t mean we won’t play there eventually”: Ibid.

  17. “DON’T BE A HOMER!”

  Interviews: Pete Blackman, Ken Flower, John Green, Dan Hruby, Earl Schulz, John Wooden

  “He was screaming and yelling at me”: Heisler, They Shoot Coaches, Don’t They?, p. 22.

  Hazzard called his mentor and friend, Willie Naulls, to inform him of his decision: Naulls, Levitation’s View, p. 273.

  unbeknown to him, Wooden had already called his father before he benched Hazzard for the Ohio State game: Wooden with Jamison, My Personal Best, p. 132.

  “I sort of question the fairness of this”: Los Angeles Times, Feb. 12, 1962.

  “Dadburn it, Joe, you saw him double dribble down there!”: Sports Illustrated, Jan. 6, 1969.