Wisdom from the Wizard of UCLA (Part 1) - John Wooden

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Wisdom from the Wizard of UCLA (Part 1) - John Wooden
Wisdom from the Wizard of UCLA (Part 2) - John Wooden
Wisdom from the Wizard of UCLA (Part 3) - John Wooden

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript

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Growing Up With Wooden

Day 1 of 3

Guest: John Wooden

From the series: True Success: A Personal Visit with John Wooden

Bob: It was the 1920s in rural Indiana. The Depression had not yet rocked America. John Wooden was a young boy growing up on a farm, a high school student who loved basketball but who was about to meet the real love of his life.

John: I noticed this one little gal, and I didn't know, but she had noticed me, too, but I didn't know that. Somehow, on the first day of classes my freshman year, we happened to be in the same class, and I knew right then, and we knew we were going to be married by the time I got out of high school, and August 8th it would have been 70 years since last August 8th, we would have been married.

Bob: Today you'll hear the first part of a conversation with a man who grew up to be one of the greatest coaches of all time as we talk about his faith, his family, and basketball. Stay tuned as we talk with Coach John Wooden on FamilyLife Today.

And welcome to FamilyLife Today, thanks for joining us on the Wednesday edition. I can't help but smile as I listen to that excerpt from our interview with Coach John Wooden. Of course, a lot of people are smiling right about now because this is the time of the year when March madness really takes over. There is a lot of basketball ahead for us.

Dennis: Semis are this weekend, Final Four on Monday.

Bob: It's got to bring back lots of memories for you from your college days, doesn't it?

Dennis: Well, high school. You know, going back to high school, Bob, those were my glory days. My college days, I had several splinters.

Bob: Sitting on the bench, huh?

Dennis: I got the 15th uniform out of 15 in college. I learned what it was like to be a substitute.

Bob: But your team almost went to the Final Four, didn't it?

Dennis: Well, not THE Final Four. We almost went to the Junior College National Championships in Kansas, and I'm trying to remember where in Kansas.

Bob: But that's like the Final Four for Junior Colleges, right?

Dennis: Oh, yeah, absolutely. In fact, I started that game – the last game of my college career, I started.

Bob: You poured in what – 15, 20 points?

Dennis: Now, wait a second – hold it, just one second, because they put me on an All American. This is a true story. The coach had watched me. It was the only game I started in my college career, but my coach was so impressed with me never quitting and just staying out there and being tenacious – he started me. And he put me on the quickest guy I've ever played against.

Bob: Man-to-man defense.

Dennis: Man-to-man defense, and did you know, when I left the game in the first half – I played about six or seven minutes – I had scored more points …

Bob: … than the All American, and the reason was this: He was so fast and I was so slow, he would fake three or four times, and by the time I had taken his first fake, I was back to where he was really going. And so I would post up underneath the bucket, and the guy didn't like to play defense, and I'd post up on him and score. And so when I left the game, I had actually scored more points than him.

Bob: Now, some of our listeners are wondering what are you talking about Dennis' glory days of basketball on FamilyLife Today?

Dennis: Because we really don't have anything else to talk about. No, that's not true. We have a guest today – well, Bob, a dream of mine, and I sent you a note one day. I said, "Bob, you know, one of the people I would really like in all the world to interview for FamilyLife Today and for our listeners and give them a glimpse of what a great human being he is, what many have described as the greatest coach of any sport of all time – Coach John Wooden." Now, there are a number of our listeners who have no idea who John Wooden is, but a ton do.

Bob: Coach Wooden coached the UCLA Bruins back in the '60s and the '70s.

Dennis: Well, actually, he started coaching in 1948. That's what most people don't realize is. He didn't build that national championship dominant team in the '60s and '70s. He built it in obscurity beginning in 1948 throughout all the '50s and early '60s before he won his first national championship in 1964.

Bob: And after he won his first one, then he won his second and his third and his fourth and his fifth and his sixth. Over a 12-year period he won 10 national championships.

Dennis: That's right, including winning 88 games in a row before they were knocked off at the Houston Astrodome, and I remember watching this game as a young man, where Lew Alcindor was playing against Elvin Hayes, and Houston beat them 71-69, and the Astrodome had, like, 49,000 people in it. It was nationally televised. It was an event, and there are few coaches that could claim the accomplishments that – in any sport – what he has accomplished. But in basketball, he is the ultimate.

Bob: Well, we're going to hear a little bit about that game and about a lot of other games as we talk with Coach Wooden over the next few days. A while back, you a...