Hi Characters,
“Never try to be better than anyone else …but always try to be the best you can be.”
This was the fatherly advice given to the legendary college basketball coach John Wooden, who passed away on June 4 at the age of 99 years. The great thing about John Wooden is that he was revered more for the man he was then for being college’s best basketball coach ever. And while his fame can be attributed to the remarkable championship run coaching the UCLA Bruins hoop team, my belief is that Wooden would have stood above the crowd regardless of the size of his platform. Much has been written about Coach Wooden and I encourage you spending some time to get to know more about his character. Please see the links below and much more that’s available on the web. I really enjoyed the audio interview conducted by Anthony Robbins, called Power Talk. While talking to Robbins, Coach Wooden emphatically notes that from very early in life, he learned to focus on what he could control; his own behavior. By doing this, Coach looked at every minute of every day as an opportunity to contribute and did not waste time concerning himself with what he could not control. This is core to self accountability. But with Wooden one could also easily expound on his living and breathing respect and abundance too. He was truly a man with character and another member of the Character Hall of Fame.
with Character,
Lorne
John Wooden’s Love Letter; Rick Reilly, December 7, 2009
Coach Wooden’s last lesson is one of simple devotion, Bill Plaschke, LA Times, June 4, 2010