Len Robbins

About a month ago, I wrote in this space about the death of Bill Walton.

In it, I mentioned briefly his close relationship with his coach at UCLA, the legendary John Wooden.

Wooden is someone I truly admire, and his mention reminded me of finding how his imprint is still relevant today.

Years ago, I was thumbing through the pages of my son’s agenda book when I found something astonishing: John Wooden’s Premier Character Development Agenda.

Throughout the agenda book were tips and wisdom from Coach Wooden on how to be a better student and person.

This wouldn’t have surprised me if I found this in a child’s school-issued literature in 1977. But to have this man’s words and insight still leading young people 50 years after he quit coaching was truly amazing.

I hope young people are still learning from John Wooden 400 years from now. Wooden, the former UCLA basketball coach, died over a decade ago, in 2010, at the age of 99. Wooden’s college coaching career is legendary, including 10 national titles (including seven in a row) and a streak of 88 straight victories. I doubt those numbers will ever be matched.

But what I find more important is the impact his teaching and coaching had on others, and the principles he lived by and taught to others.

A sampling of some of Wooden’s quotes:

• A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.

• Ability is a poor man’s wealth.

• Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.

• Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

• Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.

• Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

• Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

• It’s about what is correct, not who is correct.

• Sports do not build character, they reveal it.

• Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.

• Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.

• If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?

• If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.

• It’s not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.

• It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.

•It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.

• Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters.

• Never mistake activity for achievement.

• Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.

• Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.

• Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.

• Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.

• The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.

• There are many things that are essential to arriving at true peace of mind, and one of the most important is faith, which cannot be acquired without prayer.

• Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.

• You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.

• You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.

• It isn’t what you do, but how you do it.

Words to live by, and a life to emulate.

© Len Robbins 2024