If you are a college basketball coach I would think that this would be a decent time of the year to pass away: March Madness is done and digested, the summer camp season hasn't started, it is a time that the game is in hibernation.
It was Friday that the greatest coach in college basketball history passed away. His name was John Wooden and he was at the helm of the greatest dynasty in American sports history, the UCLA Bruins, who from the mid sixties to the mid seventies were almost unstoppable.
This story has been reported widely but bears repeating. Mr. Wooden coached his college team, the Bruins, to ten NCAA championships in twelve seasons. That is a feat that is made all the more remarkable when you factor in the fact that, unlike pro teams, college teams have to turn over their players every year due to graduation.
Coach Wooden was more than a coach. "The Indiana Rubber Man", as he was called at Purdue, won a national championship in '32 as a player and was a first team all star in the NBL, a predecessor to the NBA. He was such a great player that before his run started at UCLA he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for his achievements as a player.
He had one losing season as a coach. Ever.
What is even more remarkable is that no one, as in n o o n e, ever had anything bad to say about him.
Truly a live well lived.
Prayers.
WFDS
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