A Tribute to John Wooden

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

Former UCLA coach, Hall of Famer, motivational speaker, or any other title you want to precede legendary college basketball figure John Wooden, died June 4th at the age of 99. His accomplishments as a coach are well documented, but let me briefly sum them up here.
In a 12 year span from 1963-75, Wooden led UCLA to 10 National Championships, 4 undefeated seasons, amassing a record of 335-22 in that time frame, including a record 88 straight victories.

But more importantly, I want to touch on the type of person Wooden was. Here's a touching article by Bill Walton that could sum up Wooden's character better than I could.
Wooden's pyramid of success is an image that I've been fascinated with ever since I came across it a few years ago. To me, it represents something truly unique about college basketball, that is not often seen in today's game. We're in an age where players are basically leased for a year, then abandoned by their college coaches when they move on to the NBA. I think both parties could have taken a cue from John Wooden.
Wooden's pyramid (pictured above) consists of 15 qualities that lead one towards becoming a successful person. The bottom of the pyramid are the foundation, the most important qualities, which are the building block to each successive row.
What strikes me the most about this pyramid is that the bottom two rows (first 9 qualities) are completely independent of the game of basketball, and are rarely ever mentioned when speaking on great players. Why is that? Because the top 3 rows (6 qualities) make great players, the bottom two rows make great human beings.
Every good coach can get develop their player's skills, get them into playing condition, and inject confidence in them, but it takes a great coach like John Wooden to develop their players into successful people off the court.
John Wooden is the greatest college basketball coach of all-time and arguable the most important figure in college basketball history. He will always be remembered for the win totals and championships he obtained at UCLA, and rightfully so, those records will never be broken.
But despite these gaudy records, by all accounts, John Wooden was more proud of this pyramid and the player's who upheld it, than any of his personal accomplishments.