I was a student athlete at UCLA from 61 to 66. I played on UCLA's first national championship volleyball team, and would often come to the gym early for our practices so I could watch Coach Wooden work. One of his players of that period was a classmate, Gail Goodrich. Watching Coach Wooden work with his players was a wonder: he was quiet, deliberate, talked intimately to each player when he had something to say about a particular move or pattern. He looked and felt more like a scholar than a sports mentor. His ten national basketball championships attest to his skill and power as a leader of young men in a sport he had known as a player at Purdue and then his long career at UCLA. So farewell, John Wooden, wizard of Westwood and your wonderful capacity to shape players and teams the likes of which will probably never be seen again.  I'm grateful to have met you and taken inspiration from your devotion to your calling.

Mike Levine in the Huffington Post says this:

But that was John Wooden. Humble, accessible, without any pretense. Everywhere you turn today you will find a tribute to this extraordinary man. They're all going to make him sound too good to be true but in fact he was. No sense in just echoing them.

June 5, 2010