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<\/a>Surprisingly to me, I had never met the man, although I saw him often for a while in the mid-\u201990s. In 1996, I became friends with the UCLA team who had won the NCAA Championship the previous year. Kristnan Johnson, (who\u2019s dad Marquis, a UCLA stand-out with whom I was also friendly,) often gave me one of his \u201cfriend and family\u201d tickets, so I sat in the section opposite Mr. Wooden, and often watched as he graciously greeted each and every fan who stopped by the pay their respects.<\/p>\nWhen my pals all graduated, my then-occasional tickets moved to the grown-up section and I sat right near the Coach. I was often tempted to say hi, like everybody else was doing, but I just couldn\u2019t bring myself to intrude on him. And I was happy to simply observe one of the truest gentlemen I\u2019ve ever seen. Watching him meet and greet was often more interesting and exciting than the games.<\/p>\n
Even though he was up there in age even back then, I always had the feeling that I\u2019d get to shake his hand one day. My loss.<\/p>\n
And now, his passing is a giant loss to the world at large, especially the sports world. His accomplishments will never be duplicated, in my opinion. In his twenty-seven years as UCLA Head Coach, they never had a losing season and own ten NCAA Championships, including seven in a row!!! Rarely does a team win two<\/em> in a row nowadays, so you can see how gargantuan an achievement that is. (I believe I have my facts straight, but you can always check-up on them, and read more about the Coach\u2019s life and his teaching philosophies, including the maxims for which he was famous, on www.coachwooden.com<\/span><\/span><\/a>.)<\/p>\n And that\u2019s all just his coaching<\/em> career; his personal life seemed to be successful, as well. (And how many among us can actually boast that<\/em>?) He appeared to be a genuinely lovely person, and his students loved him. If we were a world of John Woodens, oh how much more peaceful everything would be. I\u2019m glad for him that he\u2019s now re-united with his dear wife, and hope that his family will find peace, as well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" JOHN WOODEN When I read last week that legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden was in the hospital for dehydration, I was really worried about him. But then I told myself that he\u2019s a survivor, and would be up and at \u2019em in no time. So, although he was 99-years-old, I was shocked and<\/p>\n