Published: October 28, 2009 10:29 am      

A legend beyond his own time

One of the wonderful things about journalism is that it allows average people to pose questions and have conversations with people who are anything but average.

One of those opportunities for me happened in the late 1970s. John Wooden, the just-retired coach of UCLA’s Bruins, had returned to Indiana for a speaking engagement at Purdue. I covered it, taking t he only availablel seat in the room — his.

For an appearance by the man who has won more NCAA basketball titles than any other, you’d expect more people. There was no one else. So for about an hour, John Wooden and I talked about his success, about returning to Indiana and about his Pyramid of Success.

What’s remarkable about Wooden is not the number of titles he won, even though I seriously doubt any coach in my lifetime will again amass 10 titles. His Pyramid of Success is a blueprint for personal development that most everyone ought to read even if they think they are grown-ups and act like them.

The thing that really amazes me about him is that when it came down to choosing a Purdue basketball coach, Purdue officials had the choice between Wooden and his friend and former teammate, Ray Eddy, a great player and coach in his own right. Eddy was remarkably successful, but Wooden’s circuitous rise took him to South Bend Central High School, to Indiana State when it was known as “Indiana Normal” and then to UCLA where his records were nothing short of defining.

How many of us would have folded up our tents after being turned down for a job at our alma mater, especially after being named an All-American.

For all the things Wooden has left us as a Hoosier, perhaps the greatest is his legacy as a coach who refused to be denied the privilege of doing what he thought he could do best — and ultimately better than anyone else.

This month, Wooden turned 99. There’s been much said and written about his accomplishments. For all the astronauts and engineers Purdue has produced, the fact that an English major has accomplished what Wooden has should be lifted up as a model for every liberal arts major at Purdue and other universities.

There are a lot of “takes” out there on how we ought to remember him once he’s gone. I don’t know what the answer to that question is — a statue in Martinsville, or in New Castle at the Indiana Basketball Halll of Fame or at Purdue where he became a legend that got away in what was probably the greatest Purdue administrative blunder of all time.

But above all, we should remember a man who had the resolve to keep going — to places like Terre Haute and South Bend to prove himself. That’s really the great thing about this country — it’s still a land of opportunity. No one has lived that example more than a 99-year-old man they refer to simply as “The Wizard of Westwood.”

• Dave Kitchell is a columnist for the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached through the newspaper at ptnews@pharostribune.com