Wooden’s greatness impressive, imperfect
It takes time to be canonized a saint. Years and years. Even centuries. Then there is that part about having performed two important miracles, although when is the last time you heard of an irrelevant one?
This much is certain: There has never been a bishop who awaited a flawless investigative report on those who draw up out-of-bounds plays for a living. College basketball coaches have always owned their share of shortcomings, like all of us. This includes John Wooden, sparkling as his coaching record stands.
Legacies are often not completely defined until after a coach passes. Hopefully that time isn’t drawing near for the man whose amazing run at UCLA — 10 NCAA titles in his last 12 years — will stand for eternity, or at least until conservatives fully accept John McCain, meaning it’s a toss-up as to which arrives first.
Wooden, though, is 97 and mending from a fall at home that left him with a broken wrist and collarbone. His medication has also been altered to alleviate an irregular heartbeat. He’s closing in on triple digits, for goodness sake. His has been a remarkable life, and it’s not too soon to guess how history will judge that legacy once the final chapter is written.
If done truthfully, it won’t be spotless.
It’s ironic that college basketball has again been stained of late with publicized ways of dishonesty at the same time Wooden’s health is a daily worry for the masses who paint him and his achievements with such a clean brush. Time has this way of enhancing one’s legend while erasing any misdeeds. Reality becomes myth, and pious labels are wrongly attached to certain coaches and eras.
No program owns a richer history than UCLA, the result of Wooden’s forethought and his teams’ supreme fundamentals. But you can’t promote 10 championships and 88 straight wins and an overall record of 620-147 without also criticizing the presence of Sam Gilbert.
How much Wooden knew about Gilbert’s corrupt and infraction-bloated ways with UCLA recruits and players during the 1960s has long been debated, but there is no doubt the late millionaire contractor heaped extravagant gifts upon Wooden’s players for years.
One former Bruins great wrote it was hard for him to have a proper perspective on financial matters, considering he was given anything he wanted upon enrolling at UCLA.
No one would know better than Bill Walton, and no one loves Wooden more.
The NCAA didn’t investigate UCLA during Wooden’s time, because why mess with your marquee team and coach when you can bring down schools like Centenary? But how can any rational mind suggest Jerry Tarkanian’s triumphs at UNLV were contaminated by wrongdoing and not conclude the same about any UCLA team financed by Gilbert decades earlier?
Wooden either understood everything the mysterious benefactor was doing or looked the other way, which can be argued is a far more serious offense.
This isn’t meant to belittle all the good Wooden did on the court and beyond its bleachers. Hardly. His teachings and elegance are unmatched on countless levels, and his words have been used to educate athletes of all ages and skill levels on how best to approach sports and life.
Be quick, but don’t hurry. … Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. … Don’t mistake activity for achievement. … Ability is a poor man’s wealth. … Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. … It isn’t what you do, but how you do it. … Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.
There are more. Hundreds, in fact. But there isn’t a better time than now to remind us no program has ever fully avoided strolling within the gray area of NCAA statutes, and most set up permanent residence long ago.
Harvard, of all programs, is being accused of suspicious recruiting practices while also reportedly lowering academic standards for prospective players. The Crimson apparently has began placing greater importance on admitting players who can average 28 points than score 28 on their ACT. Indiana recently forced Kelvin Sampson out as coach for breaking rules and lying about it. The cheating beat goes on.
Wooden once said reputation is what others perceive you as being and their opinion may be right or wrong. But character, he continued, is what you really are and nobody truly knows that but you.
To question his integrity would be irresponsible given all he has offered the game and the many thousands of lives outside it. But to pen his UCLA legacy as one of absolute purity would be just as careless.
Saints are hard to come by. My guess is, Mother Teresa never gave a hoot about doubling the post.
Ed Graney’s column is published Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.
