Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Monday, December 29, 2008

A little gem from the NAIA Division II home page: "Davenport WBB Coach Describes Personal Account With Coach Wooden."
As Tony walked out, two of our players (Carrie Grubius and Karlee Despres) asked Tony if we could maybe just follow him to Coach's place. Tony called Coach and Coach said that he would be happy to meet with us. We followed Tony to Coach's apartment and he led us inside. Coach was sitting in the middle of his living room with a huge smile on his face as we walked in. He shook each girl's hand and the girls gathered around him and sat down.

For an hour and a half, Coach John Wooden recited poetry, told stories, posed for pictures and signed copies of his "Pyramid of Success" for each one of the players. He allowed us to look at all of his awards, all of his hundreds of books (most written about Mother Theresa, Abraham Lincoln or himself). He asked us to recite a pledge of sportsmanship and he gave us all copies of the pledge. Coach Wooden beamed as he spoke with our team. It was as if he couldn't do enough for us (he even shared his favorite candy from a candy shop in his childhood home of Martinsville, IN).