Smith: Coach Wooden's words of wisdom

At times when I am feeling low,

I hear from a friend and then,

My worries start to go away, and

I am on the mend.

No matter what the doctors say, and

Their studies never end,

The best cure of all, when spirits fall, is

A kind word from a friend.

On June 21, 1996, following a visit with Coach John Wooden at his apartment a few miles from the UCLA campus, in the Valley as they say, he handed me a card with the above message. He spent his life extending goodwill, always offering cups of philosophical cheer to those who passed his way.

The day we visited him, it was the birthday of his wife, Nell, who died in 1985. He had just written her a letter, remaining devoted to her in death as he had in life.

The hard life often begets appreciation for the good life. This was a man who grew up on a farm in Indiana. He knew the inconvenience of outdoor plumbing and also the heartache that came when his father lost his farm during the Great Depression.

He picked wild berries for treats, served meals at the Elks Club and had scarlet fever in college, spending four Christmases in a row in the hospital. He was once fired from a job because he refused to throw dead puppies into the garbage. (He had a job working on a garbage truck. The driver ran over two little puppies in an alley and instructed Wooden to throw the dead animals onto the trash heap. When told he would be fired if he didn't, Wooden replied, "I'm fired.")

Wooden was always a man of principle, steadfastly believing it was his earthly duty to teach his players as much about life as he did about basketball. He never drank, but he did smoke for many years. He believed that peace with oneself contributes to a long life. He enjoyed women's basketball because "their game is played below the rim." He believed the du

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