John Robert Wooden, Purdue ’32October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010

“I am just a common man who is true to his beliefs.”

John Wooden was a Beta. And his life embodied the goodness of his beloved Fraternity for one singular reason: he was a man of principle. One for the ages.

This tribute to Brother Wooden attempts to recognize his professional accomplishments, for sure. But more importantly, it seeks to honor the man and his beliefs . . . The values and virtues that he lived, spoke and taught for nearly 100 years . . . . The character traits that have stood the test of time when most fads and trends faded in the wind.

If ever there was a man of principle who graced life’s halls as spouse, father, teacher and friend with gentleness and love, it was John Wooden.

And John Wooden was a Beta. Yes, John Wooden was a Beta.

“He always considered himself a teacher, and a teacher he was. When I played for him, he taught me the game of basketball. Later I came to realize, he really taught me the valuable aspects of life. As competitive as he was, both as a player and a coach, he was incorruptible. He lived and taught with a simple philosophy that building a winning team or a successful life can be accomplished without breaking the rules or sacrificing personal values.” — Gail C. Goodrich, UCLA ’65 1964 and 1965 Championship UCLA Team 1972 NBA Championship Lakers Team

A tribute to Beta Theta Pi’s “Brother Wooden”

Betas on Wooden’s UCLA TeamsRoland Bain, UCLA ’52

Ron Livingston, UCLA ’54 Jim Harrison, UCLA ’58

Jim Halsten, UCLA ’59 Roland Underhill, UCLA ’59

Gail Goodrich, UCLA ’65 Chuck Darrow, UCLA ’66

Keith Erickson, UCLA ’66 John Galbraith, UCLA ’67

Mike Lynn, UCLA ’67 John Lyons, UCLA ’67

On December 20, 2003, the basketball floor in Pauley Pavilion at UCLA was dedicated as the Nell and John Wooden Court.

“I’m glad to be a Beta because the many friendships I’ve made have lasted through the years.” — John R. Wooden, Purdue ’32

Wooden’s Wisdom… Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.

Happiness begins where selfishness ends.

If I am through learning, I am through.

Treat all people with dignity and respect.

Make each day your masterpiece.

What is right is more important than who is right.

Discipline yourself and others won’t need to.

Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.

Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

Be quick, but don’t hurry.

You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.

You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.

Learn as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow.

What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player.

Winning takes talent; to repeat takes character.

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.

If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?

The man who is afraid to risk failure seldom has to face success.

Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.

Don’t give up on your dreams, or your dreams will give up on you.

Time spent getting even would be better spent trying to get ahead.

Make sure the team members know they’re working with you, not for you.

Although there is no progress without change, not all change is progress.

d“People come up to me and say, ‘Aren’t

you proud of all these players who went pro?’ I am, but no more so than those

who played for me, didn’t play pro ball and still made a success of themselves.”

—to Los Angeles Herald Examiner’s Bob Keisser (June 26, 1987)

d “I don’t think I was a fine game coach.

I don’t think I was a great strategy guy. I think I was a good practice coach. I could

tell you right now what we did at every practice I had at UCLA — every day,

every minute. It’s all on paper.” —UCLA Magazine (Summer 2000)

d “The only thing I missed was what I

enjoyed most, the practices. That’s where I got to work with youngsters. I liked to observe what we needed to

change in practices. And I always enjoyed the daily association with

these young men. I miss that.” —to Los Angeles Herald Examiner’s

Bob Keisser (June 26, 1987)

d “I don’t believe in praying to win.

The prayer I’d like to hear beforehand is for nobody to get

hurt and that you participate to the best of your own individual ability.” —UCLA Magazine (Summer 2000)

d “Every day was a good day at UCLA.”

—UCLA Magazine (March 2007)

d“There are three things an athlete

must do. You must be in physical condition ... You must execute

properly and quickly the fundamentals ... and you must have eagerness to

sacrifice personal interests or glory for the welfare of the team.” —McClatchy News Service

(June 20, 1987)

If we magnified blessings as much as we magnify disappointments, we would all be much happier.

Love is the greatest of all four letter words in our language.

If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.

It isn’t what you do, but how you do it.

Ability is a poor man’s wealth.

Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.

Consider the rights of others before your own feelings and the feelings of others before your own rights.

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can.

Nothing will work unless you do.

The athlete who says that something cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it.

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.

Never mistake activity for achievement.

Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.

It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.

It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.

The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because character is what you really are, while reputation is merely what others think you are.

Success is never final; failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.

d

Daughter Nan Wooden gave The Indianapolis Star a copy of a poem her father wrote, signed and dated Sept. 18, 1939. He was coaching high school basketball in South Bend, Ind., at the time.

Before eternity takes me, My fondest hope is but to see And know that something I have done Has made for some a brighter sun.

d“There is no substitute for hard work.

If you’re looking for the easy way, if you’re looking for the trick, you might

get by for a while, but you will not be developing the talents that lie within you.

There is simply no substitute for work.” — UCLA Anderson | John Wooden

Global Leadership Award ceremony (May 21, 2009)

d“Don’t be afraid to fail. The greatest

failure of all is failure to act when action is needed. Use the information

that you’ve acquired in the past through the experiences you’ve had

and act with self-control — but act.” — UCLA Anderson | John Wooden

Global Leadership Award ceremony (May 21, 2009)

d “You can’t have confidence

unless you are prepared. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.”

— UCLA Anderson | John Wooden Global Leadership Award ceremony

(May 21, 2009)

d“I never met a person from whom

I did not learn something.” — UCLA Anderson | John Wooden

Global Leadership Award ceremony (May 21, 2009)

d“Passion is temporary. It doesn’t last

long. Love is enduring. And that’s the important thing. If we all had love in

our lives to the degree that we should, it would be much happier.” — UCLA Anderson | John Wooden

Global Leadership Award ceremony (May 21, 2009)

Coach John Wooden quotes By UCLA Office of Media Relations

June 04, 2010

John Wooden’s Seven-Point Creed When John was 12 years old and graduating from a country grade school, his father gave him this creed – a creed he has tried to live by ever since:

“Seven Things to Do” • Be true to yourself. • Help others. • Make each day your masterpiece. • Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible. • Make friendship a fine art. • Build shelter against a rainy day. • Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.

When was Wooden initiated, and what was his roll number? John R. Wooden, Purdue ’32 Bachelor of Arts in English Initiated October 17, 1929 Roll No. 303

When did Nellie and John Wooden marry? Wooden married his high school sweetheart, Nellie, on the founding anniversary of Beta Theta Pi, August 8, 1932, at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis.

Did Wooden have any Beta relatives? William H. (Billy) Wooden, Purdue ’44 (Younger brother) Initiated April 12, 1941 Roll No. 509

Was Wooden ever honored by Beta? Beta’s highest honor for professional achievement, Brother Wooden received the ninth Oxford Cup on November 17, 1987 at a Greater Los Angeles Beta alumni gathering at the Bel-Air Country Club.

What is a quick fact that most don’t know about John Wooden? John Wooden served on active duty from 1943-45 as a Navy Lieutenant in WWII. Ordered to report for duty aboard the USS Franklin in the South Pacific, his appendix ruptured the day before boarding. More than 700 troops – including Wooden’s replacement and Beta brother, Fred Stalcup, Purdue ’36 (roll #368) – died on March 19, 1945 when the Franklin was bombed by the Japanese.

When was Beta’s Institute for Men of Principle renamed The John and Nellie Wooden Institute for Men of Principle? Established in 1999, The Wooden Institute was renamed for John and Nellie during the 167th General Convention in Toronto in July 2006. Thanks to the generosity of Carol and James A. Collins, UCLA ’50, close personal friends of Wooden, a $750,000 gift was contributed to the Beta Theta Pi Foundation to name and endow the leadership program in their honor. As the story goes, Coach Wooden only responded favorably to the naming rights of the program once the Foundation suggested that Nellie’s name also be added to the recognition. A Beta gentleman to the end!

John and Nell Wooden at home in Terre Haute, Indiana, 1948. John Wooden had just been hired as head basketball coach at UCLA.

November 16, 2007 – Wooden with Jim Collins, UCLA ’50 and Beta Foundation Director Jonathan Brant, Miami ’75. The gathering at Wooden’s favorite restaurant, VIP’s Cafe, marked official presentation of the naming of The John and Nellie Wooden Institute for Men of Principle.

1932 – Wooden as player on National Championship team at

Purdue University

10 NCAA National Championships,

more than any other basketball coach.

7 Consecutive NCAA championships,

a record.

38 Consecutive NCAA Tournament

victories, a record.

88 Consecutive victories overall

(1971-73), a record.

4 30-0 seasons at UCLA.

3 One of three people to be inducted

into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player (1960) and

coach (1973). Lenny Wilkens and Bill Sharman later joined him.

664-162 Overall college coaching record, in two

seasons at Indiana State and 27 at UCLA.

218-42 Overall high school coaching record, in

two seasons at Dayton (Ky.) High School and nine at South Bend Central.

1 Indiana high school championship as a

player, at Martinsville in 1927. (He also led the Artesians to the title

games in 1926 and ’28.)

0 Indiana high school championships in

nine years as a coach. He often called that one of his greatest laments.

He was known for reciting his father’s “two sets of three” — “never lie, never cheat, never steal” and

“don’t whine, don’t complain, don’t make excuses.”

d

Joshua and Roxie Anna Wooden (Wooden, by Wooden and Jamison)

“My dad…was a strong man in one sense, but a gentle man. We had a team of mules named Jack and Kate on our farm. Kate would often get stubborn and lie down on me when I was plowing. I couldn’t get her up no matter how roughly I treated her. Dad would see my predicament and walk across the field until he was close enough to say “Kate.” Then she’d get up and start working again. He never touched her in anger.

It took me a long time to understand that even a stubborn mule responds to gentleness.”

“My mother…had a hard life living and working and raising a family in our little white farmhouse outside Martinsville, Indiana. She did the washing, scrubbing, ironing, cooking, mending, and canning with no electricity and no inside plumbing. She did it all herself without any modern conveniences while helping with the farming and bringing up four rambunctious young sons: Maurice, me, Daniel and William.

Each day my mother demonstrated great patience and the ability and eagerness to work very hard without complaint. I learned from her what hard work really means and that it’s part of life. Hard work comes with the territory. She always knew what had to be done and she did it.

Mother provided a model for how to do my job regardless of the particular circumstance.”

A Renaissance Man1932 The Big Ten Medal for the conference athlete with the highest GPA. “The team success, that wasn’t me, although I might have had a little to do with it. But the academic medal, I earned that.”1964 & 1975 California Father of the Year1973 Whitney M. Young, Jr. Award of the Los Angeles Urban League1987 Bellarmine Medal from Bellarmine College in Louisville, Ky., honoring those who “exemplify charity, justice and temperateness in dealing with controversy.” Walter Cronkite had previously received the prestigious honor, as had one of Wooden’s heroes, Mother Teresa.2003 The Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor, from President George W. Bush. The president called Wooden “an example of what a good man should be.”

“There will never be another John Wooden. He was not only the greatest coach in the history

of any sport, but he was an exceptional individual that

transcended the sporting world, and his enduring legacy as a

role model is one we should all strive to emulate.”

Daniel G. Guerrero, UCLA ’74 Roll No. 919, Gamma Nu Chapter

Current UCLA Director of Athletics

Kareem-as-Lew-Alcindor and John Wooden (Practice prior to

1969 game against Purdue)

Sources: The Beta Theta Pi Magazine, The Associated Press, The Indianapolis Star, Wooden by Wooden and Jamison, Beta Theta Pi Foundation and Administrative Office and UCLA Office of Media Relations