Goodbye to a Legend

John Wooden passed away this week at the age of 99. What an amazing life he led and should be an example to all of us. john Wooden coached the UCLA Bruins college basketball teams to one of the greatest dynasties in the history of sports back in the late 60's and early 70's.
From 1967 to 1973 the UCLA Bruins basketball team won everything there was to win with John Wooden as their coach. In those years they won 7 straight National Championships, a record that will seemingly never be touched. In the early 70's the UCLA basketball team won an NCAA basketball record 88 straight games, and four times had seasons of 30-0. From the beginning of the '63 season to the end of the '75 season the Bruins were an astounding 330-19.
John Wooden was so much more than a great basketball coach, he was a great man and mentor to a lot of people. Growing up in a small town in Indiana, Wooden learned the game as a young child and it was safe to say that he played and coached the game the old school way. I wish I could tell you where I heard or read this story but I heard it years ago. When Wooden coached UCLA he was a very basic coach. Every year on the first day of practice, the first thing he taught his players was how to put on their socks and tie their shoes so that they would not get blisters on their feet. That was Wooden, a down to earth simple guy who built a dynasty literally from the ground up. The world has one less great person in it than it did when it lost the much respected John Wooden. I'll leave you with a few sayings that were first said by Wooden but have since became popular in all walks of life. Goodbye John Wooden, you will be dearly missed.

"Learn as if you were to live forever, live as if you were to die tomorrow."

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