Success Coaching and the Medal of Freedom

© 2003 Boaz Rauchwerger

The highest civilian award in the United States is the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Established by President Truman in 1945 to recognize service in the war, the medal was reintroduced in 1963 by President Kennedy as an honor for distinguished civilian service in peacetime.

The Medal of Freedom is awarded annually by the President of the United States to individuals selected by him or recommended to him by the Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board. There were 11 recipients of the award in 2003. One of them is the subject of this column. He has become a symbol for success and leadership.

Born In Martinsville, Indiana on October 14, 1910, former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden was influenced greatly by his father. His dad said the following to John, “Always try to be the very best that you can be. Learn from others, yes. But don’t just try to be better than they are. You have no control over that. Instead, try, and try very hard, to be the best that you can be. That you have control over. Maybe you’ll be better than someone else and maybe you won’t. That part of it will take care of itself.”

When he was eight years old, Wooden first learned about basketball. That was in 1918, just 27 years after the invention of the game. Living on a farm as a child, he stuffed a pair of his mother’s hose with rags and formed a ball. Young John would take shots at a tomato basket that his father had nailed to a wall in their barn. From this humble beginning, Wooden would later become a collegiate hero.

With his father’s philosophy as his foundation, John Wooden became a record-setting college basketball coach and an exceptional teacher. His UCLA Bruins won 10 National Championships in 12 years. He taught a unique measure of discipline, character, and work ethic.

According to Wooden, “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.” His teachings were based on his Pyramid of Success – 15 personal attributes that build on each other.

Wooden’s Pyramid had five important concepts as its foundation: Industriousness, friendship, loyalty, cooperation and enthusiasm. Moving up the Pyramid, there were the following traits: Self-control, alertness, initiative, intentness, condition, skill, team spirit, poise and confidence. At the top of his Pyramid, when all the other traits were in order, Wooden placed competitive greatness.

His leadership skills did indeed lead to competitive greatness in his life and for his teams. Before becoming the most successful coach in college basketball history, Wooden was a very successful player. He had an All-State career at Martinsville High School. At Purdue University, he was called the “Indiana Rubber Man” for his suicidal dives on the court.

In 1932 Wooden was named College Player of the Year as Purdue won the national championship. He enjoyed a brief but successful semi-pro career before turning his complete attention to coaching. He was a high school coach in South Bend, Indiana, before serving in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant in World War II. Following the war, he was Indiana State University’s athletic director, coaching both basketball and baseball teams.

Once at UCLA, Wooden’s basketball program gained a worldwide reputation for being rated number one so many times. Included in UCLA’s 10 Championships in 12 years was one of the most amazing winning
s treaks in sports, 38 straight NCAA tournament victories. His teams had four perfect 30-0 seasons, 88 consecutive victories, and 20 PAC 10 championships.

Wooden dedicated his life to basketball and was voted Coach of the Year six times. His perseverance and endurance were legendary. He is one of only two people enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach. When he retired from basketball coaching in 1975, his teams had won 885 games, and had only 203 losses, over a 40 year span. He coached numerous players who became stars in the NBA.

John Wooden’s definition of success, as noted earlier, is so simple and yet so powerful: “Success is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

He further stated, “The real contest, of course, is striving to reach your personal best, and that is totally under your control. When you have achieved that, you have achieved success. Period! You are a winner and only you fully know if you won.”

What a profound lesson in life and in personal success. Let’s focus on John Wooden’s excellent thoughts and see if we can score a few extra points in our own game of life.

A Daily Championship Affirmation

I always strive to reach my personal best. I am a winner.