Legendary basketball coach
John Wooden is 96 years old. In case you've forgotten--or
are too young to have known--Wooden is the greatest college
basketball coach who ever lived. In support of that claim,
I would point out that he was national Coach of the Year
six times and was named "Greatest Coach of the 20th
Century" by ESPN a few years back.
In an age of bombastic coaches who prowl the sidelines
with scowls and profanity, Coach Wooden was a restrained
gentleman. Although he might mutter "Goodness gracious!"
under his breath at a bad call, that's about as much of
a display of annoyance as he was ever know to show.
To say the least, Wooden was the antithesis of such coaches
as recently-in-the-news Bobby Knight. He seldom left his
seat on the Bruins bench during a UCLA game in Pauley
Pavilion or elsewhere. "My feeling was that I tried
to teach players that if they lose their temper or get
out of control, they will get beat," he says. "Modeling
was better than words. I liked the rule that we used to
have that a coach couldn't leave the bench. I'm sorry
they did away with that."
Wooden set records that may never be broken in college
basketball. From 1948 to 1975, he had a win-loss record
of 885-203--a phenomenal career winning percentage of
.813. He had an 88-game winning streak at UCLA. Players
such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, and Walt Hazzard
played under his keen eye.
But it is Coach Wooden's belief in modeling over words
that would have made him outstanding in any number of
fields. Pressed in an interview to be critical of Knight,
he would only say, "I think Bob Knight is an outstanding
teacher of the game of basketball, but I don't approve
of his methods. But I'm not a judge, and I'm not judging
Bob Knight. There is so much bad in the best of us and
so much good in the worst of us, it hardly behooves me
to talk about the rest of us."
Wooden believed coaches should try to mold players' lives
for the future rather than simply use their talents for
a few seasons of basketball. When you're really trying
to do that, an example is worth a dozen lectures.
Among your co-workers, with your children, or as a member
of your church, remember Coach Wooden's philosophy. Less
ranting and more patient teaching, less judgment and more
kindness, less talking and more modeling--what worked
for a basketball coach will work for the rest of us because
it's so obviously right.
--Rubel Shelly |
At
our first semester awards assembly, a total of 39 awards
were presented. That represents nearly 80% of our students
maintain an overall GPA of 3.0 or above.
Each
semester awards are given in three different categories:
Twenty
one Principal's Awards were given out that day, representing
over 40% of over student body maintains an overall GPA
of 3.9 or greater. Keep it up, kids!
On
January 27, the SFAS students in Grades 1-8 performed
for the worship service at the San Francisco Latin American
Church. You may view photos on the school website.
