I finally was able to get this book from the Olean library a couple of weeks ago. One library had it but you could not check it out. Then, finally, the Olean library had it so I was able to pick it up at Smith Library. It was worth the wait I suppose because I did enjoy the biography of the 'greatest college basketball coach'. And looking at his record, 11 NCAA titles one would have to agree. Fortunately, Davis goes beyond the titles to show that in many ways, like any larger than life person, Wooden had his flaws, some small, some loom much larger, tarnishing the myth that has grown up around him over the past twenty years.
He grew up in Indiana, and along with his wife, never really lost his mid western roots. A star in high school, All America at Purdue, he started coaching in high school, after barn storming some in pro ball. Eventually, he got a college job at Indiana State, did well his first year, and was hired to resurrect a losing program at UCLA in 1947. From that point on, he never had a losing season but for 17 years, he had success but never really went far in the NCAA's. In 1964, he finally won the NCAA, which began his dominance of basketball until 1975.
As a coach, he remained old fashion, a stickler for discipline, for organization, for following the rules but was forced in the 1960's, to change some though he would not admit it. Coaching Kareem and Bill Walton demanded a more liberal touch than he exhibited in the past. What I found must interesting was that he had little to do with his players off the court. They did not go to him for problems, nor did he encourage it. Most were in fear of him or did not want much to do with him off the court. His assistants were the go betweens with the players, especially the black players. He made few allowances for stars, for his black players, which earned him some opprobrium for being old fashion, but never racist. His black players all felt he was fair to them. His major flaws, besides his coldness and lack of interaction with players off the court, was his reputation for 'getting on both the officials and opposing players,' something he regretted in his retirement years.
Davis does not skip over the rough spots and his stories of the championship years, the problems the team faced, the pressure on Wooden to win one title after another drove him to eventually retire at sixty four. Interestingly, the storied UCLA teams did not even have their own gym until the late 1960's, playing most home games in a high school gym or junior college gym. His salary in his last few years was around $34,000 despite winning eleven titles. He lived most of his life in a modest condo, in a quiet suburb twenty minutes from the school. He had few friends, preferred to socialize with his wife and two children, never drank, did not fit in the schmoozing that today's coaches must engage in.
He's a man of contradictions, more complicated than at first glance. His later years were some of his happiest, as he opened up, and his players from the past reconnected with him in ways they never did in college and to many of them, his friendship after their b-ball years was more important than their relationship on the court. He becomes more human, more empathetic, when he retired and the reader really comes to like him by the end of the book. He's a man who could change once he got away from basketball, from the pressure, both from within and without to win. His last thirty years were probably his happiest ironically.
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