Wooden, who passed away June 4, 2010, at the age of 99, certainly proved many times over that he was well-equipped for success as a college basketball coach.
His talent for teaching about basketball is reflected in his record 10 NCAA championships at UCLA. His talent for teaching about life is reflected in the popularity as an author and lecturer. The legacy he left behind hasn't been surpassed, and perhaps never will be.
Much of Wooden's success came via repetition and regimentation. Once he developed a winning routine, he stuck to it. And it included things that some might describe as quirky habits, and others would call superstition.
Wooden didn't consider himself a superstitious person, but even he admitted to idiosyncrasies. "I think most of us have a superstition or fetish that becomes part of life," he wrote in his autobiography, They Call Me Coach.
It's obviously very debatable whether superstition had anything to do with his many triumphs. But judging by the results, they certainly didn't hurt.
Pennies, Hairpins and Taps on the Shoulder
Some of Wooden's routine was recounted by Gary Cunningham, who played under Wooden, served as his assistant coach, and later became UCLA head coach.
"Before every game, he'd tap me twice on my shoulder, twice on my arm and twice on my leg," Cunningham said in a 1993 article in the Times-Picayune. "When he first started doing that, I'd turn around and ask, "What do you want?"
Cunningham also recounted how Wooden would sit in the same seat when watching freshman and junior varsity games at Pauley Pavilion. Before his own varsity contests, Wooden would always wink at his wife in the stands. And he would always clutch a rolled-up program during the game.
That can be described perhaps as more habit than superstition. But Wooden was also known for finding loose pennies on the ground, and placing them into his shoe for luck. When he'd find a hairpin, he'd embed it into the trunk of a tree — also for luck.
Bill Waltton and the Unlucky Penny
Former Bruins star Bill Walton recalled in a 1994 memoir how during a preseason speech to his team each year, Wooden would "find" a penny on the ground, and tell his players that it was for luck — which they would surely need during the upcoming campaign.
But prior to the 1973-1974 season, Walton, by then well-aware of the routine, played a joke on Wooden. Before the speech, Walton found the penny that had been planted on the floor, and pocketed it. When a baffled Wooden failed to spot the penny, Walton told him that the team would not be needing luck this year.
It turned out that the Bruins did. They were certainly a powerful team, posting a 26-4 record. But UCLA had its NCAA-record 88-game winning streak snapped by Notre Dame, and was knocked out of the NCAA tournament in the semifinals by eventual champion North Carolina State. That ended a run of seven consecutive national titles.
The Lucky Key
While playing for the University of Purdue, Wooden would run around with a key tied to his left shoe. The key was to his locker, and he tied it to his shoe for safekeeping.
"After a time some sports writer noticed and called it a 'good luck' piece,' said in his autobiography. "Actually, it had nothing to do with luck but was merely a handy place to keep the key."
Wooden kept doing it, acknowledging that superstition was a factor. Whatever it was, it seemed to work. He was voted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player before being elected to the institution as a coach.
Sources
Walton, Bill; and Wojciechowski, Gene; Nothing but Net: Just Give Me the Ball and Get Out of the Way, Hypeerion, 1995
Wooden, John; and Tobin, Jack; They Call Me Coach, McGraw-Hill, 1988
Jon Matsune - Jon Matsune is a free-lance writer based in Northern California. He has 25 years of experience in newspaper journalism, mostly as a sports ...
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