My dad was in the newspaper business, save for his military service during World War II, his entire life.
Unfortunately, his life ended at the young age of 48, the victim of a heart attack.
I had returned from my own military service and I guess it was somewhat fitting that I was behind the plate catching in the second game of a double header against the University of Washington when word reached the field that I needed to return home to Spokane.
As a young man and an only child, I believed my parents were invincible. And I had never remembered Dad being sick a day in his life – surely not sick enough to stay home from work at the Spokesman-Review. It was beyond belief that a man whose example I continue to follow was no longer with us.
That was more than 40 years ago and, while I could be described as sentimental, I haven’t thought much lately about his death.
But for some reason, with the recent passing of John Wooden, thoughts of those days in the 1960s returned.
Maybe because during those nurturing years I first was drawn to the man forever known simply as “Coach.”
I spent time stationed near Los Angeles and, like most everyone else, was drawn to the exploits of the Bruins of UCLA and the man who looked more like a chemistry professor than a hoop philosopher.
Like many my age, unless you played for some other Pac-6 team, I looked at Coach as a father figure, that rare breed who taught simplicity as much as he did strategy to win 10 national championships and compile a string of 88 victories, including 38 consecutive NCAA tournament wins. He didn’t watch game tapes in preparation of the opposition and convinced his players they were unbeatable if they just played their own game. Most of the time they were, as his 27-years UCLA mark of 620-147 attests.
I read Wooden’s first book, “They Call Me Coach,” and immediately was drawn to his Pyramid of Success, a 15-part living strategy.
And when I started broadcasting Montana Lady Griz basketball games in 1985, I started quoting a statement at the top of the pyramid, “Be at your best when your best is needed,” at the end of my broadcasts.
I didn’t really give it much thought – explaining where it came from when I was asked. But a few years later I decided to tell Coach, not just about the use of his quote but the influence his life had on my own.
It was about 15 years ago when I called his Encino, Ca. home, where I was told he usually answered his own phone. A couple of short rings later I was humbled by his legendary and strong voice.
Coach was modest about being a role model, gracious and complimentary about me using his quote to end my broadcasts, and inquiring about a University of Montana player who in 1975 almost single handedly defeated the Bruins in Portland, Ore. while the Bruins were en route to Wooden’s final NCAA Tournament title.
Of course that was Eric Hays, the former Hellgate High School coach who netted 32 points for Jud Heathcote’s team. The Grizzlies lost by three points after they had advanced to the second round by beating Utah State in Pullman.
A few years ago, Eric and his family, which included Jeff, who was named as boys head basketball coach at Hellgate, visited Coach in California.
Gracious and accommodating, he posed for pictures, Jeff, a UM student assistant at the time, told me a few years back when we were traveling together. Coach signed autographs and recounted what a great performance Eric had and what a great player he was.
Coach was like that. He rarely forgot anything and, while he lived to be 99, his mind was sharp nearly to the end and he recognized the legions of former players who paid passing homage to their idol, their father figure, at his hospital bed.
It will be surreal to see Wooden’s string of NCAA Championship banners when the Grizzlies play at Pauley Pavilion at UCLA later this year, while I remember my conversation and the imprint he left on me.
Coach sent me several autographed items over the years, including a basketball, a John Wooden Silver Anniversary Award program, which he signed many times like a high school yearbook, and a simple card that contained his favorite maxims:
“Happiness begins when selfishness ends; If I am through learning, I am through; Treat all people with dignity and respect; Make each day your masterpiece; What is right is more important than who is right.”
It’s why on this Fathers Day week I remember, not just my own Dad, but my father figure Coach as well.