Ken on Coach Wooden

Hi, this is Joni Eareckson Tada and I’ve got my husband, Ken, in the studio today!

KEN:  Hi, Joni.

JONI:  Hey, Ken! Thanks so much for joining me today.

KEN:  Thank you for letting me be here.

JONI:  Well, we’ve got a special reason. I wanted you to come into the studio today because you and I lost a friend last week, didn’t we?

KEN:  We sure did.

JONI: Coach John Wooden, the Wizard of Westwood. Basketball coach, recipient of who knows how many NCAA awards.

KEN:  Well, 10 National Championships.

JONI:  At UCLA.

KEN:  At UCLA.

JONI: Amazing. But he started out his career in Indiana then came out here and he coached the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

KEN:  Bill Walton.

JONI:  Right, in fact last night during the NBA finals I was watching as Kareem and Bill Walton were reflecting on camera about the influence that Coach Wooden had had on their lives. And he’s had an influence on our lives, too, hasn’t he?

KEN:  Oh, he’s had a huge influence on our lives. In fact, Coach Wooden, several years ago was involved in a Joni and Friends fundraiser for Valentine’s Day.

JONI:  Absolutely! And what I loved every time we spent time with Coach was his love for poetry.  He and I would go back and forth on all our favorite poems. He reminded me so much of my own dad.

KEN: Joni, one thing I noticed was that he was everybody’s dad. He was everybody’s grandfather. Now, the people that came showed great respect for him, but, you know, in turn Coach Wooden would always show great respect for the people he came in contact with.

JONI:  And a remarkable Christian man. We learned that as we got to know him one on one over dinner several times.

KEN:  You know there’s a story and I guess it’s ok to mention this now, but if you see pictures of Coach Wooden when he was coaching, on the sideline he would have a rolled up program.

JONI:  Yeah?

KEN:  Well, inside that program was this little cross that he kept with him the whole time.

JONI:  Bless his heart.

KEN:  Yeah, but I don’t think people realize that.

JONI:  Well, you know, we’re all gonna miss him out here in Los Angeles, especially the UCLA community. And he had such an influence, Ken. Tell me that story you were sharing with me the night we learned the news about Coach’s passing.

KEN:  Well, you know, I think one of the unique things about Coach – and first of all when people say “Coach”, there’s really only one Coach…and that’s Coach Wooden. Whether you’re a UCLA fan or not, he just really the embodiment of the quintessential coach.

JONI:  Right.

KEN:  Coach Wooden, you know. These guys would come in with ideas of perhaps playing in the NBA sometime.

JONI:  They were recruited by UCLA. They were so excited about playing for the Wizard of Westwood.

KEN:  Right, the Wizard of Westwood! All these 10 National Champions, all these appearances in the Final Four. You know, the first thing he would start them off with was how to put their socks on.

JONI:  What are you talking about?

KEN:  Well, it’s very important that you make sure that the socks are all straight, that there’s no little kinks in them. And when you think about it, you know, he worked off of the basics. And there was a real purpose behind everything that Coach did. But the neat part about it was, you know when you think about playing basketball, if your feet aren’t right, you can’t play to your best.

JONI:  And if there is a seam in your sock, you’re gonna get a blister and not perform as well.

KEN:  Exactly!

JONI:  You know, that reminds me so much of that verse in Song of Solomon 2:15. “Little foxes are going to spoil the vine.” The little tiny things that we sometimes think we can disregard or gloss over, just like I’m sure Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton and so many others probably thought, “What? This is our first lesson with this prominent coach? He’s teaching us how to put out socks on?” But it just goes to show that God honors the little things, right?

KEN: Oh, He sure does.

JONI:  And we honor the memory today of Coach John Wooden. And once again, let me remind you of our website. Come by and visit us at any time. It’s joniandfriends.org. Of course you can always call in at 888-522-5664. God’s blessings on you until next time we get together for Joni and Friends.   

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