I call it my team without. Winning without Alcindor, that gave me a great satisfaction. But each one had some significance. Wooden set records that may never be broken in college basketball. But it was his moral stance and belief that coaches should mold players lives for the future that set him apart from so many others and brought him to Abilene to speak.
Coaches are in the public eye.
They are role models, regardless of what Charles Barkley says. Twenty-five years after his retirement, Wooden is still living up to that obligation. Wooden provided voice of reason in turbulent times Gary McCaleb had expected to sell 250 tickets to Wednesday's luncheon to hear John Wooden speak. The crowd, many of them current and former coaches, came to hear perhaps the most respected coach in basketball history. One person in the audience, however, came to see an old friend.