A Favorite Son: John Wooden

Dayton’s Favorite Son, John Wooden

March, it’s that time of year when college basketball overtakes the fans and incites a sort of madness. Brackets, home teams, territorial colors all matter in a month consumed in jump shots, full court presses and unadulterated joy on the faces of ball players who somehow pull out wins against giants. Fans bleed blue, growl like a bearcat, and this year maybe where a darker shade of navy and root for the Xavier Musketeers. The madness got me to thinking about a man we consider a favorite son in Dayton, Kentucky—John Wooden.

In 2004, with Steve Jamison, Mr. Wooden wrote a book entitled: My Personal Best. He says in this autobiographical, motivational book that, “I believe that in my first year at Dayton High School I learned more about how to work with people and about myself—my temper, stubbornness, impatience, and desire for immediate results—than any of the 39 years of coaching to follow.” That first season—1932 to 1933, “Johnny” Wooden led Dayton to a disappointing six wins and eleven losses. The following year the Green Devils recorded fifteen wins and only three losses, and Mr. Wooden’s coaching was hailed “tip top” in the Dayton Pilot, the school newspaper.

Pictured above is the house that John and his new bride, Nellie rented when they came to Dayton. In this modest home he must have expressed his frustration to his high school sweetheart many times in that first year. He’d accepted the job with only $2.00 to his name. The bank that held his life savings—$909.25—had failed just days before they were to leave their hometown of Martinsville, Indiana for the rolling hills and fast currents of Kentucky.

Mr. Wooden wore many hats in his time at Dayton. He had been hired to teach English with a yearly salary of $1500. Named as athletic director, coaching football, baseball and basketball, he received compensation of $300. He said once that he felt overpaid as a coach, especially after an incident with a football player that had digressed into a fist fight. He took courage though, and remembered a favorite quote by Abraham Lincoln, “There is nothing stronger than gentleness.” John quickly

learned his limitations and never coached football again.

In his first year as basketball coach, the Dayton Green Devils traveled to Martinsville, Indiana to face the Martinsville

Artesians, a team for which he had played and been All State. Before a packed gymnasium the Green Devils lost 2′]-1′] and the drive back to Kentucky became very long. He said the lesson learned in that first year as coach came down to the fact that patience is the most valuable asset for a leader. He came to understand that a strong foundation builds a strong and winning team.

So as we turn our attention toward the Final Four, Dayton residents can view the game with a keener eye toward our past. There in that small house heading up the hill, John Wooden must have mulled over strategies in a dim kitchen light while his wife Nellie cooked and encouraged him to be the man he would become, one of the winningest coaches in the game of basketball, coaching the likes of Kareem Abdul Jabir, Magic Johnson and Bill Walton. Kentucky is a long way from Southern California, but I don’t think John Wooden ever forgot the little town that gave him such a strong start to a successful career.