The word hero gets thrown around entirely too much.
"Tiger Woods is my hero."
Golf, yes. Life, no.
"The Beatles are my heros"
Music, yes. Life, no.
A lot of the time, we are guilty of labeling someone that is good at what they do - a hero. When in all actuality, they may have completely different views that we do, someone that you wouldn't want your kids looking up to.
But yesterday, a hero was lost yesterday. John Wooden has left this world.
For those that don't know who John Wooden is, he was the best college basketball coach there ever was. Here are just a couple stats from his career:
- 10 National titles in 12 years
- 88 straight games won
- 38 straight wins in the tournament
No doubt he was a very smart X's and O's coach, but it went beyond that. He was a teacher, mentor and some of his past players called him a parent figure. He cared for his players as people, supported them throughout their lives. He lived the life that he preached and the life that so many of us strive for. Someone you can tell your children about and feel good about it too. I will end this post with some quotes from the man they called Coach:
"Be true to yourself, help others, make each day your masterpiece, make friendship a fine art, drink deeply from good books - especially the Bible, build a shelter against a rainy day, give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance everyday."
"The most important word in our language is, love. Second, is balance. Keeping things in perspective."
Check out this video: Amazing, amazing man
I may do more posts about this guy and his philosophies. They go hand in hand with my beliefs and Christian beliefs.
RIP Coach...
Thanks for sharing those aspects of Coach Wooden that some of us don't know about...I especially loved the first quote you shared! Steph
Coach Wooden had a great perspective on life and it served him well. I think we can learn a lot from him, and it'll be awesome to read more of his quotes!