Wooden: A Coach's Life by Seth Davis

Author:Seth Davis [Davis, Seth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Biography, Non-Fiction
ISBN: 9780805092806
Amazon: 0805092803
Goodreads: 17910051
Publisher: Times Books
Published: 2014-01-14T08:00:00+00:00

25

The Last Banquet

In October 1969, John and Nell spent a glorious weekend with their children in Martinsville, Indiana. Thousands of people welcomed their native son to the annual Morgan County Fall Foliage Festival, where the India Rubber Man served as grand marshal. A street was renamed in Wooden’s honor. Even though he had spent more than two decades living two thousand miles from where he grew up, Wooden was still a Hoosier at heart. As one national sportswriter had recently put it, “He goes better with sycamores than palm trees.”

His midwestern attitudes were making him feel especially old-fashioned as he watched the game he loved turn into a big business. In the weeks that followed the 1969 NCAA tournament, Wooden watched with disdain as Alcindor became the subject of an unprecedented bidding war between the NBA and its upstart rival, the American Basketball Association. Alcindor had tapped Sam Gilbert to represent him in the negotiations, and Papa Sam told Alcindor he would not charge for his services. The Milwaukee Bucks had won a coin flip to earn the number one pick in the NBA draft, but first they had to ward off ABA commissioner George Mikan, who told Gilbert that Alcindor could choose his team, which would presumably be the New York Nets. Alcindor eventually signed with the Bucks for $1.4 million per year. “I’m glad to see Lewis get all he can get,” Wooden said, “but the sort of money being offered to athletes these days is completely out of line.”

Given Wooden’s paltry salary at UCLA, it was only a matter of time before the pros came calling for him, too. After Lakers coach Butch van Breda Kolff resigned following the 1969 play-offs, the team’s owner, Jack Kent Cooke, offered to pay Wooden several times what he was currently making to coach the Lakers. Wooden said he wanted to discuss it with Nell and his children. “I told them I would have had to travel so much more and be away from home,” Wooden said. “I said, ‘You can have a lot more things that I just simply can’t afford now.’ But they said, ‘No, Dad, you wouldn’t be happy with that.’” According to Wooden, Cooke was furious. “I don’t think I would have enjoyed working for Jack Kent Cooke,” Wooden said years later.

Wooden’s off-season was further upended in October, when Alcindor published a lengthy diary in Sports Illustrated under his byline that recounted in vivid detail the unhappiness he had felt in college. The second installment was headlined “UCLA Was a Mistake.” Wooden admitted he was hurt by the series. “I’m very, very sorry to find out that he seemed to be as unhappy as he has indicated,” Wooden said. “I honestly believe that he would have been ten times more miserable at many other places he could have gone.”

The articles only deepened Wooden’s relief about beginning a new era at UCLA, post-Alcindor. “I am looking forward to this season more than I have the seasons of the last three or four years,” he said before the first practice.

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