Wooden’s Wisdom

In addition to his myriad books and speeches, some of former Bruin coach John Wooden’s maxims will grace a new series of greeting cards, according to a story in the Los Angeles Daily News by staff writer Jill Painter.

She reports that Shade Tree Greeting Company will be producing a line of cards that incorporate one or more of Wooden’s comments, following up on similar cards produced with maxims from the late musical legend Ray Charles and actor Christopher Reeve.

Moreover, Wooden’s own Web site – www.coachjohnwooden.com – has been updated by his frequent co-author Steve Jamison, with videos of interviews with Wooden now on the site.

A personal aside: I was a freshman at UCLA and one of the student managers for Jim Bush’s track & field team during Wooden’s final season as basketball coach. Among the many comments and quotes we heard from Wooden directly was one that has helped me to this day: "Never confuse activity with achievement." I’m only one of the thousands who have benefitted from speaking with Wooden directly, but he’s reached many millions beyond. At 96, he may be the closest thing we have to a living national treasure.