My Most Famous Mentor
It is hard to choose any one person from those who have
mentored me, but my most famous mentor is former UCLA Bruins Head Coach, John Wooden. I think he chose to mentor me because of my
“famous” landlords in the LA area, Rod and Marge Rood.
Rod had been a personal friend of former President Dwight D.
Eisenhower. Rod signed the papers in
France for the 1984 Olympics to come to LA.
Marge is personal friends with
people like Vin Scully. These two UCLA
alumni were incredibly generous people.
So I want everyone to understand they gave me unimaginable open doors. It was like that magical closet in that
movie. I hope I have been grateful
enough for all that they gave me.
Coach Wooden was a very generous man himself. He answered me two major questions as a
coach. The first was this: “What are the
fundamentals of basketball?” The second
was this: “Should I be coaching or should I be doing something else with my
career?” I know personally why his
former players all look up to him.
His answer to the first question was his “Pyramid of
Success”. It consists of 15 building
blocks of success. I have been
privileged now to take those 15 blocks and then add his favorite four letter
word – love – to create an action packed diamond from it. The diamond pictures better the advantage of
the traction of action that should increase everyone’s mental health.
His answer to my second question was his life story of
coming from Indiana. He wanted to pursue
baseball, but coming out of Indiana he naturally became a basketball coach. I guess that is why coming from Wisconsin and
the land of Vince Lombardi, I naturally chose football over all the rest.
Take care.
Sincerely,
Jon
