John Wooden's Fight Against the Status Quo

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John Wooden’s Fight Against the Status Quo

When somebody thinks of a person that went against the world or changed it, some specific ones come to their mind like Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King Jr. These people fought for civil right. Though it was hard for them to overcome it, they had lots of support. John Wooden actually also was a famous person that was for civil rights. In 1947 his team was invited to the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball National Tournament in Kansas. (Former) They said in the contract that no African Americans were allowed in the tournament, so John Wooden turned the offer down citing that the policy they used was unfair to a player on his team Clarence Walker. He stood ground for his African American player and also went against the world in another way. (Former) He went against the world of basketball. “The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.” -John Wooden.(My Personal Best 23) This quote represents what John Wooden believed in, how he thought, and how he wanted people to act. He believed that hard-work was the only way to get things done. The world saw that he worked hard and did everything to the best he could, but they did not believe that he would become the greatest basketball coach of all time. John Wooden showed the world that he would try and succeed by working hard as a young child, making a new coaching technique, and breaking many records in basketball as a coach.

John Wooden lived on a farm in Martinsville, Indiana with his family of 5. His mother, Roxie Anne Wooden, and father, Joshua Hugh Wooden, raised him and his brothers with hard-work and obedience. (Wooden on Leadership 35) His father had one rule, in his house chores and

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...against the world and succeeded. They show that he could come up with new ways of coaching, new ways of playing, and new ways of thinking and still be able to set world records that still stand today.

Works Cited

"Former Indiana State Basketball Head Coach John Wooden Passes Away At Age 99 - GoSycamores.com—Official Web Site of Indiana State Athletics." Former Indiana State Basketball Head Coach John Wooden Passes Away At Age 99 - GoSycamores.com—Official Web Site of Indiana State Athletics. N.p., 6 May 2010. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.

"THE LEGEND, THE LEGACY, THE LESSONS." The John R. Wooden Course. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.

Wooden, John, and Steve Jamison. My Personal Best: Life Lessons from an All-American Journey. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.

Wooden, John, and Steve Jamison. Wooden on Leadership. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005. Print.

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