Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court

by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Overview

Former NBA star and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explores his 50-year friendship with Coach John Wooden, one of the most enduring and meaningful relationships in sports history.

When future NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was still an 18-year-old high school basketball prospect from New York City named Lew Alcindor, he accepted a scholarship from UCLA largely on the strength of Coach John Wooden's reputation as a winner. It turned out to be the right choice, as Alcindor and his teammates won an unprecedented three NCAA championship titles. But it also marked the beginning of one of the most extraordinary and enduring friendships in the history of sports. In Coach Wooden and Me, Abdul-Jabbar reveals the inspirational story of how his bond with John Wooden evolved from a history-making coach-player mentorship into a deep and genuine friendship that transcended sports, shaped the course of both men's lives, and lasted for half a century.

Coach Wooden and Me is a stirring tribute to the subtle but profound influence that Wooden had on Kareem as a player, and then as a person, as they began to share their cultural, religious, and family values while facing some of life's biggest obstacles. From his first day of practice, when the players were taught the importance of putting on their athletic socks properly; to gradually absorbing the sublime wisdom of Coach Wooden's now famous "Pyramid of Success"; to learning to cope with the ugly racism that confronted black athletes during the turbulent Civil Rights era as well as losing loved ones, Abdul-Jabbar fondly recalls how Coach Wooden's fatherly guidance not only paved the way for his unmatched professional success but also made possible a lifetime of personal fulfillment.

Full of intimate, never-before-published details and delivered with the warmth and erudition of a grateful student who has learned his lessons well, Coach Wooden and Me is at once a celebration of the unique philosophical outlook of college basketball's most storied coach and a moving testament to the all-conquering power of friendship.

Instant New York Times and USA Today Bestseller
President Barack Obama's Favorite Book of 2017
A Boston Globe and Huffington Post Best Book of 2017 Pick

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781455542277
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	05/16/2017
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	412,860
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee. Since retiring, he has been an actor, a basketball coach, and the author of many New York Times bestsellers. Abdul-Jabbar is also a columnist for many news outlets, such as the Guardian and the Hollywood Reporter, writing on a wide range of subjects including race, politics, age, and pop culture. In 2012, he was selected as a U.S. Cultural Ambassador and in 2016 Abdul-Jabbar was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award which recognizes exceptional meritorious service. He lives in Southern California.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Why It Took Fifty Years to Write This Book 1

1 When Worlds Collide: Midwestern Hick Meets Harlem Hoopster 11

2 The Game Is Afoot: It's Never about Winning and Other Courtside Lessons 67

3 Color Bind: The Unbearable Darkness of Being Black 121

4 What Would Wooden Do: Religion, Politics, and Keeping the Faith 165

5 We've Got Trouble, Right Here in Pauley Pavilion: Getting Lost on Wooden Way 203

6 "Time Can Bend Your Knees": The Hours of Friendship in the Days of Grief 245

7 Our Long Day's Journey into Night 275

Acknowledgments 305

Editorial Reviews

03/27/2017
Anyone inclined to dismiss John Wooden and Abdul-Jabbar’s relationship as merely coach and player— Abdul-Jabbar led Wooden’s basketball teams at UCLA to three NCAA titles in the late 1960s—will rethink that miscalculation after reading this compact, engaging memoir. The two men remained close until Wooden’s death at age 99 in 2010, Abdul-Jabbar writes: “Our friendship grew over shared values, over complicated loves and devastating losses, over a never truly satisfied search for understanding of this world and our place in it.” Abdul-Jabbar discusses his own intellectual and spiritual growth, interweaving the lessons Wooden conveyed to him over the years. He shrewdly removes any mysticism from the famous friendship, showing Wooden as more than a “Pyramid of Success” figurehead. At Wooden’s memorial service, Abdul-Jabbar recalls, “we all spoke about the lessons we learned from him rather than the games we had won.” (May)

Publishers Weekly

05/01/2017
In his latest work, NBA champion and author Abdul-Jabbar (Writings on the Wall; On the Shoulders of Giants) relates his 50-year relationship with UCLA coach and Hall of Famer John Wooden (1910–2010). Wooden's philosophy of teamwork and preparation led UCLA to win ten NCAA championships, including three with Abdul-Jabbar between 1967 and 1969. Here, the author describes the structured practices at the university, where Wooden even taught his freshman players how to properly tie their shoe. Beyond basketball, the heart of this memoir is private moments between Wooden and Abdul-Jabbar, such as a Thanksgiving dinner, conversations about Muhammad Ali or jazz, or a prayer said at Wooden's deathbed. Abdul-Jabbar does not shy away from how race and religion have impacted his life, including racist slurs leveled by opponents and fans. He explains why he changed his name, converted to Islam, and opposed attending the 1968 Olympics, while also reflecting on how the death of loved ones and the shared experience of grief strengthened the bond between player and coach. VERDICT This stunning eulogy will appeal to readers far beyond the confines of sports. Highly recommended.—Chris Wilkes, Tazewell Cty. P.L., VA

Library Journal

2017-04-02
One of the greatest basketball players in history reflects on one of the greatest coaches in history.Abdul-Jabbar—the NBA's all-time leading scorer who is now a writer of essays and books (Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White, 2016, etc.)—notes several times the oddity of the friendship between a towering, urban African-American and a much smaller white Midwesterner with deep Christian convictions. But their friendship continued until Wooden died in 2010 at the age of 99. After summarizing his boyhood, the author tells how he decided on UCLA (he was the nation's most sought-after high school player) and how he adjusted to West Coast life and Wooden-style basketball. During his college days, freshmen couldn't play varsity, and dunking was proscribed, so who knows what wonders he could have otherwise achieved? Throughout, Abdul-Jabbar asserts continually that it was Wooden's example that became most meaningful to him. The coach believed in physical fitness and team play, and he lived by a high ethical standard that deeply impressed the author, who can hardly bear to mention the coach's (few) stumbles—though he does devote a chapter to them, a chapter that pales in comparison to the positive ones. Abdul-Jabbar's style is free and easy, with some flashes of humor. An occasional error appears on the score sheet—Carl Stokes was the mayor of Cleveland, not Detroit—but the author is candid about his attitudes toward the racial turmoil of the 1960s, his conversion to Islam, his experiences suffering racial taunts from fans of opposing teams—and, in one grim case, from his high school coach, a conflict since reconciled. The author's account of his visit to Wooden on his deathbed is wrenching. A pleasant expression of deep appreciation for a man who changed the author's life by enriching it.

Kirkus Reviews

"This latest masterpiece by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is even better than all the rest... I'm captivated, enthralled, educated, and entertained as The King's words roll off the page even smoother than his skyhook did off his fingertips."—Bill Walton

"A pleasant expression of deep appreciation for a man who changed the author's life by enriching it."—Kirkus

"Anyone inclined to dismiss John Wooden and Abdul-Jabbar's relationship as merely coach and player... will rethink that miscalculation after reading this compact, engaging memoir."—Publisher's Weekly

"Abdul-Jabbar and Wooden shared a priceless friendship, and this sensitive, sharply written account brings it to full, vivid life."—Booklist (starred review)

"I always knew my Daddy felt this way about Kareem, but I never knew Kareem ever felt this way about my Dad."—Nan Wooden, Coach Wooden's Daughter

"This stunning eulogy will appeal to readers far beyond the confines of sports. Highly recommended."—Library Journal

From the Publisher

The author narrates his work, not an overarching look at his life but a focus on an important part of it: his relationship with his college basketball coach. The two—one of the greatest players and possibly the sport’s greatest coach—could not have been more different. But mutual respect and their willingness to learn from each other formed the basis of a lifelong friendship. While Abdul-Jabbar is an accomplished writer, his narration skills yield a staccato delivery. It’s not as smooth as it could have been. He doesn’t imitate Wooden, which keeps with his genuine storytelling style. But what Abdul-Jabbar lacks in narrating ability doesn’t take away from the moments and messages. The story is a player-coach relationship that might never be duplicated, and his perspective is appreciated. M.B. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2018 - AudioFile