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.comOfficial Web Site of Indiana State Athletics." Former Indiana State Basketball Head Coach John Wooden Passes Away At Age 99 - GoSycamores.comOfficial 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.
Earl Lloyd was probably the most courageous player of all time. Some people know him as “The Big Cat” others know him as the first African-American to play in an NBA basketball game with the whites; he changed the way people think and look at basketball and black players and coaches. Earl Lloyd loved basketball from a very young age. Earl had two brothers older than him which was Earnest and Theodore. Earl was very dedicated from a very young age. With his high school team he took them to a state championship and won. After high school Earl went off and took his talents to West Virginia State College. While Earl was there his sophomore year they went 33-0 which is a perfect season. Earl’s team won back to back CIAA conference championships and tournament championships.
He spent his childhood in Rye, New York, as he was one out of ten children. John’s father was a successful trader of furs, wheat, timber, and other commodities. His mother decided to homeschool him until he was the age of eight, and then his
... Brinkley, Alan PhD; McPherson, James PhD. The American Journey. New York, New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2003
Jackie Robinson’s ability to successfully integrate his sport set the stage for many others to advocate for an end to segregation in their respective environments. His period of trials and triumphs were significant to changing American perception of the Civil Rights revolution. By becoming the first African-American baseball player to play in the major leagues, he brought down an old misconception that black athletes were inferior to white athletes. Successively, his example would inspire those advocating for their civil rights, he lived out a message of nonviolence similar to the one Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived out. Despite the constant prejudice he faced in his sport, he was able to keep himself composed and never retaliate.
In 1913 legendary football coach, Robert Zuppke, coached football for the University of Illinois (“Illinois” para. 1). Robert Zuppke led their 1914 football season to be undefeated! This created many more fans for the college football team (“Illinois” para.1). For 29 years Robert zuppke coached and he and his team won four national titles in the years of 1914, 1919, 1923, 1927 (“College” para. 8). Illinois third football coach, Edward Hall, had wrote the football code for proper conduct of players (“College” para. 14). From the years of 1971 through 1976 Bob Blackman was a football coach in Illinois (“College” para. 4). NFL stars Larry McCarren, Scott Studwell, and Revie Sorey were some of the players that Bob Blackman coached (“College” para. 4). Some coaches like George Woodruff only coached 1 season at the University of Illinois (“College” para. 11). Other coaches led the team to many victories though like Pete Elliott did in 1963 (“College” para. 3).
From the time he was a little boy, Jackie Robinson was a likeable individual who tried to better himself and society. He demonstrated traits of extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness, but not neuroticism. Robinson's array of traits allowed him to succeed in life and pave a path for future members of the African American race. As he once boldly put it, "The game had done so much for me, and I had done so much for it" (134).
Jackie Robinson’s career escalated into the big leagues due to a guy named Branch Ricky taking a chance on him. Ricky knew that it would be hard for him to do, but he knew what Jackie was capable of, he knew that Jackie wouldn’t retaliate to all the threats he got in the news, by both fans and teammates alike. Branch Ricky knew that it was going to be a challenge for a young, black athlete to do, but Jackie promised, to Ricky and himself, that he wouldn’t fight back. Jackie’s own teammates, of the
Perhaps one of his most sustained acts was his ability to represent the plight of African American rights while simultaneously portraying a palatable character to White America. In addition to leading various civil disobedience campaigns, he served as the movement’s main “strategist, theorist, and symbol maker” while also becoming the “movement’s chief interpreter to white Americans.” Stewart Burns actually goes so far as to suggest King, early on, realized his destiny was to be both a black Moses, delivering his brothers from the injustice of Jim Crow, as well as a Christ-like figure, offering equal measures of love, compassion, and forgiveness. This of course caused him to be disliked and criticized amongst some of the more nationalist and militant black leaders of the time, but inversely, allowed many Americans to sympathize with the movement’s main goals.
John Wooden is a hero to many people around the world; he taught people the important things in life such as putting God first, and through God put others before oneself. He was a remarkable person to know or talk to; he taught his players things that both helped them on and off the court. Wooden’s coaching career changed the game of basketball by turning it into a team sport and proved to the nation that players don’t need to be flashy to be great players. His legacy will never end; he has inspired so many others by his words and his many great accomplishments.
Appleby, Joyce, Alan Brinkley, James M. McPherson. The American Journey: Building a Nation. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2000
Lived. 5th ed. Vol. 2. Eds. David M. Reimers, Fredrick M. Binder. Boston, NY. Houghton
The purpose of his plan is to instill a goal, achievement mindset aligned with his strengths. No doubt, Jason knows how to achieve a worthy goal since he achieved his dream goal of making it to the pros; however, he did not have professional goals established once he made it to that dream goal. Since he was at the top of his mountain, his only path was downward which is reflected by his injury and lack of joy in the pros. He know that if he never sets a new destination in a timely manner to continue the journey with a plan of action containing detailed processes and performance milestones, then he going nowhere with every breath, thought, or image. Instead, he will continue wandering aimlessly. One of Coach John Wooden’s cornerstone blocks
As you now see, people stand as role models for one another and follow in their footsteps. From the beginning, Lewis was inspired by Rosa Parkes and Dr Martin Luther King. All these people believed in their dreams, and were committed to their hearing to go forth and achieve a sole goal, to create an equal relationship between races, which means exterminating segregation and earning constitutional
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12th, 1809, in a small county in Kentucky called Hardin which is now known as Larue County. His father, Thomas Lincoln, “was a migratory carpenter and farmer, nearly always poverty-stricken” . His mother, Nancy Hanks, did not play a large role in his life as she passed away when he was nine years old. Thomas Lincoln remarried a woman named Sarah Johnston Bush, who “was a kind and affectionate stepmother to the boy” . During his younger years, Lincoln did not spend much time in school. Overall, “the scattered weeks of school attendance in Kentucky and Indiana amounted to less than a year” . Although he did not attend school, Lincoln was self-educated through books and other sources available to him. Soon after his self-education, Lin...
“We all know all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe- some people are smarter than others, some people have more opportunity because they’re born with it, some men make more money than others, some ladies make better cakes than others- some people are born gifted beyond the normal scope of most men.” This quote is valuable to me because I know not everyone is equal. Everyone is created differently so each person can be unique in his or her own way. In school there are lots of different people that are smarter than you, but if there weren’t smarter people than you, than you wouldn’t push yourself to be a better person. Tom Robinson knew he was a Negro and that it was his word against two white women, but he was not giving up. He wanted the same opportunity the white women were born with and the only way he could get that opportunity was by not giving