When John Wooden was a high school English teacher in South Bend, Indiana, during the 1930’s, he grew disenchanted when he saw how much the parents fixated on their children’s grades. Wooden believed this was foolhardy thinking. For a student who was not particularly gifted in a certain subject, a B should be considered a fine grade. For another who had more natural ability but did not work as hard, a B should be deemed less than satisfactory.
Wooden was a lover of the English language himself, not to mention a burgeoning amateur poet. As he ruminated on the meaning of the word “success,” he devised his own definition: “Success is peace of mind that comes with the self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you were capable of becoming.” Wooden may have become the most “successful” coach in the history of college basketball, but he never lost sight of what that word did, and didn’t, mean.
