John Robert Wooden

(http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/0605/Joh ())

Mentors guide you to what you want to accomplish. You can see how good a mentor is by the accomplishments of their students. John Wooden helped his players be the best because of his ability to teach. To his players, he was more than a coach. He treated them like his own family and that may have been the reason he was one of the greatest basketball coaches. "Wooden took interest in basketball around the age of eight, when he would shoot at a tomato basket with a makeshift ball consisting of his mother's hosiery stuffed with rags." ("John Robert Wooden" Notable). A hero must possess a hard working mentality and mentoring attitude. A hard worker achieves their goals and can outwork someone who is more talented but not a hard worker. Having a good mentoring attitude is someone who gives knowledge and wisdom to his students and leads them to a path for success. John Wooden was more than just a coach. He was a hero because he was hard working and a mentor.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wooden ())

John Wooden was a hero because of his hard-working mentality to accomplish goals in life.Most people who know who John Wooden is know that he was a basketball coach. But before John Wooden became one of the greatest coaches in the history of basketball, he was a player himself. Even then, people saw his hard working mentality.¨At Purdue University, where he sparked the Boilermakers to the 1932 national championship, he was called the "Indiana Rubber Man," because he would bounce right back up after diving on to floor. He was 1932 national collegiate player of the year." ("John Robert Wooden" Notable). He was a hard-working and tough basketball player. He may not have been the best player at that time but he probably outworked the other talented players. Because of that, he was the 1932 national collegiate player of the year. The amount of effort and hard work you put into something, the reward is equal. One of the quotes Del Norte High School uses is "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard". John Wooden is a pure example of what that quote means. He worked hard enough to earn a name for himself, "Indiana Rubber Man". After Wooden's career as a basketball player he worked hard to become a coach for UCLA. Near the end of his career as a coach, he and his team were able to push for another championship win and they succeeded."UCLA's record 88-game winning streak and string of championships ended in 1974, but the team rebounded the following year to give Wooden one more title before his retirement. "The Wizard of West wood" ended his 29-year college head coaching career with a 664-162 record and an amazing .804 winning percentage, as well a record 10 national championships." ("John Wooden" Biography). Wooden's coached his players to become champions. An overall record of 664-162 while coaching the UCLA Bruins is an outstanding win-loss ratio in any sport. Being able to end his coaching career with another title is as phenomenal as when Kobe Bryant scored 60 points on his last game. From player to coach, he still got a nickname from his hard work. Although he was not on the court playing, people called him the "Wizard of West wood" because of him being able to achieve what he did throughout his career became his legacy. He pushed his players to be the best they could be. He was a hard worker since day one from when he played basketball to when he earned his legacy as one of the greatest coaches in the history of basketball.

John Wooden was a hero because he had the mentoring role that helped his players become the best. John Wooden coached for the UCLA Bruins most of his career. There, he and his players won many championships. His position as a mentor to his players was a key factor to all their success. "From 1948 to 1975, he led UCLA to ten national championships, including seven consecutive titles from 1967 to 1973, and he ended his career with another national title in 1975" ("John Wooden" Contemporary). The ability to win one national college basketball title is something few people can achieve. But imagine doing that 10 times and of the 10 seven were in a row. John Wooden did that in only a span of about 27 years of coaching for the UCLA Bruins. 10 national championship titles is double the next coach behind him which is Mike Krzyzewski with 5 national championship titles. It is going to be a while before someone beats Wooden's record of most national championship titles. A great mentor has a great success rate. He did not win every year, but he made adjustments to every different team he coached to make them become successful and win championships. A mentor is someone who you look up to for advice and wisdom. He is someone who is not afraid to be under pressure. He is someone that people talk about. He is someone that leaves a legacy. One of the greatest mentors is John Wooden. "Sometimes, when the Madness of March gets to be too much--too many players trying to make SportsCenter, too few players trying to make assists, too many coaches trying to be homeys, too few coaches willing to be mentors, too many freshmen with out-of-wedlock kids, too few freshmen who will stay in school long enough to become men--I like to go see Coach Wooden," Rick Reilly wrote in Sports Illustrated."  ("John Wooden" Notable). In this quote Rick Reilly, a writer about sports, talks about March Madness. This is the playoffs of college basketball. He talks about how people can get sucked into the madness like coaches not coaching and players not playing to a level where they are focused to win. But John Wooden was not one of those people. He was  focused to help and mentor his players to overcome every team that came their way.  

John Wooden and his teams were not perfect, but the were overall successful. Wooden was just a great mentor and made sure that all his players were ready to be a team. Wooden disciplined them to not get sucked in like other players. He helped each player find what they were good at and use it to help their team. That can be related to people searching for a career. Find what you are good at and perfect it to achieve your goals. The accomplishments John Wooden's teams achieved reflected on how good of a mentor he was. He was inducted into the hall of fame of basketball twice, once as a coach and one as a player.

(http://westsidetoday.com/2014/10/15/former-ucla-co ())

John Wooden was more than just a coach. He was a hero because he was hard working and a mentor. John Wooden was a hero because of his hard-working mentality to accomplish goals in life. John Wooden was a hero because he had the mentoring role that helped his players become the best. John Wooden inspires me to be hardworking in everything I do. Have joy in the success of others. Achieve goals others have never thought could be achieved. When I was in elementary school, I read one of the books he wrote for kids called Inches and Miles. It was a book about success and inspired me to be the best I could be in an effort to become successful.