Once a coach...

I just saw a segment on ESPN about John Wooden. For any of you who don't know him, he was a hugely successful college basketball coach. He is now 99 years old. They were talking about several facets of his life, yet one in particular caught my attention (other than the fact that he hasn't had a drink for 77 years). It was a story about his wife- the only girl he ever kissed. His wife of 53 years passed away 24 years ago. She died on March 21st, 1985. Since that day, on the 21st of every month, he writes his wife a love letter. By my calculation, he has written her nearly 300 letters since she has left this Earth. As if this wasn't enough to make him husband of the century. He declined UCLA's offer to name the court after him unless they included her name...and it had to be listed first. This man is commonly known as the greatest coaching mind of all time. I'd say this story makes it pretty clear that his coaching ability came in a distant second to his ability to love his wife. In a weird way, his story pushes me to love and appreciate my wife even more than I already do - perhaps the old man is still just teaching us younger guys a lesson. Once a coach, always a coach.