Wooden & Tavis: Two Hoosiers Cut From Same Rare Cloth
Twenty-seven years ago this month, half my lifetime ago, I received the most wonderful of invitations when John Wooden asked me to join him for a four-mile morning walk.
This week I received another heady invite – to be a guest on “The Tavis Smiley Show” (Listen Here) to reminisce about Coach Wooden.
Tavis Smiley is a Wooden-esque role model.
Airing on Public Radio International, the show reaches more than 700 affiliates nationwide. For an author, it is a momentous opportunity. But to be honest, it would have mattered little to me if the mic had failed to record the interview.
No, the thrill among thrills was getting to meet Smiley, whom I have long admired for his gifts as TV and radio host, publisher and best-selling author – and above all for his life-changing philanthropic work. At age 49, Smiley has accomplished enough for three lifetimes. He must get by on two hours sleep.
Though four years my junior, Smiley has been a hero I look up to.
The risk with meeting heroes in person is they rarely measure up to the ideals in your mind. Smiley, however, did not disappoint. Rather, he exceeded all expectations. In this manner and more, Tavis Smiley reminds me greatly of John Wooden, my all-time idol.
The similarities begin with both having grown up in Indiana and working their way through college: Wooden at Purdue and Smiley at rival Indiana University after arriving on campus with $50 in his pocket.
It comes as no surprise that Smiley says the two Hoosiers hit it off swimmingly from their first hello when they met for an interview.
Why wouldn’t they? Smiley epitomizes all 15 blocks in Wooden’s famous “Pyramid of Success” – Industriousness, Friendship, Loyalty, Cooperation, Enthusiasm, Self-Control, Alertness, Initiative, Intentness, Condition, Skill, Team Spirit, Poise, Confidence, and Competitive Greatness.
As a specific example, consider “Intentness” which Wooden defined thusly: “Stay the course. When thwarted try again; harder; smarter. Persevere relentlessly.”
As a college junior, Smiley wrote a letter each week, month after month after month, to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley seeking a summer internship.
Thwarted, Smiley bought an airline ticket he could ill afford and flew to L.A. – without an appointment – to try to achieve his goal through a personal appeal.
Again told there were no internships available, Smiley persevered. He sent a handwritten letter “from the heart” to Bradley and finally received a coveted position.
Smiley has used this same Competitive Greatness to win his own Wooden-like collection of NCAA basketball titles, so to speak, including being named one of “The World’s 100 Most Influential People” by TIME magazine; receiving the prestigious Du Bois Medal from Harvard University; and, next month, being honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Another similarity: Smiley’s signature “Keep the faith” TV sign-off always makes me think of the Wooden because the top block of the Pyramid of Success is held in place by a special mortar comprised of two ingredients: Faith and Patience.
To be sure, these two devout Hoosiers are cut of the same rare cloth.
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Another “Wooden-ism” embodied by Smiley: “You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” He does so through numerous philanthropic donations and deeds, including his nonprofit foundation that has provided “Youth to Leaders” training workshops and conferences to more than 6,000 youngsters.
Indeed, Smiley shares Wooden’s belief that “young people need fewer critics and more models.”
This is actually true for people of all ages.
Before I left the Sheryl Flowers Radio Studios in Los Angeles, Smiley was expressing his admiration for Coach Wooden and Muhammad Ali, among other heroes of his, and opined: “We don’t make ’em like that anymore.”
“Sure we do,” I countered. “Look in the mirror.”
Tavis Smiley smiled modestly, said thanks sincerely, but disagreed humbly.
It is exactly how John Wooden used to respond to superlative praise, no matter how rightly deserved.