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er mentor at Purdue in the English department who rivaled Lambert in influence. While Davis is quick to point out that his 450page book is not a kiss-andtell book about Wooden's shortcomings, it does tell the human side of him. It chronicles Wooden's competitive nature, and the temper he displayed from time to time. One of the lighter moments was reading about how Wooden, in his early coaching days, drove a point home with one of his players by kicking CBS him on the seat of the pants Davis serves as a studio analyst for CBS' college basket- several times. ball coverage in addition to being a writer for Sports One of the themes of Illustrated. the early part of the book "A Coach's Life" provides is race and the effect it had greater detail to legendary sto- on Wooden. Having grown up in ries many Boilermaker fans have southern Indiana in the era of the heard about Wooden. Ku Klux Klan, Wooden saw first Wooden came to Purdue to hand the plight of African-Ameribe a civil engineer, only to switch cans in the 1920s and 1930s. Even his major when he found out he in his first college coaching job had to attend a summer camp as at Indiana State from 1946-48, part of the CE program. Wooden Wooden was left with some very couldn't afford that luxury be- difficult challenges, especially cause he had to spend his sum- when having to break racial barmers making money to support riers with his lone African-Amerihis parents and brothers. can player, Clarence Walker. "A Coach's Life" also touches "It is the biographer's mission on a seldom-told story of anoth- not just to be thorough and ac- curate but to also put everydeal in the end. thing in context," Davis said. Davis said Wooden's lat"We can't make moral judger years were spent nurturments sitting here in 2014. ing his image as an almost You're talking about Terre a mythical figure. Davis said Haute, Indiana, in 1948 or Wooden was at times guilty Martinsville in the '20s." of "selective amnesia" when remembering his record This was the heyday both on and off the court, of Jim Crow and Walker's but that Wooden's humandiary, used in a chapter ity is what makes him real, in the book, eloquently not mythical. chronicles some of the di"He got sweeter as he lemmas facing both player got older," Davis said. "It was and coach. While the resuch a blessing that he lived cord shows that Wooden to be nearly 100. He was so stood firm on his non-racist mentally sharp his whole views, it also outlined that life until his body gave out there were times when on him. He never talked Wooden chose a more conabout winning to his playvenient response to an isers. He always said, 'Let's get sue, which viewed through a little better every day.' the lens of today would be "And that is what he did a decision that might be Purdue in his life — he got a little viewed as insensitive. tuned during Another story many John Wooden's principles were finely from 1930-32.his days as bit better every day. "j a three-time All-American at Purdue Purdue fans know, but is was going to do what he had to Note: We will have more told in greater detail in the on "A Coach's Life" and the interbook, is how close Wooden came in order to climb the ladder. Wooden didn't like the deal view with Davis in the March/April to returning to his alma mater. Purdue was offering in '48. Two issue of Gold and Black Illustrated. After his second year at Indiana State, the coach talked years later, after Wooden had openly about "having to get out been at UCLA for a pair of seaof Terre Haute" to grow his coach- sons, he was ready to come back ing career. It is hard to imagine to Purdue. But it was his beloved Wooden as an opportunist and wife, Nell, and his two children, insecure at times, but it is clear who had gotten accustomed to that in his early days the coach life in Los Angeles, who nixed the GoldanDBlack express • volume 24, express 17 • 10