I wish the top of my head had some rufescence.


My favorite John Wooden story, as told by Bill Walton. They'd won the championship, I think an undefeated season and Walton reports for first day practice the next year looking like, well, like Walton did in those years. Long, scraggly hair and beard, moustache covering his mouth. Wooden tells him he has to get a haircut in time for practice, which starts in 15 minutes.


Walton tells Wooden it's a free country, the 20th century, etc., etc., and he has no right to tell him how to wear his hair.


Wooden replies, your absotlutely right Bill, I don't have that right, but I do have the right to decide who's on this basketball team and. . . we're gonna miss you, big guy.


Walton jumps on his bike, rushes into Westwood, barges into the barber shop, pulls a kid our of a chair in the middle of his haircut, announces he needs a haircut right NOW or he's off the basketball team. Everyone encourages the barber to take Walton immeidately, he gets the haircut, rushes back to practice and Wooden doesn't say a thing, just starts the practice.


I heard Walton tell the story on the Charlie Rose Show in front of Wooden (and Bill Russell) and Wooden just smiled. Probably exaggerated a bit, but I used to job with Wooden at the UCLA track when Wooden was in his late 70s and I can't even begin to explain the kind of aura and respect his personality generates (quite naturally on the UCLA campus, but everywhere else too I think.)


BTW, people forget Wooden was a helluva player in his day too.