Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

A Reminder: Be True to Yourself

In 1932, the year I graduated from college, the old professional basketball league out East broke up and a team of players from the original New York Celtics was getting ready to go around the country on a barnstorming tour.

I had been an All-American for three years at Purdue University, as well as College Player of the Year, and because of that had gotten a lot of publicity. The Celtics offered me $5,000 to join them on the tour.

At the time, $5,000 was a huge sum. A job where I would teach five English classes a day and coach four sports in addition to being athletic director would bring in only $1,500 a year.

While playing professional basketball was neither what I had planned to do nor what I had studied in ...