Word: woodenly
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...N.C.A.A. championships and a third is expected next month. Walton himself has a personal won-lost record of 148-2 (reaching back to his junior year in high school), and several multimillion-dollar offers to turn pro after his junior year. Even for Coach John Wooden, who has made winning as common as Los Angeles smog, the Walton era has been sui generis...
Teaching that raw talent to cohere into N.C.A.A. champions is John Wooden's contribution. Since coming to U.C.L.A. 25 years ago, Wooden has won 584 games and lost but 141. Though the straitlaced deacon of the Christian Church looks hopelessly out of sync with today's loose and kinky players, Wooden, 63, gets them to play his brand of basic basketball year after year. The days are past when Wooden would instruct players to wear high-topped black sneakers, but he still concentrates on the proper execution of every move, from dribbling to blocking shots...
Because Walton is the dominant player and personality on the team, Wooden goes out of his way to maintain a good relationship with his center. It has not always been harmonious. "We've had our moments about haircuts and Bill's style of dress on the road," admits Wooden. But each has softened a bit to accommodate the other. During the basketball season, Walton keeps his thick red hair trimmed well above his shoulders. Wooden, for his part, accepts Walton's sandals and jeans, and even excused his star from spending the night before the home game...
...Hiding Place. Mutual admiration is easy when the victories keep coming. This year there have been a couple of close calls (against Maryland and U.S.C.), the one-point loss to Notre Dame, and the 61-57 loss to Oregon State. Wooden admits: "We are not as hungry this year as we were the past two years." Walton, whose play was hampered by a back injury in January, rode silently with the Notre Dame loss, though the defeat in South Bend was the first time Walton had been on the losing side in six years of play. Afterward, when he heard...
...acupuncture, recommended by a physician friend. During his first two years at U.C.L.A. Walton seldom played without pain, the result of tendinitis in both knees that developed when Walton shot up six inches between his junior and senior years in high school. So severe was the pain that Wooden gave Walton the unusual right to call time-out during games whenever the ache became unbearable. Walton still girds his knees with elastic bandages, but acupuncture has allowed him to play without agony...