Great coach was a better friend
By Sam Allen
June 6, 2010 7:49 p.m.
In the spring of 1970, John Sandbrook was a UCLA student writing for this newspaper.
That same spring, John Wooden was celebrating his sixth national title. Wooden was, by that point, one of the most recognizable figures in college sports, widely considered the greatest basketball coach in the world.
On afternoons that spring, Wooden would walk from his office at the athletic department to a deli on the third floor of Ackerman Student Union. Whenever he saw Sandbrook and the other student reporters, he sat down and joined them. The coach joked and gibed. Everyone talked Dodger baseball.
“It was just like he was one of us,” Sandbrook said.
Sandbrook was one of many, many people who saw firsthand Wooden’s kindness and warmth. Those chats in Ackerman were the start of a 40-year friendship between Sandbrook and Wooden, a relationship that was by turns personal and professional, filled always with joy, lessons and laughs.
Sandbrook, now 61, graduated from UCLA in 1973 and worked various positions in the university administration for the next 37 years. Wooden remained his close friend throughout.
On Saturday afternoon, the day after Wooden died at the age of 99, Sandbrook spoke to the Daily Bruin about his long-standing friendship with the legendary coach.
“It’s the stuff that you can’t believe really happened in your life,” Sandbrook said. “But it really did.”
Sandbrook recalled how riveting it was to follow Wooden as a reporter, and then later as a fan, but mostly Sandbrook talked about his memories of Wooden as a friend.
Over the years, Sandbrook and Wooden attended countless Dodger games together. Sandbrook likes to tell the story of how Wooden refused an offer to throw out the first pitch at the Dodgers’ 1975 home opener, just days after he had won his 10th national championship and retired from coaching.
“John just said “˜No,'” Sandbrook recalled. “He said, “˜That kind of thing isn’t for me.'”
Through the years, Sandbrook often visited Wooden and his wife Nellie in their Santa Monica apartment, and later, their condominium in Encino. He saw the humble life that Wooden lived; even in his final year at UCLA, Wooden earned only $35,000.
Sandbrook said he knew all along he was dealing with an extraordinary man.
In 1976, when Sandbrook was working as an assistant to Chancellor Charles E. Young, he was assigned to meet with Wooden to discuss plans for a new student recreation center. The chancellor’s office hoped that Wooden would support the effort to raise funds for the project, and ultimately to lend his name to the facility.
Wooden liked the idea. He said that if any structure was going to honor him, he wanted it to be one that stood for the betterment of the entire university.
But Wooden had one demand.
The Bruin baseball team in those years was stuck playing on a sandlot at the Veterans Administration. Plans for a new stadium south of Pauley Pavilion had fallen through, and Wooden was concerned. He wanted the baseball program to have a proper home.
He told Sandbrook he would lend his name to the recreation center only if the Chancellor committed to begin construction on a new baseball stadium.
The rest is history, Sandbrook said. Jackie Robinson Stadium opened in 1981, and the John R. Wooden Recreation Center opened in 1983.
Sandbrook also talked at length about Wooden’s unique sense of humor.
In 2002, Sandbrook accompanied Wooden and his daughter on a private flight to Gainesville, Fla., where Wooden had a speaking engagement. Onboard, Wooden broke into an imitation of former UCLA Athletic Director J.D. Morgan’s memorable baritone.
“The imitations were just hilarious,” Sandbrook said.
Wooden recounted a private conversation between him and Morgan, where they disagreed over whether or not to schedule a game against Houston at the Astrodome. Wooden didn’t want UCLA to play in the game. Morgan, his boss, did.
The Bruins traveled to Houston in January 1968, and lost to the Cougars. It was the first-ever nationally televised regular-season college basketball game, and it featured two of the sport’s all-time greatest players: UCLA’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Houston’s Elvin Hayes. The matchup has often been referred to as “The Game of the Century,” but on that airplane in 2002, it was simply another fond memory of the glory days, another laugh for Wooden and Sandbrook to share.
In the last five years, Sandbrook planned birthday dinners for Wooden and a group of about 10 other friends. Sandbrook had to tell Wooden that the celebration was for several birthdays between October and December. Wooden never wanted to be the center of attention.
After the dinners, Sandbrook and Wooden would chat privately. Wooden talked a lot about his health, but he always wanted to hear about Sandbrook’s life and work for the university.
The final birthday dinner that Wooden and Sandbrook shared together came November of last year, when Wooden turned 99.
Saturday, Sandbrook reflected on the amazing years of friendship.
“He allowed himself to be open to everybody,” Sandbrook said. “That was the remarkable thing about him. He made time for everybody. He really and truly enjoyed people.”
After he finished recalling his many memories of those years with Wooden, Sandbrook paused and asked aloud:
“How did I get that lucky?”
