I admit it.
I cry when I think about how much John Wooden loved his wife.
From the CT article:
Lest you think Wooden was merely a walking Hallmark card of sports-related clichés, think again. A devoted Christian, the coach was far more interested in developing men of integrity than great players.
Just ask Bill Walton, the All-American who led the Bruins to a couple of championships. Walton once showed up with a beard, defying Wooden’s rule against facial hair. “It’s my right,” Walton insisted. Wooden responded, “That’s good, Bill. I admire people who have strong beliefs and stick by them. I really do. We’re going to miss you.”
Walton shaved it off, right on the spot.
Wooden’s players developed integrity because their coach epitomized it.
Here’s another glimpse into the man’s character: On the 21st of every month, he writes a love letter to Nell, his wife of 53 years, and places it on her pillow. There are now 252 letters on Nell’s pillow, who died on March 21, 1985. “I’m not afraid to die,” says Wooden. “Death is my only chance to be with her again.”
From an SI article:
He pointed out a wedding anniversary gift from their children, a black-and-white shot of Johnny, then 16, beaming at the camera, with 15-year-old Nell, “the only girl I ever went with,” looking up at him in adoration. Every month on the 21st, the day of Nell’s death, he would write her a letter and add it to a stack secured by a yellow ribbon. But in time he had struck precisely the kind of balance he once preached, honoring Nell and their life together, yet also speaking, teaching, weighing in on the controversies afflicting the game and turning up for the occasional Final Four. Nell had died almost precisely when his first great-granddaughter, Cori Nicholson, had been conceived, and even in his grief Wooden couldn’t miss the pertinence of another of his favorite sayings: “God never closes one door without opening another.”
One day during Wooden’s blue period, when she was three, Cori had tugged at her great-grandfather and pointed at the sky. “See that airplane, Papa? I’m going to take that airplane and fly all the way to heaven and get Mama and bring her back, so Papa won’t be lonely anymore.”