THE PRESIDENT'S CAPITOL CAPITAL AMERICAN REMARKS

THE PRESIDENT'S CAPITOL CAPITAL AMERICAN REMARKS

By Andy Weddington

Tuesday, 11 March 2025

The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.  - John  Wooden

"Man's inhumanity to man." 

Those words came from John Wooden, UCLA's head coach of men's varsity basketball, after witnessing one of his star players endure, in public, an uncalled for disparaging comment from an ignorant stranger. 

That player?

Lew Alcindor (who not long thereafter took on the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) - all seven feet one and three eighths inches of him. 

Yeah, racism in action. 

It was the mid-1960s.

At the time, I was in my youth - being raised in a textiles mill town in North Carolina - and quite aware of college basketball; UNC, Duke, and NC State about 45 miles to the east and Wake Forest about the same distance to the west - the Big Four. Residing in the heart of ACC basketball was life not a dream. 

The player of my favor ... a power forward named Larry Miller #44. Smooth! 

During the 1960s Duke and UNC fell, in championship games, to the mighty Bruins - described by some sports writers as a machine - led by Coach Wooden.

Dean Smith (UNC) was just getting started. Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) was more than a decade out being hired. 

John Wooden was complicated.

As I am learning - 'WOODEN - A Coach's Life'  by Seth Davis - there was John Wooden the family man, Coach Wooden, and then the man the public saw and believed him to be. 

He was not a racist. 

He passion basketball - as player and teacher. 

Between 1963-1975 his teams dominated. 

Ten times NCAA champs with seven consecutive titles between 1966-1973. Two came prior to the seven years run and one after. 

The word 'dynasty' was used long ago. And still. 

I am yet to finish Davis's terrific book - that is bringing my youth into perspective not before fully understood and more so adding context to present day America.

Parallels, and not, between John Wooden and Donald John Trump interesting; pondered during morning long walks. 

Men who win. 

Coach Wooden did not use the word "win."

President Trump talks incessantly about winning. 

I watched President Trump's recent upbeat formal address to America.

Coach Wooden strived for balance in his teams - field the best players each with unique attributes and skills and let them, as team, find their way to top form. Speed over size his basic tenet. 

President Trump has a similar approach. Note the speed at which his Cabinet is tackling problems. 

Not everyone was a fan of Wooden.

And not everyone is a fan of President Trump. 

Noted, and disheartening, was the juvenile behavior of members of Congress. They're supposed to be Americans. 

The President highlighted everyday citizens - Americans - enduring tragedy and personal hardship; e.g., families of young girls murdered by illegal invaders, a boy battling cancer made Secret Service agent, and a young man stunned by an appointment to the U. S. Military Academy (West Point). 

Winners!

Yet hatred for President Trump kept elected representatives from cheering for these winners.

Still I do not understand.

Those who claim to be American not cheering for Americans? 

Spiritless lost souls. 

Why?

John Wooden's words - "Man's inhumanity to man," - keeps coming to mind; though circumstances different. 

The petty do not win.

In 1974 NC State, led by Norm Sloan, beat Wooden's UCLA team on the way to winning the national championship. [The late Jim Valvano's NC State team won it all in 1983.] 

Smith and Krzyzewski? 

They did all right as head coaches - more than a handful of national titles between them. 

Leaders, their coaching philosophies much like Wooden.  

March Madness is here. 

The petty will not win.