Shorter team but another slam dunk

The Coach’s thumb got sore halfway through the signing. By then, he’d written “Love, John Wooden” in nearly 200 copies of his children’s book, “Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success,” and the line was still out the door, stretching far into the courtyard.

People began gathering outside Compass Books & Cafe near Disneyland around noon on a recent Saturday, even though the Coach wasn’t scheduled to sit down with his pen until 3. When he got there, he walked slowly, cane in hand, a bit bent at the shoulders, and when people saw him, they applauded.

Face to face, they called him Coach or Coach Wooden or Mr. Wooden. One woman from Corona, Lanien Delgado, got her picture taken with him and then said: “I’m going to cry.” Her father took her to UCLA games in the 1960s and ‘70s when Wooden’s teams were mowing through college basketball, winning a record 10 NCAA championships. Delgado has four children -- ages 15, 12, 8 and 5 -- and she teaches them about Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, which served as the blueprint for “Inch and Miles.”

“I just love his principles,” she said. “Hard work, determination, poise, teamwork -- everything on the Pyramid is great for character building.”

Kerry Carmody from Valencia bought seven copies of the book, enough to pass out to his godchildren, a niece, a cousin and co-workers. “There are only three people I’d stand in line for,” he said. “My father, Walt Disney and John Wooden.”

Another who waited to see the coach was Gary Barragan, who played baseball for UCLA in 1973. He chose to attend UCLA after hearing Wooden speak, and he came to the signing with his 8-year-old, Jeremy, who finished “Inch and Miles” while standing in line and said he learned from it that you shouldn’t complain or whine.

“And,” Jeremy added, “you should be determined and show self-control.”

The lineage of the book can be traced back six years, when Wooden was interviewed by Steve Jamison, who helped him write “Inch and Miles” with retired tennis pro Peanut Louie Harper. When Jamison reviewed notes from the interview, he decided he had the makings of a book.

At first, Wooden disagreed.

“I just didn’t see how anybody would be interested,” Wooden said.

After five months of writing letters and getting “Thank you, Steve, but ...” responses, Jamison struck the right note by pointing out that a book would make a terrific tool for teaching. The result was “Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court.”

When people began asking for a children’s version, Wooden and Jamison decided to write “Inch and Miles,” the colorful story of a mouse and worm whose teacher -- Mr. Wooden, a wise, old owl -- sends them on a journey to discover the true meaning of success.

Wooden is 93 now, and his work on the Pyramid of Success began 70 years ago while he was teaching English and coaching at Dayton High School in Kentucky. It bothered him when parents made kids feel like failures if they didn’t get an A or a B or make the starting lineup. So he began shaping a new definition of success, one that wasn’t based on results, one that reflected lessons he’d learned from his dad, Hugh, and one that he sums up as the peace of mind that comes as “a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

The Pyramid wasn’t just tossed together. It took Wooden 14 years. But once he was finished, he was finished. Since 1948, he hasn’t modified it or even fine-tuned it.

“I was satisfied with what it was,” he said.

“I’ve never had any reason to change it.”

From time to time, he has seen interviews with former Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played on three championship teams for Wooden at UCLA from 1966 to 1969. When Abdul-Jabbar -- Wooden still refers to him as Lewis Alcindor -- is asked about the Pyramid, he says he thought it was corny at first but found it more meaningful later in life.

“That pleases me,” Wooden said. “I always remember Mark Twain’s statement about his dad, that he was ignorant and that he could hardly stand to be around him when he was 14. When he got to be 21, he was surprised at how much his dad had learned.”

Twenty-nine years after his retirement, there is still demand for Wooden wisdom. He was asked recently to speak to McDonald’s executives about keeping a streak going. He was stopped outside the book signing by a teacher who uses his sayings frequently in his fifth-grade classroom. And he is always urged and cajoled to attend the Final Four, which he did last year, even though he doesn’t sleep as well away from his condo in Encino and the many warm reminders of his late wife, Nellie, who died in 1985.

When the signing was over, Wooden took a short walk to ESPN Zone to have dinner. On the way, he mentioned his love for gymnastics. There’s something about the camaraderie and team spirit that grabs him, and on this day, he is missing a UCLA meet at Pauley Pavilion. Had he realized the conflict sooner, he said, he would have rescheduled the book signing.

UCLA’s women gymnasts are as fond of him as he is of them. They go as a group to his condo every year to pepper him with questions, from who his favorite athlete is to who got his vote for president.

“He values people’s enthusiasm for learning so much,” says UCLA gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos Field.

Going through the door of ESPN Zone, Wooden walked within a few feet of his own life-size bust and then was escorted with three guests and his daughter, Nan Muehlhausen, to a private room. Sipping an Arnold Palmer, he was asked for his thoughts on youth sports, and he talked about how he always made sure his camps were heavy on fundamentals and light on scrimmages.

“The coaches knew what I wanted,” he said. “Occasionally, I’d catch one of them teaching how to dribble behind the back. He didn’t come back. I didn’t want fancy stuff taught.”

Nor does he want to hear his grandchildren tell him how many goals or points his great grandchildren have scored in an athletic event. But sometimes they do, though they know how he feels about individualism.

“I want kids to know that they can do well and not necessarily outscore the other teams,” he said. “I honestly felt sometimes [at UCLA] like we’d won in games where we were outscored. And on other occasions, when we’d outscore somebody, I wasn’t happy. I wouldn’t have felt worse if we lost.”

Near the end of dinner, the discussion turned to hard work, a topic covered cleverly in “Inch and Miles” by an overachieving ant named Axelrod.

“One of the most important things of all to me is having peace with yourself,” Wooden said. “If you’re shirking, if you’re looking for the shortcut, if you’re looking for the easy way, you’re shortchanging yourself.

“Your reputation is what you’re perceived to be. Your character is what you are. And you’re the only one who knows.”

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John Wooden

The Book: “Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success,” by John Wooden, with Steve Jamison and Peanut Louie Harper. Illustrated by Susan F. Cornelison. Perfection Learning; 39 pages, $15.95

Upcoming signing

Where: Storyopolis, 116 N. Robertson Blvd., Plaza Level A

When: May 22, 11:30 a.m.

Info: (310) 358-2500