A prof at Loyola Marymount, a Muslim, eulogizes Coach John Wooden of UCLA as an exemplar of Ignatian values. (H/T to Jim Campbell.)
A teacher at heart, he cared about his players not so much as athletes, but as students with promise and potential. That’s something that fits in perfectly with the Jesuit and Marymount traditions of LMU, what we call cura personalis, or the care of the whole person. What we do as teachers is a sacred trust, and Coach Wooden did it better than any of us. He didn’t like being called “the Wizard of Westwood,” and he would have hated to be called a saint, so let us call him what he was, simply and with great pride: a teacher. And let us thank God for the life and teachings of John Wooden.
