Wooden Wisdom
The Pyramid
of Success.
Fifteen building blocks for life, leadership and competition from Coach John Wooden, one of the greatest coaches and teachers in sports history.
The Pyramid
What is the Pyramid of Success?
A blueprint for doing your best.
Coach Wooden worked on the Pyramid of Success for 14 years, from 1934 to 1948, while he was teaching and coaching. He wanted a better way to define success than wins, titles or money.
For Coach Wooden, success was the peace of mind that comes from knowing you gave your best effort to become the best you are capable of becoming. Each block of the pyramid is a quality that helps you get there, and each one builds on the blocks below it.
The Pyramid
15 building blocks.
Start at the base and work your way up. Each block has a short video of Coach Wooden explaining it.
Success
Tap any block to watch Coach Wooden explain it.
How it fits together
Five tiers, built from the ground up.
The foundation
Hard work and relationships
Industriousness, Friendship, Loyalty, Cooperation and Enthusiasm. Wooden set hard work and enthusiasm as the two cornerstones, and filled in the base with the people around you.
The second tier
Discipline and focus
Self-Control, Alertness, Initiative and Intentness. Control yourself, stay aware, act without fear of failure, and keep working toward your goal.
The heart of the pyramid
Ready to compete
Condition, Skill and Team Spirit. Be prepared in body, mind and spirit, know your craft, and put the team first.
The fourth tier
Poise and Confidence
When you are prepared, you can be yourself under pressure and trust what you have built.
The peak
Competitive Greatness
Enjoying the challenge and being at your best when your best is needed. It is the top of the pyramid because it rests on everything below it.
The mortar that holds it together.
Along the sides of the pyramid, Coach Wooden placed qualities like ambition, adaptability, resourcefulness, fight, integrity, honesty, sincerity and reliability. At the very top, holding success in place, he put two more: faith and patience.
Coach Wooden and Athletes in Action
A friendship that shaped AIA.
Coach Wooden wasn’t just a great coach AIA admired from a distance. He was a friend and advisor from the very first day, and his fingerprints are on some of the most important moments in AIA’s history.
Coach Wooden led UCLA to 10 national championships and is remembered as one of the greatest coaches and teachers in sports history. But the people who knew him best remember the man: humble, faithful and generous with his time.
The story
How Coach Wooden helped build AIA.
- 1966
The first call
When Dave Hannah, a former Oklahoma State football player, had the vision to start Athletes in Action, he knew where to go for advice about basketball. His first call was to Coach Wooden.
- The early years
Opening doors
Coach Wooden advised Dave that college teams would need to play AIA in exhibition games that didn’t count against their regular season. He then wrote a letter on AIA’s behalf to college basketball’s governing body, giving the young ministry great credibility.
- 1974
UCLA plays AIA
Coach Wooden’s UCLA Bruins played Athletes in Action in an exhibition game.
- 1976
On the call for AIA
The year after he won his 10th national championship and retired, Coach Wooden served as the color commentator for AIA’s nationally televised five-game series against some of the best teams in the country.
- 1997
The Keys to Life Award
When AIA wanted to honor a basketball figure each year, Coach Wooden agreed to be its namesake. He shared the seven-point creed his father, Joshua, gave him when he graduated from elementary school, saying that if he followed it he would have a good life. That creed became the Keys to Life Award. Coach Wooden presented it in person for six straight years, and his daughter Nan represented the Wooden family each year through 2017.
- Today
The Wooden Family Fieldhouse
After decades of friendship, AIA asked Coach Wooden about naming a future fieldhouse after him. As always, he listened and took time to think. His answer: if it would help AIA, he would do it, but it couldn’t be just John Wooden. It had to be the family. Today the Wooden Family Fieldhouse stands at AIA headquarters in Xenia, Ohio.
His legacy lives on.
Coach Wooden’s teaching still shapes how Athletes in Action helps athletes and coaches compete with character and faith. The Keys to Life Award still honors his example, and the Wooden Family Fieldhouse carries his family’s name at AIA headquarters.
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