The great John Wooden's coaching career began at Dayton High School in 1932. One of his former Dayton players, Ben Stull, told Enquirer reporter Ryan Ernst last December that he was still getting Christmas cards from Wooden, who died Friday night. Here's Ernst's story from Dec. 13, 2009:
• Photos: John Wooden at Dayton, Ky., and through the years • UCLA players, coaches pay tribute to Wooden
Wooden's greetings a holiday hallmark
When it comes to holiday giving, there are Christmas cards and there are Christmas presents. And I think we can all agree that Christmas cards make lousy Christmas presents - somewhere between fruitcake and sweatsocks.
Unless, of course, you're Ben Stull of Fort Thomas.
Every year, Stull receives a Christmas card from the greatest coach ever to put chalk to chalkboard. The hand-signed note inside reads simply "Best wishes, John."
As in John Wooden. As in that John Wooden.
"I haven't gotten it yet," Stull said earlier this week. "But he's been sending one for many, many years."
Stull, 92, met Wooden in 1932. Stull was a sophomore basketball player at Dayton High School. Wooden, who had just finished his All-American playing career at Purdue, was a 21-year-old first-year coach, athletic director and English teacher at Dayton.
Stull made the eight-player traveling squad at Dayton that year. The team went 6-11. It was the first and last losing season of Wooden's 40-year career. He stayed at Dayton one more year and led Stull and the rest of the Greendevils to a winning season.
Stull said he followed the coach's career after he left Dayton - first to South Bend (Ind.) Central High School, then to Indiana State, then to UCLA, where Wooden won 10 national titles and led the Bruins to a national record 88-game winning streak.
The two kept in contact in the 1930s. Stull said Wooden called several times around the holidays. The Christmas cards, according to Stull, began not long after Wooden left Dayton.
"I was on his first team, so it made sense," Stull said. "But over the years, I was surprised that he kept it up."
Wooden's all-stars: Kareem, Bill Walton and Ben Stull
Stull talked about Wooden and his Dayton team in an interview with former Enquirer columnist Peter Bronson in 2007. Here's an excerpt from Bronson's column on April 1, 2007:
Stull saw his coach a few years ago at the John Wooden Classic in Indianapolis. "He remembered me very well. We had a nice visit," Stull said.
Stull jokes that even in 1932 he knew Wooden was a genius, "because I got to play every game."
He came off the bench, a sharp-shooting, rebounding, 5-11 forward on the eight-man traveling squad that nearly beat the Indiana state champs from Wooden's hometown of Martinsville in 1932.
"Our tallest player was only 6-1," he said. "You never took jump shots. The most points I ever scored in high school was 10 as high scorer. We only scored in the 20s once or twice."
It was a game of precision, playmaking and tenacious defense - no dunks, no shot clock.
"If you shot a real long shot you'd get pulled out," Stull said.
Fond memories of Wooden bring a smile to Stull..
"He taught me to use my left hand when you go in for a bunny shot from the left. And he taught us to always do your best in everything you do."
In Wooden's second season, Dayton beat their rival, Bellevue. "He told us, 'Boys, you know what I want. Just give it your best."
Stull says he made that the game plan for his life. He has passed it on to his own son and daughter and the kids he coached in church league.
"He was a quiet coach. He would just take you by the elbow and say, 'Ben, maybe you should do it this way,' " Stull remembers. "It was all about leadership. I think he could lead any team."
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