Out of print for more than 30 years, now available for the first time as an eBook, this is the controversial story of John Wooden's first 25 years and first 8 NCAA Championships as UCLA Head Basketball Coach. This is the only book that gives a true picture of the character of John Wooden and the influence of his assistant, Jerry Norman, whose contributions Wooden  ignored and tried to bury.

Compiled with more than 40 hours of interviews with Coach Wooden, learn about the man behind the coach. The players tell their stories in their own words.

Click the book to read the first chapter and for ordering information. Also available on Kindle.

Clemente (9/10)

by Tony Medley

105 minutes.

Directed by David Altrogge and written by Elise Andert & Altrogge, this is an exceptional documentary that focuses more on the man than his exploits on the field, although it includes shots of his performances. He was an outstanding player but a better human being.

Roberto Clemente, long time rightfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the mid-20^th Century, was a great athlete. He ran the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the 400 meters and even threw the javelin, 175 feet the first time he tried it and the Puerto Rican record was 205.

Although he signed with the Dodgers in 1955, they put him in Montreal because they were the best team in baseball and didn’t have room for him on the roster. But he rarely played in Montreal because he wasn’t protected and the Dodgers did not want to lose him in the draft.

Branch Ricky was the general manager of the Dodgers at the time and was the one who signed him. However, Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley forced Ricky out and Ricky became the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates had a terrible team so they got the first pick in the draft and Rickey knew all about Clemente and drafted him. That meant Roberto had to live in Pittsburgh which was an industrial town. He was discriminated against because he was not white, but he was not considered black, either. He was Puerto Rican, so he was alone.

Even though he spoke English fluently, he did not let on that he was bilingual. When someone asked him why he did not speak English, he responded that it was a way for him to listen to people talking about him in English and find out how they felt about him.

When asked by an interviewer if his manner is such that he seems unapproachable, he answered, “I don’t like a lot of writers. This is something that I don’t want to deny. And I tell you why I don’t like lots of writers. They put the interview in a way that it sounds like you have said that when you don’t say exactly that.”

When the Pirates won the World Series over the Yankees in 1960, he was 8^th in the balloting for MVP. His teammate, Dick Groat won MVP. He didn’t begrudge Groat the award, but was hurt that he was so low in the voting.

He said, “I love people. And I love people that they are not big shots I like common people. I like workers. I like people that suffer.”

Manny Sanguillén, who became a teammate several years after Roberto joined the Pirates, said, “He was like a big brother. He taught me everything at that time. The first year that I got there, 1966, He said, ‘if you need anything let me know I'm here to help you.’… He loved all the poor people because he knows how much they suffer…. He said, ‘Manny I was looking for a friend for a long time.  Thank god that you came because I’ve been here by myself. Really alone. I didn't have anybody to talk to. I don't have anybody to go eat with. I don't have anything. I was a lonely person. I want you to be my friend because I respect the way you live your life.’

“I've never seen him go to any strip joint or any dive bar. Because he said, ‘Manny, I have to represent the Latinos good  because someday there's going to be a lot of Latinos playing in the big leagues.  I Have to be the leader for all the Latinos’. That's the kind of guy Roberto was.”

It also tells about his tragic death and how it could have been averted with more attention to detail. The plane in which he crashed was in horrible condition and the pilot was unqualified, to say the least.

I saw Clemente play his first year in the majors and many, many times after that. Willie Mays gets all the press, but Clemente was his equal. He had a higher lifetime batting average than Willie (.317 v. .302), won more batting titles (four for Roberto vs. one for Willie) and a better arm (as good as any outfielder, ever), and had more outfield assists than Willie (266 vs. 188). Despite all this, Willie is consistently referred to by many as the greatest player of his era, if not of all time and nobody ever mentions Roberto. Even Dodgers’ legendary announcer Vin Scully called Mays the best player he ever saw without a mention of Roberto. I think there is a strong argument that Roberto was better than Willie.

However, this film shows and emphasizes what an outstanding human being he was, and that’s what sets it apart from (and above) other documentaries about athletes.