In 1947 Coach Wooden’s Indiana State Teachers College basketball team—the Sycamores—was offered a berth in the N.A.I.A. basketball tournament, one of the nation’s first prominent college play-off events. The tournament, like others, excluded African Americans.

Clarence Walker, a nonstarter on the Sycamores team, was black. Without fanfare, John Wooden turned down the invitation because he refused to participate in segregation.

The following year Coach Wooden’s team was again invited to play because of national attention being given his modern “racehorse” offense and the Sycamore’s 27-7 record. Again, he turned down the invitation.

In response, N.A.I.A. officials quietly but quickly changed their racial policy and re-invited the Sycamores. This time Coach Wooden accepted and in the process broke the color barrier. Clarence Walker became the first black to play in a national basketball tournament for white colleges.

2. Ten national championships didn’t change John Wooden.

His historic achievements at UCLA—creating perhaps the greatest dynasty in sports history—did not turn John Wooden’s head. His tastes remained the same: favorite meal, Anderson’s pea soup; favorite apparel, a blue cardigan sweater; favorite part of his job, conducting practice with his players in the gymnasium. Other than sharpening his skills and broadening his knowledge, John Wooden remained the same man while the records were being set—and after—as before the sports nation knew his name. Somehow, fame did not change him.

3. John Wooden treats people right.

Whether you’re the boss or the busboy, a CEO or a secretary, John Wooden gives you his sincere attention. His father’s advice guides him: “Never believe you’re better than somebody else, Johnny, but always remember you’re just as good as anybody.” Just as good, but no better. In Coach’s view, until he sees otherwise, every person he meets deserves to be treated with respect. And he does.

4. John Wooden practices “value-added” performance.

When asked to work for an hour, Mr. Wooden stays longer. When asked to donate a dollar, he gives more. Throughout his life John Wooden has gone beyond the minimum daily requirements both professionally and personally. He does the job and then some. Although he believes it is impossible to give more than 100 percent of oneself, he seems to do it.

5. John Wooden is savvy.

Over the decades he has become a keen student of human nature and is quick to spot ulterior motives, hidden agendas, and all the rest. Behind his cordial demeanor is someone who won’t be fooled—with one caveat: Coach Wooden believes, “It is better to trust and be disappointed occasionally than to mistrust and be miserable all the time.” He is comfortable being fooled on occasion if he gave his trust to someone who subsequently let him down.

6. John Wooden remembers his roots.

He grew up on a little farm near a little town in the center of America. John Wooden has never seen any reason to act in a manner contrary to what he learned in Centerton, Indiana. Manners matter, work counts, and when you say you’ll do something you do it. Simple as that.

7. John Wooden is a master of productive criticism.

Being critical is a constant in coaching. John Wooden is a master at criticizing in a manner that brings improvement because he does not unintentionally create antagonism or resentment in the process. This was possible, in part, because at all times with all players he never got personal, never extended specific criticism to a general rebuke of the individual. His criticism—often very sharp—did not create a “mess” that had to be cleaned up later. When the issue was addressed and fixed, it was over. Time to move on. No hard feelings.

8. John Wooden is smart, in part, because he listens.

A conversation with Coach Wooden may include subjects as diverse as the Fifth Amendment, international politics, Shakespeare, rule changes in NCAA Division I basketball, movie stars, and more. The key word: conversation. He enjoys talking; he enjoys listening just as much. Perhaps this is because of an observation by his dad, Joshua Hugh Wooden: “You’ll never know a thing that you didn’t learn from somebody else.” John Wooden knows you can’t learn from somebody else if you’re talking all the time.

9. John Wooden measures himself by a radical definition of success.

One of the winningest championship coaches in American history, John Wooden has never defined his ultimate success by victory. “Winning is very important,” he observes. “Why else would we keep score?” There is, however, something even more important, a standard higher than the score. Coach Wooden hews to a definition of success that he places above winning, namely, “making the effort—100 percent—to become the best you are capable of becoming.” Few understand, but his standard of success is more difficult to achieve than merely winning. It is one of the reasons John Wooden became such a big winner.

10. John Wooden loves and has always been true to one woman.

“She was my sweetheart for 60 years and my dear wife for 53,” he tells us. Nellie was his partner—co-coach—in raising their family, his confidant and one true love. When he lost her on the first day of spring, 1985, “I almost died from grief.” Today he still grieves for his sweetheart.