Speaker unverified: belief

Transcript context

…I can’t give Coach Wooden enough credit for the example that he set in terms of integrity and living a moral life. He was totally committed to his Christian faith and in teaching young men about basketball that would enable them to learn about how to be good citizens. He wanted us to be good citizens. He wanted us to be good parents. He wanted us to be good husbands and get our degrees. That was his primary focus. If you go to all of the NCAA Division I coaches today, many of them would give up an arm, a leg, or a favorite child to win the NCAA tournament. I’m convinced of that, definitely. But Coach Wooden wasn’t into that. His primary focus was that we’d learn a few things and then if we did well in the NCAA tournament that was OK. He had his priorities right. He taught us in that way. Those of us who understand that have benefited greatly. I think his graduation rate was in the 60th percentile. Sixty percent of the guys that played for Coach Wooden got their degrees and graduated from UCLA. That’s pretty amazing. The average for most Division I colleges is in the single digits. You’ve been a hero to lots of kids growing up. I’m curious about who your heroes have been throughout your life. A second question if you don’t mind. I do recall, I think, that Dr. J actually did block the skyhook once. Is that correct? [laughter] No, Dr. J didn’t do that. [laughter] He did his own thing where he didn’t come back down and touch the ground for what seemed to be an inordinate length of time. No, Dr. J didn’t shoot the skyhook. What was the first part of your question?…

Stored transcript either side of the excerpt. The highlighted words are the published quote; the surrounding text is unedited source, never generated.