Issue 761 - "Excellence Trumps Everything" (Tony Fuller)


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 13	Issue 761
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"EXCELLENCE TRUMPS EVERYTHING" (TONY FULLER) John Wooden Video Clip (1 min. 53 sec.): John Wooden Video Clip. 1 min. 53 sec.: Coach Wooden talks about Help Others, Abraham Lincoln and Mother Theresa with Terry Donahue. This is one of the greatest John Wooden video clips of all time! Make time for it if you can, even if you don’t usually watch the video clips. You will want to share it. I am inspired by historical stories of excellence and achievement, and I enjoy sharing them whenever I can. When Tony Fuller introduced me to the remarkable story of the Wings Over Jordan Choir—a groundbreaking American choir whose nationally broadcast performances began inspiring millions during the 1930s and 1940s and continue to do so to this day (Apple Music currently offers 35+ of their recordings). I asked Coach Fuller to write an issue for Wooden's Wisdom about them. Here is more great inspiration from Coach Fuller: "The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence regardless of their chosen field of endeavor" - Coach Vince Lombardi When renowned economist Thomas Sowell, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, was asked what advice he would give young people seeking greater opportunity, he responded: "Equip yourselves with skills and knowledge that someone else is willing to pay for." The choir of Gethsemane Baptist church in Cleveland OH, proved that even though obstacles always exist, excellence has been the way to overcome them. In 1935, the Pastor at Gethsemane, Rev. Glenn T. Settle organized and developed a choir to sing Spirituals without musical accompaniment. This group of ordinary church members worked extremely hard and became so good that in 1937 a local radio station in Cleveland, WGAR gave them a Sunday morning program called the "Negro Hour," and their popularity skyrocketed. Six months later, in January of 1938, CBS picked up the program and broadcast them every Sunday morning to a nationwide audience. The program on CBS was renamed "Wings over Jordan" and the Choir was given that name as well. From 1938 until 1947 the Wings over Jordan program ran every Sunday morning across the country. The choir also recorded and performed live worldwide, bringing joy everywhere they went! It continued to do so until 1978. First on the list of Coach Wooden’s seven-point creed is : "Be true to yourself." Rev. Settle made sure that the Choir remained true to themselves by not giving in to the pressures to add instruments or changing their style to "Crossover" and become more appealing to a wider more lucrative audience. Instead, he remained steadfast in his faith and dedication to what Wings over Jordan was, and serendipitously, the wider mainstream audience "Crossed Over" to Wings over Jordan! They were known to rehearse long hard hours not leaving until everything was exactly the way it should be and they became impossible to ignore because of their excellence. Everyone enjoyed their polished performances, but no one saw the long hard hours and days of preparation and practice. Basketball fans enjoyed watching those great UCLA teams of Coach Wooden’s, but never saw the intense practice sessions, nor the time he and his staff would spend together developing their practice plans. Wings over Jordan and Coach Wooden both gained impeccable reputations from the excellence of their work, but their true greatness came from their character, discipline, and commitment to excellence. Wings over Jordan and John Wooden proved that: *"Excellence Trumps Everything!"* Blessings, Coach Fuller Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 761. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 761. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE Editor's Note: Great lessons often come from ordinary moments. While preparing for a fishing trip, Grantland Rice (one of John Wooden’s favorite poets) picked up an old pair of World War I army boots that had been resting in a corner of his den. The memories they awakened became this unforgettable poem—a reminder that everyday experiences can reconnect us with life's deepest lessons. THE SPORTLIGHT (N. Y. Tribune, August 1, 1919) To a Pair of Demobilized Boots (Lifted from their nook in the den to help round out a fishing jaunt.) You have gathered dust from the long white roads That wind through the drifts of France; You have known the mire of an Argonne trail In the wake of an old advance; You have known the hike of a blasted pike As you floundered along the way, As heavy as sin when the dawn brings in The light of another day. You've slogged your way through the bally mud Where only the dust remained Of an old French town that caught the blast Where the Hun shells whirled and rained; Floundering on through the slime and wreck— And sometimes stepping high— Where the roofless walls of Avicourt Stared up to a sullen sky. And you've quivered a bit—I'll say it now— Around two shaking feet, Two feet as cold as the Arctic snow, Or a January sleet; And more than once you have wished to be Or hold your ancient sway Along some friendly lane at home Three thousand miles away. And now, uncleaned, with ghostly mud Long dried upon your hide, Forgotten even by the gods You stand there at my side; And I wonder if ever it comes to you, Here in your Harlem den, The call to rise for another hike And take to the road again? Where the bugle calls at the edge of dawn As reveille draws near— Where ghostly pine trees sway again In the haze of Camp Sevier? Just one more oldtime slogging tramp Beyond the city walls, By battered roads and shattered towns Where the Great Adventure calls?
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