Wooden the best, no matter the sport

Like many in the sporting world, I was saddened by the death of the legendary John Wooden on Friday night.

I was never fortunate enough to meet him personally, but he did speak to the University of Nevada basketball team a few years ago when the Pack played UCLA in the Wooden Classic at the Pond in Anaheim.

I don't think any team will ever win seven straight national title as like UCLA did, and I don't think anybody will win 88 straight games.

There is just too much parity in the game these days. I always thought one of the secrets to UCLA's success was that freshmen couldn't play varsity back then, and UCLA was able to stockpile a tremendous amount of talent. The Bruins never seemed to rebuild. They just reloaded - quickly.

Wooden's team played with precision and discipline. Of course it didn't hurt that they were fortunate to have two of the best, if not the best, center to ever play college basketball in Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton.

Wooden was old school. He didn't allow facial hair or profanity. Walton tried to push the hair thing once, but didn't get anywhere. I wonder how Wooden would have dealt with some of the meatheads we see in the college game today; guys that want to have every play be of the highlight reel variety instead of just playing sound, fundamental basketball.

• Guy Rocha, the former Nevada state archivist, dropped me an e-mail upon hearing that John Wooden had passed away Friday night.

Rocha was fortunate enough to see Wooden's Bruins in the 1975 NCAA Tournament at the San Diego Sports Arena, which was Wooden's last title. In fact, Rocha said that he still has his ticket from the games.

"My buddies (from New York) called and said they had tickets, and I just had to put them up," said Rocha, who was a student at San Diego State at the time. "I got to see John Wooden walk in. He was so unassuming. This man was at peace with himself.

"My buddy went over and shook his hand. What struck me was the discipline his team had. That experience was one that I won't forget."

The truth is Rocha went more to see his alma mater, Syracuse, which played Kentucky in the semifinals.

"We were allowed to stay on the floor, the security assuming we were male cheerleaders," Rocha said. "The female cheerleaders, noting that we were allowed to stay on the floor, showed us some basic routines. Our friends recognized us on national TV."