A few years ago, I had the humbling honor of being inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame. Before the ceremony, my entire family got a tour of Hallâs building which was engulfed with shrines of some of the greatest athletes of all time…
Jackie Robinson, Karim Abdul Jabar, Jackie Joyner Kersey, Troy Aikman, Arthur Ashe, Bill Walton, Reggie Miller, Gary Beban, Lisa Fernandez, Ato Bolden, Jimmy Connors, and the marathon man, my dude Meb Keflezighi, just to name a few…Â
Yet despite all the great athletes that have rolled through Westwood, there is an entire section solely devoted to one of the most influential UCLA legends of all time that never even played a sport there…Â
John Wooden. Â
10 National Championships in a 12 year period, 7 titles in a row and a record 88 game winning streak fill out his basketball coaching resume card, but that doesnât even begin to tell his story.Â
John Wooden was arguably the greatest modern-day philosopher of our time, and of course, the architect of the âPyramid of Success,â which needs no introduction to our avid Daily Hustlers.
So when my brother in law, Justin, said, âLooks like this Wooden guy was kind of a big deal,â
I laughed and said, âYea, just kinda.â
With a bewildered smile on his face, Justin said, âYea I canât believe I have never heard of him.â
At this point I realized Justin wasnât kidding; he really had never heard of John Wooden.
To my brother-in-lawâs defense, Woodenâs last year coaching was 1975 and Justin wasnât born until 1976… Regardless, I was shocked that somebody who was an avid athlete and the same age I was had never heard of the Wizard of Westwood.
For a few years now, I have had fun with Justin when a legendary big-time name comes up in conversation…
âHey Justin, so there was this old president named Teddy Roosevelt, you ever heard of him?â đ¤Ł
A few weeks ago, we were at my sisterâs house in Tahoe and Justin brought up the story to Corey, my cousin Haleyâs boyfriend… Coreyâs response:
âWhoâs John Wooden?âÂ
The joke that was on Justin for years now had officially turned the tide…
Apparently, this shit was on me now. đ¤Śââď¸
Both of these guys are extremely intelligent, and outside of their lack of Wooden knowledge, I would consider both of them very worldly and educated dudes.
This time, instead of chastising them for their lack of UCLA hoops knowledge, I simply came to a glaring realization and told them they would be part of an upcoming Daily Hustle…Â
No matter how big that you think somebody else is or how big and self-important you think you may be, a large percentage of people have NO IDEA and donât really care about them or you.
I undoubtedly took the time to educate both Justin and Corey about the greatest coach in the history of sports, but even then, the ultimate impact John Wooden will potentially have on their lives is most likely minimal, if even that.
Whatâs my point to all this?
No matter how great of a life we live or how much success we have, donât ever believe that we are so gosh damn important that the people in our world will never forget us because the truth of the matter is most of them have no fucking clue we even exist.
Although this is a humbling realization, this is also extremely liberating because our goal shouldnât be to be a relevant dead dude to people that never knew who the fuck you were, but rather our goal should be to be relevant to the people in our lives RIGHT NOW because, at the end of the day, they are the only ones that matter.Â
Stay relevant. đ
-EB