As a child I remember watching John Wooden lead UCLA to records in college basketball that will live forever. All I knew was that he was the best basketball coach ever. Later in life I found out about the person John Wooden. He was a great coach, but it is the person John Wooden that will be remembered as the legend.
I had a great trip to California a few years ago to spend some time with Coach Wooden's pastor and some other ministers. Unfortunately there was a personal emergency of someone close that took Coach Wooden out of town at the last minute and prevented him from attending the dinner he was supposed to come to with eight preachers to talk about life. Instead he sent autographed books, that just became more of a treasure. I read one of them on the flight home. When we went to church at Shepherd of the Hills on Sunday, there he was, where he was every week he was in town. I was fascinated listening to Dudley tell stories of the legend. One story I remember was about Dudley walking into a Sunday night youth service full of hundreds of teens and modern worship music and seeing Coach Wooden on the back row. Dudley ask him why he was there and Coach said that he was out of town that morning and he just needed to be in worship. Oh by the way, he was 91 at the time! WOW! I sure wish that I had gotten to meet him.
So this morning I am thinking about life and the end of life and what attributes make someone considered a legend. I would love to hear about some other people that you have met (or almost met) who you would consider to be legends and why you feel that way about them.
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