John Wooden's Life Masterpiece

In his autobiography, They Call Me Coach, John Wooden described two items he used to carry in his pocket daily.  A lucky rabbit's foot and a diamond-studded money clip perhaps?  No.  Maybe a momento from one of his record 10 NCAA basketball championships as a coach at UCLA and a photo collage of his two College Basketball Hall of Fame plaques (one as a player and one as a coach)?  No.

The two items that Coach Wooden carried with him daily throughout his extraordinary life and incomparable coaching career were a simple laminated cross, which reminded him of his Christian faith and the importance of living a life of humility, and a personal note of advice written to him by his late father, which contained this nugget of counsel: "make each day your masterpiece."

The passing of John R. Wooden yesterday marked more than just the death of the greatest college sports figure of all-time and the loss of one of the most important Americans of the 20th century.  It was the final day of a 99-year life that can only be described as a masterpiece.