Jeg opfandt min egen definition af succes i 1934, da jeg underviste på et gymnasie i South Bend, Indiana, værende en smule skuffet, og blændet måske, af den måde hvorpå forældrene til børnene i min engelsk time forventede at deres børn fik et A eller B. De synes et C var udmærket til naboens børn, fordi naboens børn er alle sammen gennemsnitlige. Men de var ikke tilfredse når deres egne -- ville få læreren til at føle at de havde fejlet, eller at børnene havde fejlet. Og det er ikke i orden. Den gode herre i sin uendelige visdom skabte os ikke alle lige når det kommer til intelligens, mere end at vi er lige i størrelse, udseende. Ikke alle kunne gøre sig fortjent til et A eller et B, og jeg kunne ikke lide den måde at dømme det på.
I coined my own definition of success in 1934, when I was teaching at a high school in South Bend, Indiana, being a little bit disappointed, and [disillusioned] perhaps, by the way parents of the youngsters in my English classes expected their youngsters to get an A or a B. They thought a C was all right for the neighbors' children, because they were all average. But they weren't satisfied when their own -- it would make the teacher feel that they had failed, or the youngster had failed. And that's not right. The good Lord in his infinite wisdom didn't create us all equal as far as intelligence is concerned, any more than we're equal for size, appearance. Not everybody could earn an A or a B, and I didn't like that way of judging,
Og jeg vidste hvordan de tidligere studerende af forskellige skoler tilbage i 30'erne dømte trænere og atletik hold. Hvis man vandt dem alle sammen, blev man anset for at være rimelig succesfuld -- ikke fuldstændig. Fordi jeg fandt ud af -- vi havde et antal år på UCLA, hvor vi ikke tabte en kamp. Men det virkede til at vi ikke vandt hver enkelt kamp med den margen som nogle af vores tidligere elever havde forudset og ret ofte jeg -- (Latter) -- ret ofte følte jeg at de havde bakket deres forudsigelser op på en mere materialistisk måde. Men det var tilbage i 30'erne, så jeg forstod det. Men jeg kunne ikke lide det. Og jeg var ikke enig i det. Og jeg ville finde på noget, som jeg håbede ville gøre mig til en bedre lærer, og give de unge under min vejledning -- hvad enten det var i atletik eller i engelsk timerne -- noget at stræbe efter, andet end bare at få en høj karakter i timerne, eller flere point i nogle atletiske discipliner.
and I did know how the alumni of various schools back in the '30s judged coaches and athletic teams. If you won them all, you were considered to be reasonably successful -- not completely. Because I found out -- we had a number of years at UCLA where we didn't lose a game. But it seemed that we didn't win each individual game by the margin that some of our alumni had predicted -- (Laughter) And quite frequently I really felt that they had backed up their predictions in a more materialistic manner. (Laughter) But that was true back in the 30s, so I understood that. But I didn't like it, I didn't agree with it. I wanted to come up with something I hoped could make me a better teacher, and give the youngsters under my supervision, be it in athletics or the English classroom, something to which to aspire, other than just a higher mark in the classroom,
Jeg tænkte over det i noget tid,
or more points in some athletic contest.
og jeg ville finde på min egen definition. Jeg tænkte det måske ville hjælpe. Og jeg vidste hvordan Hr. Webster definerede det: Som akkumuleringen af materielle besiddelser eller opnåelsen af en position af magt og prestige, eller noget i den stil -- værdige præstationer måske, men efter min mening ikke nødvendigvis indikationer på succes. Så jeg ville finde på noget selv.
I thought about that for quite a spell, and I wanted to come up with my own definition. I thought that might help. And I knew how Mr. Webster defined it, as the accumulation of material possessions or the attainment of a position of power or prestige, or something of that sort, worthy accomplishments perhaps, but in my opinion, not necessarily indicative of success. So I wanted to come up with something of my own.
Og jeg kunne huske -- jeg voksede op på en lille farm i Southern Indiana og far prøvede at lære mig og mine brødre at man bør aldrig prøve på at være bedre end nogen andre. Jeg er sikker på at han dengang gjorde det, jeg gjorde ikke -- det var ikke -- jamen, et aller andet sted, jeg tror i en skjult afkrog i sindet, poppede det ud flere år senere. Prøv aldrig på at være bedre end nogen andre, lær altid af andre. Hold aldrig op med at prøve på at være det bedste man kan være -- det styrer man selv. Hvis man bliver for opslugt og involveret og bekymret i forhold til tingene man ikke har noget kontrol over, vil det have en ugunstig effekt over de ting man kan kontrollere. Så faldt jeg over dette simple vers, hvor der stod, "Ved Guds fodskammel at indrømme, en stakkels sjæl knælede, og bøjede sit hoved. 'Jeg fejlede!' Skreg han. Herren sagde, 'Du gjorde dit bedste, det er succes.'"
And I recalled -- I was raised on a small farm in Southern Indiana, and Dad tried to teach me and my brothers that you should never try to be better than someone else. I'm sure at the time he did that, I didn't -- it didn't -- well, somewhere, I guess in the hidden recesses of the mind, it popped out years later. Never try to be better than someone else, always learn from others. Never cease trying to be the best you can be -- that's under your control. If you get too engrossed and involved and concerned in regard to the things over which you have no control, it will adversely affect the things over which you have control. Then I ran across this simple verse that said, "At God's footstool to confess, a poor soul knelt, and bowed his head. 'I failed!' he cried. The Master said, 'Thou didst thy best, that is success.'"
Fra de ting, og måske en anden, formulerede jeg min egen definition af succes, som er: sjælefred kun opnået gennem selvtilfredsstillelse ved at vide at man gjorde en indsats for at gøre det bedste man var i stand til. Jeg mener det er sandt. Hvis man gør sig umage for at gøre det bedste man er i stand til, for at prøve og forbedre situationen man er i, mener jeg det er succes. Og jeg mener ikke andre kan bedømme det. Jeg mener det er ligesom karakter og omdømme. Ens omdømme er hvad man opfatter det til at være: ens karakter er hvad man virkelig er. Og jeg mener karakter er meget vigtigere end hvad man opfatter det som. Man ville håbe at de begge er gode, men de vil ikke nødvendigvis være det samme. Jamen, det var min ide som jeg ville prøve at udbrede til de unge.
From those things, and one other perhaps, I coined my own definition of success, which is: Peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you're capable. I believe that's true. If you make the effort to do the best of which you're capable, trying to improve the situation that exists for you, I think that's success, and I don't think others can judge that; it's like character and reputation -- your reputation is what you're perceived to be; your character is what you really are. And I think that character is much more important than what you are perceived to be. You'd hope they'd both be good, but they won't necessarily be the same. Well, that was my idea that I was going to try to get across to the youngsters.
Jeg kom også med andre ting. Jeg elsker at undervise, og det blev nævnt af en tidligere taler at jeg nyder poesi, og jeg sopper lidt i det, jeg elsker det. Der er nogle ting der hjalp mig, tror jeg, til at være bedre end jeg ville have været. Jeg ved jeg ikke er hvad jeg burde være, ikke hvad jeg skulle være. Men jeg mener, at jeg er bedre end jeg ville have været hvis jeg ikke var løbet ind i bestemte ting. Et af dem var bare et lille vers hvor der stod,
I ran across other things. I love to teach, and it was mentioned by the previous speaker that I enjoy poetry, and I dabble in it a bit, and love it. There are some things that helped me, I think, be better than I would have been. I know I'm not what I ought to be, what I should be, but I think I'm better than I would have been if I hadn't run across certain things.
"Intet skrevet ord, ingen udtalt bøn, kan lære vores ungdom hvad de burde være. Ej heller alle bøger på hylderne -- det er hvad lærerne selv er."
One was just a little verse that said, "No written word, no spoken plea can teach our youth what they should be; nor all the books on all the shelves -- it's what the teachers are themselves."
Det gjorde et indtryk på mig i 1930'erne. Og jeg prøvede at bruge det, mere eller mindre i min undervisning, hvad enten det var i sport, eller i engelsk timerne. Jeg elsker poesi og har på en eller anden måde altid haft en interesse i det. Måske er det fordi min far plejede at lære for os om aftenen. -- vi havde ikke elektricitet i vores landbrugshus. Og far ville læse poesi for os. Så jeg kunne altid lide det. Og på cirka samme tid løb jeg ind i dette ene vers, løb jeg ind i et andet. Nogen spurgte en lærerinde hvorfor hun underviste. Og hun -- efter noget tid, sagde hun at hun ville tænke over det. Så kom hun tilbage og sagde,
That made an impression on me in the 1930s. And I tried to use that more or less in my teaching, whether it be in sports, or whether it be in the English classroom. I love poetry and always had an interest in that somehow. Maybe it's because Dad used to read to us at night, by coal oil lamp -- we didn't have electricity in our farm home. And Dad would read poetry to us. So I always liked it. And about the same time I ran across this one verse, I ran across another one. Someone asked a lady teacher why she taught, and after some time, she said she wanted to think about that. Then she came up and said,
"De spørger mig hvorfor jeg underviser og jeg svarer, 'Hvor kunne jeg finde så fremragende selskab?' Der sidder en statsmand, stærk, objektiv, vis; en anden Daniel Webster, ordet i sin magt. Der sidder en læge ved siden af ham, hvis hurtige og rolige hånd kan hele en knogle, eller styre livsblodet flyden. Og der en bygger. Hvælvingen på den kirke han bygger, strækker sig opad, hvori den præst kan tale Guds ord og lede en vaklende sjæl til at røre Kristus. Og alt sammen om en samling lærere, landmænd, handlere, arbejdere: dem der arbejder og stemmer og bygger og planlægger og beder ind i en bedre morgendag. Og jeg må sige, jeg ser måske ikke kirken, eller hører ordet, eller spiser maden deres hænder dyrker, Omvendt så gør jeg måske.Og senere kan jeg sige, jeg kendte ham en gang, og han var stærk, eller svag, eller modig, eller stolt eller glad. Jeg kendte ham en gang, men de var han en dreng. De spørger mig hvorfor jeg underviser og jeg svarer, 'Hvor kan jeg finde så fremragende selskab?'"
"They ask me why I teach, and I reply, 'Where could I find such splendid company?' There sits a statesman, strong, unbiased, wise; another Daniel Webster, silver-tongued. A doctor sits beside him, whose quick, steady hand may mend a bone, or stem the life-blood's flow. And there a builder; upward rise the arch of a church he builds, wherein that minister may speak the word of God, and lead a stumbling soul to touch the Christ. And all about, a gathering of teachers, farmers, merchants, laborers -- those who work and vote and build and plan and pray into a great tomorrow. And I may say, I may not see the church, or hear the word, or eat the food their hands may grow, but yet again I may; And later I may say, I knew him once, and he was weak, or strong, or bold or proud or gay. I knew him once, but then he was a boy. They ask me why I teach and I reply, 'Where could I find such splendid company?'"
Og jeg tror på lærergerningen -- det er sandt, man har så mange unge. Og jeg skal tænke på mine unge ved UCLA -- nogle og 30 advokater, 11 tandlæger og læger, mange, mange lærere og andre professioner. Og det giver en en stor del glæde, at se dem gå videre. Jeg har altid prøvet på at få de unge til at føle at de er der for at få en uddannelse, nummer et. Basketball var nummer to, fordi det betalte for dagen og vejen, og de har brug for lidt tid til sociale aktiviteter, men man lader sociale aktiviteter have et lille fortrin frem for de to andre og man har ikke nogen af dem særlig længe. Så det var ideerne jeg prøvede at formidle til de unge i min varetægt.
And I believe the teaching profession -- it's true, you have so many youngsters, and I've got to think of my youngsters at UCLA -- 30-some attorneys, 11 dentists and doctors, many, many teachers and other professions. And that gives you a great deal of pleasure, to see them go on. I always tried to make the youngsters feel that they're there to get an education, number one; basketball was second, because it was paying their way, and they do need a little time for social activities, but you let social activities take a little precedence over the other two, and you're not going to have any very long. So that was the idea that I tried to get across to the youngsters under my supervision.
Jeg havde tre regler, stort set, som jeg til hver en tid holdte mig til. Jeg havde lært dem inden jeg kom til UCLA, og jeg besluttede at de var meget vigtige. En var -- kom aldrig for sent. Kom aldrig for sent. Senere sagde jeg bestemte ting -- jeg havde -- spillere, hvis vi skulle et sted hen, skulle være pæne og rene. Der var en gang hvor jeg fik dem til at have jakker og skjorter og slips på. Så så jeg vores rektor komme i skole i cowboybukser og rullekrave, og jeg tænkte, ikke rigtigt for mig at holde fast i det andet. Så jeg lod dem -- bare at de skulle være pæne og rene. Jeg havde en af mine største spillere som I muligvis har hørt om, Bill Walton. Han kom for at nå bussen; vi skulle afsted for at spille et eller andet sted. Og han var ikke ren og pæn, så jeg lod ham ikke tage afsted. Han måtte ikke komme ombord. Han skulle hjem og blive rengjort for at komme til lufthavnen. Så det var jeg pertentlig omkring. Jeg troede på det. Jeg tror på tid -- meget vigtigt. Jeg mener man skal komme til tiden. Men jeg følte til træning, for eksempel, vi startede til tiden, vi sluttede til tiden. De unge skulle ikke føle at vi holdte dem længere.
I had three rules, pretty much, that I stuck with practically all the time. I'd learned these prior to coming to UCLA, and I decided they were very important. One was "Never be late." Later on I said certain things -- the players, if we were leaving for somewhere, had to be neat and clean. There was a time when I made them wear jackets and shirts and ties. Then I saw our chancellor coming to school in denims and turtlenecks, and thought, it's not right for me to keep this other [rule] so I let them just -- they had to be neat and clean. I had one of my greatest players that you probably heard of, Bill Walton. He came to catch the bus; we were leaving for somewhere to play. And he wasn't clean and neat, so I wouldn't let him go. He couldn't get on the bus, he had to go home and get cleaned up to get to the airport. So I was a stickler for that. I believed in that. I believe in time; very important. I believe you should be on time, but I felt at practice, for example -- we start on time, we close on time. The youngsters didn't have to feel that we were going to keep them over.
Når jeg taler til coaching klinikker, fortæller jeg ofte unge coacher -- og ved coaching klinikker, mere eller mindre, er det de unge coacher der prøver at komme ind i professionen. De fleste af dem er unge, I ved, og sikkert nygifte. Og jeg fortæller dem, "Træn ikke sent. Fordi man tager hjem med dårligt humør. Og det er ikke godt, for en ung nygift mand at komme hjem i dårligt humør. Når man bliver ældre, gør det ikke nogen forskel." Men --
When I speak at coaching clinics, I often tell young coaches -- and at coaching clinics, more or less, they'll be the younger coaches getting in the profession. Most of them are young, you know, and probably newly-married. And I tell them, "Don't run practices late, because you'll go home in a bad mood, and that's not good, for a young married man to go home in a bad mood. When you get older, it doesn't make any difference, but --"
(Latter)
(Laughter)
Så jeg tror på, til tiden. Jeg tror på at starte til tiden, og jeg tror på at slutte til tiden. Og en anden ting jeg havde var, ikke et skældsord. Et skældsord og man er væk herfra resten af dagen. Hvis jeg ser det i en kamp, kommer man ud og sidder på bænken. Og den tredje var, kritiser aldrig en holdkammerat. Det ville jeg ikke have. Jeg plejede at sige til dem, at jeg blev betalt for at gøre det. Det er mit job. Jeg bliver betalt for at gøre det. Utrolig lidt, men jeg bliver betalt for at gøre det. Ikke ligesom trænerne i dag, for søren, nej. Det er lidt anderledes end det var i min tid. Det var tre ting jeg holdte mig ret meget til hele tiden. Og det kom faktisk fra min far. Det var det han prøvede at lære mig og mine brødre en gang.
So I did believe: on time. I believe starting on time, and I believe closing on time. And another one I had was, not one word of profanity. One word of profanity, and you are out of here for the day. If I see it in a game, you're going to come out and sit on the bench. And the third one was, never criticize a teammate. I didn't want that. I used to tell them I was paid to do that. That's my job. I'm paid to do it. Pitifully poor, but I am paid to do it. Not like the coaches today, for gracious sakes, no. It's a little different than it was in my day. Those were three things that I stuck with pretty closely all the time. And those actually came from my dad. That's what he tried to teach me and my brothers at one time.
Jeg fandt på en pyramide med tiden, som jeg ikke har tid til at forklare nu. Men den hjalp mig, tror jeg, med at blive en bedre lærer. Det er noget i denne retning: Og jeg havde blokke i pyramiden, og hjørnestenene var arbejdsomhed og entusiasme, at arbejde hårdt og holde af det man gør, at nå højdepunktet ifølge min definition på succes. Og helt på toppen -- tro og tålmodighed. Og jeg fortæller jer, uanset hvad man laver skal man være tålmodig. Man skal have tålmodigheden til -- vi vil gerne have at der sker noget. Vi taler om at vores unge tit er utålmodige. Og det er de. De vil ændre alt. De tror al forandring er forbedring. Og vi bliver lidt ældre -- vi lader ting være. Og vi glemmer at der ikke er noget fremskridt uden forandring. Så man skal have tålmodighed. Og jeg mener at vi skal have tro. Jeg mener at vi skal tro, virkelig tro. Ikke bare for at sige noget; tro på at tingene udarter sig som de burde, forudsat vi gør det vi bør. Jeg tror vores tendens er at håbe på at tingene udarter sig som vi gerne vil have de gør meget af tiden. Men vi gør ikke de ting der er nødvendige for at de ting kan blive til virkelighed. Jeg arbejdede på dette i cirka 14 år, og jeg mener det hjalp mig til at blive en bedre lærer. Men det drejede sig om den originale definition af succes.
I came up with a pyramid eventually, that I don't have the time to go on that. But that helped me, I think, become a better teacher. It's something like this: And I had blocks in the pyramid, and the cornerstones being industriousness and enthusiasm, working hard and enjoying what you're doing, coming up to the apex, according to my definition of success. And right at the top, faith and patience. And I say to you, in whatever you're doing, you must be patient. You have to have patience to -- we want things to happen. We talk about our youth being impatient a lot, and they are. They want to change everything. They think all change is progress. And we get a little older -- we sort of let things go. And we forget there is no progress without change. So you must have patience, and I believe that we must have faith. I believe that we must believe, truly believe. Not just give it word service, believe that things will work out as they should, providing we do what we should. I think our tendency is to hope things will turn out the way we want them to much of the time, but we don't do the things that are necessary to make those things become reality. I worked on this for some 14 years, and I think it helped me become a better teacher. But it all revolved around that original definition of success.
I ved der for et antal år siden, var der en Major League Baseball dommer der hed George Moriarty. Han stavede Moriarty med kun et 'i'. Det havde jeg ikke set før, men det gjorde han. Big league baseball spillere -- de er meget hurtigt opfattende om disse ting, og de lagde mærke til at der kun var et 'i' i hans navn. Man ville blive overrasket over hvor mange der også sagde til ham at det var et mere end han havde i sit hoved på forskellige tidspunkter.
You know, a number of years ago, there was a Major League Baseball umpire by the name of George Moriarty. He spelled Moriarty with only one 'i'. I'd never seen that before, but he did. Big league baseball players -- they're very perceptive about those things, and they noticed he had only one 'i' in his name. You'd be surprised how many also told him that that was one more than he had in his head at various times.
(Latter)
(Laughter)
Men han skrev noget som jeg tror han gjorde mens jeg prøvede at lave denne pyramide. Han kaldte det "The Road Ahead, or the Road Behind." "Nogen gange tror jeg skæbnerne må grine mens vi tager afstand fra dem og insisterer på, at den eneste grund til vi kan vinde er, at skæbnen selv rammer ved siden af. Alligevel lever den gamle myte videre: vi vinder eller taber indeni os selv. De skinnende trofæer på vores hylde kan aldrig vinde morgendagens kamp. Du og jeg ved inderst inde, at der altid er en chance for at vinde kronen. Men når vi ikke formår at yde vores bedste, har vi ikke levet op til det, at give alt og ikke gemme noget til kampen virkelig er vundet; ved at vise hvad der menes med mod; ved at blive ved med at spille, mens andre stopper; ved at blive ved, ikke at give op; Det er vedholdenhed der vinder en trofæet. Ved at drømme om der er et mål forude; ved at håbe, mens vores drømme er døde; ved at bede, når vores håb har forladt os. Alligevel at tabe, ikke være bange for at falde, hvis vi modigt har givet alt. For hvem kan bede en man om mere end at han giver alt i sin magt. At give alt, virker det på mig, er ikke så langt fra sejr. Så skæbnen tager sjældent fejl, uanset hvordan de drejer og vrider. Det er dig og mig der bestemmer vores skæbne -- vi åbner op eller lukker porten til vejen foran os eller bag os."
But he wrote something where I think he did what I tried to do in this pyramid. He called it "The Road Ahead, or the Road Behind." He said, "Sometimes I think the Fates must grin as we denounce them and insist the only reason we can't win, is the Fates themselves have missed. Yet there lives on the ancient claim: we win or lose within ourselves. The shining trophies on our shelves can never win tomorrow's game. You and I know deeper down, there's always a chance to win the crown. But when we fail to give our best, we simply haven't met the test, of giving all and saving none until the game is really won; of showing what is meant by grit; of playing through when others quit; of playing through, not letting up. It's bearing down that wins the cup. Of dreaming there's a goal ahead; of hoping when our dreams are dead; of praying when our hopes have fled; yet losing, not afraid to fall, if, bravely, we have given all. For who can ask more of a man than giving all within his span. Giving all, it seems to me, is not so far from victory. And so the Fates are seldom wrong, no matter how they twist and wind. It's you and I who make our fates -- we open up or close the gates on the road ahead or the road behind."
Det minder mig tre andre ting min far prøvede at lære os. Lad være med at jamre. Lad være med at klage. Lad være med at finde på undskyldninger. Bare kom derud, og uanset hvad man gør, gør det så godt man kan. Og ingen kan gøre mere end det. Jeg prøvede også at lære, at -- mine modstandere fortæller jer ikke -- man har aldrig hørt mig nævne det at vinde. Aldrig nævn det at vinde. Min ide er, at man kan tabe når man scorer mere end modstanderen. Og man kan vinde når modstanderen scorer mere. Jeg har følt det ved nogle lejligheder, på forskellige tidspunkter. Og jeg ville bare have at de var i stand til at holde deres hoved højt efter kampen. Jeg plejede at sige at når kampen var forbi, og man ser nogen der ikke kendte resultatet, håber jeg at de ikke kan se på ens handlinger om man scorede mere end modstanderen, eller modstanderen scorede mere end en.
Reminds me of another set of threes that my dad tried to get across to us: Don't whine. Don't complain. Don't make excuses. Just get out there, and whatever you're doing, do it to the best of your ability. And no one can do more than that. I tried to get across, too, that -- my opponents will tell you -- you never heard me mention winning. Never mention winning. My idea is that you can lose when you outscore somebody in a game, and you can win when you're outscored. I've felt that way on certain occasions, at various times. And I just wanted them to be able to hold their head up after a game. I used to say that when a game is over, and you see somebody that didn't know the outcome, I hope they couldn't tell by your actions whether you outscored an opponent or the opponent outscored you.
Det er det der virkelig betyder noget: hvis man gør sig umage for at gøre det bedste man kan regelmæssigt, vil resultaterne handle om det de skal handle om. Ikke nødvendigvis det man gerne vil have de skal være, men de vil handle om det de skal, og det ved man kun selv om man kan gøre. Og det var det jeg ønskede fra dem, mere end noget andet. Og som tiden gik, og jeg lærte mere om andre ting, tror jeg det virkede lidt bedre, med hensyn til resultaterne. Men jeg ville have at resultatet af kampen var biproduktet af disse andre ting, og ikke målet. Jeg mener det var -- en stor filosof der sagde -- nej, nej, Cervantes. Cervantes sagde, "Rejsen er bedre end målet." Og det kan jeg lide. Jeg mener det er -- det er at nå dertil. Nogle gange når man ankommer, er det næsten en skuffelse. Men det er det at nå dertil der er sjovt. Jeg kunne lide vores -- som en basketball træner ved UCLA ville jeg gerne have at vores træninger var rejsen, og kampen ville være målet. Slutresultatet. Jeg kan godt lide at sidde på tribunen og se spillerne spille, og se om jeg havde gjort et hæderligt stykke arbejde i løbet af ugen. Der igen, handler det om at få spillerne til at få den selvtilfredsstillelse, ved at vide at de har gjort en indsats for at gøre det bedste de er i stand til.
That's what really matters: if you make an effort to do the best you can regularly, the results will be about what they should be. Not necessarily what you'd want them to be but they'll be about what they should; only you will know whether you can do that. And that's what I wanted from them more than anything else. And as time went by, and I learned more about other things, I think it worked a little better, as far as the results. But I wanted the score of a game to be the byproduct of these other things, and not the end itself. I believe it was one great philosopher who said -- no, no -- Cervantes. Cervantes said, "The journey is better than the end." And I like that. I think that it is -- it's getting there. Sometimes when you get there, there's almost a let down. But it's the getting there that's the fun. As a basketball coach at UCLA, I liked our practices to be the journey, and the game would be the end, the end result. I liked to go up and sit in the stands and watch the players play, and see whether I'd done a decent job during the week. There again, it's getting the players to get that self-satisfaction, in knowing that they'd made the effort to do the best of which they are capable.
Nogle gange bliver jeg spurgt om hvem der var den bedste spiller jeg havde, eller de bedste hold. Det kan jeg aldrig svare på, når det kommer til individerne. Jeg blev en gang bedt om det, og de sagde, "Hvad nu hvis du på en eller anden måde kunne lave den perfekte spiller. Hvad ville du have?" Og jeg sagde, "Jamen, jeg ville have en der viste hvorfor han var ved UCLA: for at få en uddannelse, han var en god student, virkelig vidste hvorfor han var der til at starte med. Men jeg ville også have en der kunne spille. Jeg ville have en der var klar over, at forsvaret som regel vinder mesterskaber, og ville arbejde hårdt på forsvaret. Men jeg ville have en der også ville spille i angrebet. Jeg ville have at han var uselvisk, og se efter afleveringen først, og ikke skyde hele tiden. Og jeg ville have en der kunne aflevere, og ville aflevere.
Sometimes I'm asked who was the best player I had, or the best teams. I can never answer that. As far as the individuals are concerned -- I was asked one time about that, and they said, "Suppose that you, in some way, could make the perfect player. What would you want?" And I said, "Well, I'd want one that knew why he was at UCLA: to get an education, he was a good student, really knew why he was there in the first place. But I'd want one that could play, too. I'd want one to realize that defense usually wins championships, and who would work hard on defense. But I'd want one who would play offense, too. I'd want him to be unselfish, and look for the pass first and not shoot all the time. And I'd want one that could pass and would pass.
(Latter)
(Laughter)
Jeg har haft nogle der kunne, men ikke gjorde det, og jeg har haft nogle der ville men ikke kunne.
I've had some that could and wouldn't, and I've had some that would and could.
(Latter)
(Laughter)
So, yeah, I'd want that.
Jeg ville have at de var i stand til at skyde udefra. Jeg ville have at de var gode indvendige også.
And I wanted them to be able to shoot from the outside. I wanted them to be good inside too.
(Latter)
(Laughter)
Jeg ville have at de var i stand til at rebounde i begge ender også. Og hvorfor ikke bare tage en som Keith Wilkes og lade det være det. Han havde kvalifikationerne. Ikke den eneste, men han var en jeg plejede at se i den bestemte kategori, fordi jeg mener han gjorde indsatsen for at blive den bedste [uklart].
I'd want them to be able to rebound well at both ends, too. Why not just take someone like Keith Wilkes and let it go at that. He had the qualifications. Not the only one, but he was one that I used in that particular category, because I think he made the effort to become the best. There was a couple.
Jeg nævner i min bog, "They Call Me Coach". To spillere der gav mig stor tilfredsstillelse; det kom så tæt på som jeg tror nogen er kommet til at nå deres fulde potentiale: en var Conrad Burke. Og en var Doug McIntosh. Da jeg så dem som førsteårselever, på vores førsteårselevhold -- vi havde ikke -- førsteårselever måtte ikke spille på førsteholdet da jeg underviste. Og jeg tænkte, "Åh gud, hvis disse to spillere, hver af dem" -- det var forskellige år, men jeg tænkte om hver af dem på det tidspunkt de var der -- "Oh, hvis han nogensinde kommer på førsteholdet, vores førstehold må være ret dårligt, hvis han er god nok til at komme med på det." Og I ved en af dem var en spiller fra startopstillingen gennem halvanden sæson. Den anden var -- hans næste år, spillede han 32 minutter i en national mesterskabs kamp, gjorde et fremragende stykke arbejde for os. Og året efter, var han i startopstillingen på det nationale mesterskabs hold. Og jeg troede hans aldrig ville spille et minut, da han var -- så det er tingene der giver en stor glæde, og stor tilfredsstillelse at se en. Hverken den ene eller anden af de to unge kunne kaste særlig godt. Men de havde fantastiske skud procenter, fordi de ikke gennemtvang det. Og ingen af dem hoppede særlig godt, men de fik -- beholdt gode positioner, så de var gode til rebound. De huskede at hver gang der blev kastet, gik de ud fra det ville ramme ved siden af. Jeg har haft for mange der står og venter på at se om den rammer ved siden af, så løber de og det er for sent. Nogen andre er foran dem. Og de var ikke særlig hurtige, men de spillede gode positioner, holdte en god balance. Så de spillede ret godt forsvar for os. Så de havde kvaliteter der -- de kom tæt på -- så tæt på muligvis at nå deres fulde potentiale som nogen spillere jeg nogensinde har haft. Så jeg ser dem som lige så succesrige som Lewis Alcindor eller Bill Walton., eller mange af de andre vi havde. Der var nogle fremragende -- nogle fremragende spillere.
I mention in my book, "They Call Me Coach," two players that gave me great satisfaction, that came as close as I think anyone I ever had to reach their full potential: one was Conrad Burke, and one was Doug McIntosh. When I saw them as freshmen, on our freshmen team -- freshmen couldn't play varsity when I taught. I thought, "Oh gracious, if these two players, either one of them" -- they were different years, but I thought about each one at the time he was there -- "Oh, if he ever makes the varsity, our varsity must be pretty miserable, if he's good enough to make it." And you know, one of them was a starting player for a season and a half. The other one, his next year, played 32 minutes in a national championship game, Did a tremendous job for us. The next year, he was a starting player on the national championship team, and here I thought he'd never play a minute, when he was -- so those are the things that give you great joy, and great satisfaction to see. Neither one of those youngsters could shoot very well. But they had outstanding shooting percentages, because they didn't force it. And neither one could jump very well, but they kept good position, and so they did well rebounding. They remembered that every shot that's taken, they assumed would be missed. I've had too many stand around and wait to see if it's missed, then they go and it's too late, somebody else is in there ahead of them. They weren't very quick, but they played good position, kept in good balance. And so they played pretty good defense for us. So they had qualities that -- they came close to -- as close to reaching possibly their full potential as any players I ever had. So I consider them to be as successful as Lewis Alcindor or Bill Walton, or many of the others that we had; there were some outstanding players.
Har jeg vrøvlet nok? Jeg fik at vide at når han viser sig, var det meningen jeg skulle tie stille.
Have I rambled enough? I was told that when he makes his appearance, I was supposed to shut up.
(Latter) (Bifald)
(Laughter) (Applause)