Tucked away in Bill Walton's wallet is his personal recipe for life, a philosophy created by a man Walton speaks about with passion and purpose — Hall of Fame coach John Wooden.
The Pyramid of Success offers Wooden's formula for living a productive, positive life. It is Walton's mantra handed down by the coach who produced 10 NCAA championships in 12 years at UCLA, the greatest dynasty in college basketball history.
"These are personal values and human characteristics he developed in his life and that he feels will help us," Walton said. "He defines himself as a teacher, not a coach. He never asked anything of us he hadn't done himself.
"He never talked about winning or losing. He talked about the effort it took to win, the challenge of people performing on command every day, subjugating ego for the benefit of the group. He was brilliant. His sense of fairness, justice and compassion are so inspiring.
"Other than my mom and dad, he was the single most influential and inspirational man in my life."
The Pyramid remains pertinent today, so much so that it is the cornerstone of a Public Broadcasting System fund-raising video called "John Wooden: Values, Victory and Peace of Mind." In it, Wooden offers his philosophy of life — nothing complicated — a theme developed over time.
He delivered those same thoughts to legions of UCLA players. Some bought in immediately. Others needed more time.
"After I started teaching in the 30s, I didn't like what people called success," said Wooden, now 92. "I worked on my own definition. Part of it was never try to be better than someone else. Try to learn from others.
"I needed something you could see."
So the construction began.
The first two blocks were industriousness and enthusiasm. For 14 years, from 1934-1948, Wooden added to the Pyramid, one block at a time. When he was done, there were 15 of them, a guide for life.
At the top is competitive greatness and success.
"Success is peace of mind that is the result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming," Wooden said.
Sometimes, it took a while for his players to catch on. He'd toss around homilies that left them looking at each other, wondering what they meant.
Perhaps the best known is "Be Quick But Don't Hurry."
Years later, Andy Hill figured that one out and used it as the title of a book he wrote with Wooden.
"It means let's be fast and aggressive but let's always be able to stop on a dime and go in another direction," Hill said. "It has as much to do with life as it does with basketball."
Some of the others included "Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail," and "Concentrate on Your Team, Not the Opposition."
Walton said Wooden lived by those beliefs.
"He was the master of preparation," he said. "He was all about us. We never talked about the other team in the four years I was at UCLA. Only twice did he mention other players. In my freshman year, he talked about Austin Carr. In my senior year, he talked about David Thompson.
"We lost both those games."
They also won 88 in a row, an NCAA record.
As kindly as Wooden is, he did not always have a tranquil relationship with his players. There were frequent clashes.
"We had countless arguments over politics, Vietnam, social mores, economics, religion, facial hair," Walton said. "Coach would say, 'Bill, I really respect your individual beliefs. But I am the coach of this team. We've enjoyed having you and I'll miss you.'
"He meant every word."
Hill had the same kind of cantankerous relationship with the coach. The difference was he was a 5-foot-11 benchwarmer instead of a 6-11 star like Walton.
After he graduated, Hill never spoke to Wooden, trying to put the UCLA experience behind him. "I had thought UCLA was an ugly Pandora's Box," he said. "I thought I had been a failure."
Years later, it dawned on him that the reverse was true, that his success as a TV executive had been directly linked to Wooden.
"I realized that everything I knew I learned from a guy I didn't like," Hill said.
He decided to call Wooden, not sure what to expect. The two men had not spoken for 25 years and when they had talked, the conversation was not pleasant.
"I said, 'Coach, this is Andy Hill,' figuring he might not even remember the name."
Wooden remembered. "Andy," he said, "where have you been?"
Now, Hill carries the Pyramid of Success in his wallet, too.