It's been 35 years since Wooden watched his Bruins cut down the nets down one last time, then walked away while still at his peak. Yes, he was the "Wizard of Westwood" — a nickname he didn't like — but he never made more than $32,500 and for years he mopped the floor himself before practice.

He never begrudged the coaches of today the millions they make, but making money wasn't why he got into coaching in the first place. He became a legend because of what his players did on the court, but to Wooden the victories were merely a byproduct of the life lessons that always came first.

Indeed, Wooden did what he preached, living his life for others. His style was authoritarian, but his players graduated and the messages sank in a lot more than they missed the mark.

He encouraged them to take chances, urged them to be all they could be.

"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything," he would tell them. "I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."

Wooden didn't make many. He lived an impeccable life, devoid of scandal, still so in love with his wife, Nell, in the years after she died that he would write her a letter each month just as he had done while she was alive.

Video   Wooden an inspiration for Jackson June 4, 2010: Phil Jackson says the quality of John Wooden's work as a college basketball coach motivates coaches at every level.

As word got out about his final hospitalization, students who hadn't even been born the last time he worked a game rallied on the UCLA campus in tribute.

Words of tribute, meanwhile, began flowing the moment his death was announced.

But the words that matter most are the ones his players still remember. The same words they've passed on to their children and their children's children.

"Don't give up on your dreams, or your dreams will give up on you," he told them.

As hard as it is to imagine, John Wooden is gone.

His dreams, however, live on.

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