Reporters used to ask me the same inane questions year-in and year-out, city-to-city, and it would drive me crazy.

Pride was his life force; for us it was a live nerve that he could teach us to brush. One stroke, a good practice, and we could tingle for days ... First, he found the pride in each of us, then he taught us how good it could feel. What he was ultimately after was for every one of us to learn to light our own fires and glow our brightest.

This is what I would have done if I had to have a real job: I would have been a history teacher.

I always thought I could do a good job coaching, but the opportunities have not presented themselves.

In the Western standards of modesty, there are different guidelines.

I was especially impressed with Pauley Pavilion [at UCLA campus ]. The floors hadn't been laid down yet, when they gave me the tour, each new room got my heart thumping. They even had a surgical operating room in case an athlete was severely injured.

The '80s made up for all the abuse I took during the '70s. I outlived all my critics. By the time I retired, everybody saw me as a venerable institution. Things do change.