(CONTINUED)
he compared his first time out, during which he ran out of wisdom to offer the team, to the first time he was a substitute teacher at the school his wife ran. He said (again as I remember it):I told the class the entire history of the world as I knew it, and then looked at the clock. We were only 20 minutes in.
Unseld’s NBA.com profile states that “over the course of his career he came to personify the virtues of hard work, dedication, and courage.” That’s the main reason why he’s my favorite athlete of them all.
I’ll give the final word to Mitch Kupchak, Unseld’s teammate during his later years:
The most amazing thing to me is how effective he was with those bad knees. Any time he stepped on the floor, whether it was for practice or a game, he was in pain. It wasn’t comfortable for him, but he saw it as part of his job. He knew his teammates were watching him and if he didn’t do it, they might not do it.
We always talk about leadership in sports, but you don’t designate yourself a leader. You just lead. That’s what Wes did.
RIP