A Texas student falls foul of his school’s grooming standards and makes a federal case out of it.
In his 1997 memoir, “Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections,” Hall of Fame UCLA basketball coach John Wooden related a story about the importance of maintaining standards. In the early 1970s, the team had a rule against facial hair. When star center Bill Walton showed up to practice after a 10-day break wearing a beard, the following exchange occurred:
Wooden: “Bill, have you forgotten something?”
Walton: “Coach, if you mean the beard, I think I should be allowed to wear it. It’s my right.”
Wooden: “Do you believe in that strongly?”
Walton: “Yes, I do, coach. Very much.”
Wooden: “Bill, I have a great respect for individuals who stand up for those things in which they believe. I really do. And the team is going to miss you.”
“Bill went to the locker room and shaved the beard off before practice began. There were no hard feelings. I wasn’t angry and he wasn’t mad,” Wooden recalled. “I think if I had given in to him, I would have lost control not only of Bill but of his teammates.”
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Jason L. Riley is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a columnist at The Wall Street Journal, and a Fox News commentator. Follow him on Twitter here.
Photo by Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images