He stated that he was coming back from Europe and wanted to reach to the United States of America as soon as possible. He heard that John Wooden is in a state of life and death. Kareem Abdul Jabbar wanted to meet his coach before he would expire. He finally reached the Ronald Regal UCLA medical centre in time. He stated that Wooden was not in a present state of mind, he was subconscious, so he cannot say that whether the coach knew that he was present there or not. After spending some time with coach he went out after
saying the final good bye. He further stated that he got to know that coach passed away just three hours after he went back, so he feels lucky to have reached in time.
Jabbar stated that Wooden was not just a coach to him, he was a lot more. He was so soft and caring; he taught us life in his own style. He asked us to do things the way we want and when we did not succeed we came back to him and then he told us the real way to do things. He taught us how to live life.