The Minutia Behind Winning: How Famous Quotes From Sports Legends Explain Their Success

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Defining, predicting, and assessing success is a task that many people see as their ideal in life. It requires consistency, an understanding of the depths of life, and an ability to see the light at the end of any catch-22-shaped tunnels. It’s an arduous task marked by ambitions and the prevailing strength of the human will.

In sports, professional or otherwise, the road to success is full of hurdles and circumstantial elements. However, only the cream rises to the top, and talent, merit, and psychotic levels of work are behind each and every tale of dominance and winning.

The history of success in sports is full of colorful characters. Some stick around, others shine brightly and flame out quickly. As the saying goes, the flame that burns twice as hot burns twice as short. Sustained, especially dynastic winning, requires much more than just stars aligning at the right time.

In this article, we will explore several icons of the sports world through the lens of some of their most famous quotes. These extracts are direct looks into their mentalities regarding not just life, but the strength that goes into achieving the most successful results in their respective sports.

“Only true champions come out and show their worth after defeat — and I expect us to do that.” — Sir Alex Ferguson

BetOnValue was telling us that bookmakers saw Manchester United’s odds to win the Premier League title in Alex Ferguson’s last season were 9/4, behind their cross-town rivals. They won the title by 11 points. When the odds were fixed before the first season after him, the strong infrastructure that he left gave them as 21/10 favorites. They finished in 7th. They haven’t won a title since his last season in charge.

It would appear that Manchester United were showing themselves to be true champions when led by a true champion. His were the highest expectations that you could have on your self as a top association footballer playing for someone like him.

Not many people, especially those unfamiliar with his entire background, know that he was an amazing coach/manager before United. As the man in charge of Scottish club Aberdeen, he dethroned the Glasgow giants 3 times, in the 1980s, and even won European silverware (The Cup Winners’ Cup and the Super Cub) near the end of his stint there.

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Another detail that people may not know is the fact that Ferguson took over Manchester United when the club was, undoubtedly, in a sorry state. He took over when they were 21st in the league, and finished 11th. Then they climbed to second. Then fell to 11th again in his third season. They even fell to 13th in the 1989/90 season.

Fortunes turned around following a series of significant signings, with a series of 2nd place finishes. And then, 1992 saw the breakaway of the clubs that formed the Premier League, and United finally climbed back to the top. It took 6 years for Fergie’s United to reach the mountaintop, and then they won the league 13 times, not to mention many other trophies, both domestic and international.

The process was arduous, and the ultimate results only came after very difficult times and after many defeats. After many depressing moments. However, the champions came out, and Fergie was there to instill the confidence and discipline that were more than necessary for it.

“People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.” — Vince Lombardi

If you know anything about the NFL, you know that the eyes are always on the big prize, which is the Vince Lombardi Trophy. It’s the ultimate achievement that either an organization, a player, or a member of the team’s staff can dream of. It’s a crowning achievement for anyone who contributed to the effort of reaching the heights of professional gridiron football.

The man behind the name is, simply put, a standard for success. Vince Lombardi represents one of the people, perhaps the most important one, who ushered the sport into the era that we know today.

Vince Lombardi is one of the people synonymous with the Green Bay Packers. Having arrived in Wisconsin in 1959, the team was a middling club, especially when compared to their previous success. However, he quickly turned their fortunes around, establishing an organizational structure that has defined the Super Bowl-era NFL.

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As the quote presents, he believed in the idea of team, of togetherness, more than just in the context of football. An outspoken advocate for equality and respect, he strongly believed that the idea of a united group can always topple the hardships of life, not to mention football.

His legendary emphasis on work ethic, which comes from his focus on starting with perfecting the fundamentals before moving to schematic elements, is a definitive element of his identity as a 5-time NFL champion, two of which are the first two editions of the Super Bowl.

When asked ‘Was it love or hate, confidence or fear, that drove Lombardi and his players?’’ in an article about his book on Vince Lombardi, biographer David Maraniss said that all at the same time.

“Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” — John Wooden

By all accounts, John Wooden, one of the, if not the greatest, college basketball coach in history, was a very loving and simple man who simply believed that success is a process that requires understanding and implementing one’s values. A deeply religious and empathetic man, Wooden’s image is a cherished legacy for his former players.

As a player, he was a legend for Purdue, but his truest heights came during his stint as head coach of the UCLA Bruins. He coached the team between 1948 and his retirement in 1975. During his stint, he reached the Final Four 12 times and won the NCAA college basketball championship 10 times, with 7 in a row between 1967 and 1973.

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However, his relationship with his players and ultimate commitment to success are what people remember beyond the immense trophy case. While his ‘Wizard of Westwood’ nickname still reigns as a reminder of his incredible achievements, John Wooden’s 1997 reflective book exemplifies why he had a particular dislike for this nickname.

It tells us that his success was no magic, no wizardry, as the quote above suggests. He was a person who believed in excellence and the big picture, but only when powered by personal growth and striving to reach one’s pinnacle. As the disciplined person who believed in the importance of values, his Pyramid of Success ideals were proof that he saw life, including sports, as a philosophical matter.

He proved that his philosophy was as close to the truth as he hoped it would be.

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” — Phil Jackson

Given that he is one of the people whose career has shaken out closer to the present than others, it’s normal to understand Phil Jackson’s one-liners even better. We’ve seen it during The Last Dance miniseries, but it’s also a mythologized matter that we can see by counting the 11 championship rings that he obtained as a head coach.

The story of each one of his stints as an NBA championship head coach is a story of being more than just a leader or a technicalities guy. It’s a story of being the Zen Master. Someone who mastered the art of being cool under pressure, of understanding high stakes, and of creating the right environment for every individual player to thrive in for the sake of the team itself.

This type of balanced approach has always been essential. He had the incredibly difficult job of being a manager of immense egos. We’re talking about the egos of incredibly talented individuals—basketball players whose work and competitiveness were far beyond the regular individual.

Michael Jordan was a notoriously difficult person to handle due to his high standards and absolute commitment to winning. Scottie Pippen had to grapple with his own identity and greatness in the shadow of the media monster that was Michael Jordan. Dennis Rodman was a unicorn in terms of personality traits. Shaquille O’Neal was a bombastic personality whose never-seen-before talent was getting in the way of his immense personality. Kobe Bryant was a psychotically hard-working person whose standards were as high as Jordan’s.

All of them became NBA champions under the guidance of Phil. He was the person who kept it all together and managed to bring his esoteric approach to the basketball court, managing personalities and shaping them into the confines of the team concept. His success speaks for itself, and those who played under him will always swear by him.

Epilogue

As a closing word, we can see that the stories of these amazing coaches come from their ability to stay true to their mantras. There will always be the most daring explorers at the top of the mountain, but only those who respect the mountain enough not to take their security and abilities for granted.

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