In the spring of 1971 a 6-foot-11 center from Cypress College in California was in search of an NCAA division I basketball scholarship. A junior college all-american, the former Dutch immigrant drew the attention of many small division I programs. His college coach at Cypress College, Don Johnson felt he could aim higher. After some convincing, the legendary coach John Wooden offered him a scholarship to join the already established dynasty at UCLA. Swen Nater would join the Bruins for his final two years of college basketball. He would go on to be a backup for the Bruins, never starting a game at UCLA. He would also become the first player in NBA history to never start an NCAA Division I game and become a first-round draft pick.
In the fall of 1971 the UCLA Bruins were five-time defending national champions. On campus was a highly touted, five star recruit at center. It was not Swen Nater. It was future NBA legend Bill Walton. At the time, freshman were not allowed to play in the NCAA, so Walton developed as he led the UCLA freshman team to a 20–0 season. In 1971 he was poised to lead the varsity team as they were at the epicenter of the dynasty.
A few months prior to the 1971–1972 season Coach Wooden received a phone call from the Cypress College head coach Don Johnson about a player meant for the Bruins. Johnson played for Coach Wooden at UCLA and was a Bruins alum. With one remaining scholarship to award, Johnson tried to convince Wooden to spend it on another 6-foot-11 center in Nater. Why would Wooden need another center when he had the best center in the country in Walton? Johnson convinced Coach Wooden he had a problem on his hands. The next tallest player on the roster was 6-foot-9 and there was no one to push the 7-footer in Walton. Enter Swen Nater.
“I will make you two promises.” Wooden told Nater. “One, you’ll probably never get off the bench. But, two, you’re going to get the chance to practice every day with the best player in America, and I promise you the best coaches in America are going to work with you every day.”
Nater was in. He joined the famed UCLA Bruin squad and was a part of a historic 88 game winning streak. He was on the team for two NCAA national championships. Coach Wooden was known for his integrity throughout his coaching career. He did not lie to Nater. Nater would go on to fulfill Wooden’s vision — he never started a single game in two years with the Bruins and hardly played at all. He had very limited opportunities for playing time and was always behind Bill Walton. He did however do exactly what Coach Wooden proposed. He worked with Walton everyday. His sole job on the team was to make Bill Walton better. Nater delivered.
Walton was on his way to becoming the number one draft pick in the country. One day after practice he was asked by the media, “Who was the toughest center you played all season?” Many expected the center from Kansas, or from Pepperdine. Walton pointed to the other side of the gym — “That guy is the toughest center I’ve played against all year, Swen Nater.” Walton was the NCAA player of the year in 1972, 1973, and 1974. Swen Nater fulfilled his role for the Bruins.
Nater was selected in the first round of the 1973 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. Walton was drafted first overall in the 1974 NBA draft by the Portland Trailblazers. Two first-round draft picks pushed each other daily at UCLA. Both Nater and Walton went on to have prosperous professional careers. Nater eventually signed with the ABA (American Basketball Association) and was traded to the San Antonio Spurs.
Nater was the ABA rookie of the year in 1974, one year removed from riding the bench at UCLA. He played a total of 11 years in either the ABA or the NBA. He led the NBA in rebounds in 1980 and scored nearly 9,000 career points in his professional career. He logged 8,340 rebounds in his career with 1,235 career assists. In his daily process to make Bill Walton better, it turns out Swen Nater benefited as well.
There aren’t many Swen Nater stories out there in the current sports climate. With high transfer rates in college athletics, a shift has been made over the last ten years away from paths like Swen Nater. His career can shine light on Staying The Course and can give us three critical questions to consider.
1.) Do you believe someone else’s success is robbing you of your potential?
It takes a great deal of security to do what Swen Nater did. We can imagine it would be difficult to ride the bench as a fierce competitor. I’m sure there were days Nater contemplated moving to a place where he could get regular minutes. As Walton racked up the accolades, Nater could have been tempted to believe that Walton’s success was robbing him of his own successful future. The reality is their success in the long run was mutually independent. In the short term, Nater suffered. In the long term he was sharpened by training with the best of the best. It prepared him for a prosperous professional career. He was not robbed of a successful future because of Walton’s success. He was actually guaranteed a successful future because of Walton’s success. A true competitor welcomes the success of someone else. It is the only way to guarantee the need to improve.
2.) Are you Mastery Driven or Ego Driven?
There is no way Swen Nater would have survived at UCLA if he was driven by his ego. The decision to turn down regular playing time for hardly any playing time is the sign of a mastery driven individual. Nater was motivated more by the pursuit of mastery than by the pursuit of stroking his own ego. Being a backup to the national player of the year is not the sexy move. There was no “Blessed to announce I’m going to be a backup at UCLA” tweet for Nater. Instead there were two years of highly intense focused training with the best player in the country and the nation’s best coaching staff watching and refining him daily. His decision to accept the short term loss for the long term win has ‘mastery driven’ written all over it. Ego lives for the short term. Mastery lives for the long term.
3.) Are you chasing “Monopoly Money”?
In any pursuit there are short term signs of success that do not stay relevant over time. See any 40-year olds wearing their high school letterman jackets? At some point the indicators of success in the journey don’t translate to the next chapter in the journey. A leader must be viciously on the lookout for the short term distractions that soothe the drive to get better and build skill. Whether it’s access to a certain elite group, the ‘pre-season All-American list,’ great first quarter sales numbers, or being named to the ’40 under 40 business leaders list — it’s all monopoly money. Monopoly money is a currency only relevant in the game that it is being played in. It won’t stay relevant beyond the short term game being played. Be careful to not pursue short term monopoly money — it will all go back in the box. Being named one of the top high school talents in the country won’t be relevant when you’re in college. Instead pursue the currency that lasts — continual improvement and growth. Eventually a leader will be left with the hard questions that Swen Nater was left with.
Are you getting better? Are you willing to sacrifice in the short term for growth that won’t show up until later? Are you willing to play the long game?
