John “Wizard of Westwood” Wooden was the head coach of the UCLA men’s basketball team from 1948 to 1975. In those years, he won 12 NCAA championships (including seven consecutive titles), had a win percentage of .808 and was named NCAA Coach of the Year six times.
In 1997, roughly 20 years after he retired, he published “Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court,” a book which outlines the principles of his coaching philosophy and highlights his renowned “Pyramid of Success.” A few years later, in 2001, former professional tennis player turned non-profit leader Peanut Louie Harper was inspired by these teachings and sought to adapt them to a younger audience.
“I read it and I’m just like ‘oh my gosh’—this really resonated with the values and life lessons that my parents used to raise me and my siblings to be good people.”
She and her husband, Tim Harper, decided to reach out to their friend Steve Jamison, a co-author of Wooden’s book, and together, they crafted the idea of implementing Wooden’s Pyramid of Success into a children’s picture book. With the help of John Wooden himself, “Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success” was published in 2003.
This book became the foundation of Harper for Kids, a non-profit children’s charity founded by Tim and Peanut Harper that visits hundreds of K-8 schools across California to teach young children about success. Their goal is to educate children about the 15 blocks of Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, with the most important block being at the top of the pyramid: personal best.
“You can’t control the results, but you can control your effort. And so, you know, that’s a big piece of what we try to teach kids. It’s really just about focusing on your effort and trying your best. That’s all you can control.”
This mission drew the attention of Andrew Garcia, an associate director of the UCLA women’s basketball team, who happened to be in the same summer class as Tim and Peanut Harper.
“Andrew felt like we could be a good fit for their goals with community service. And we just started exchanging emails and brainstorming on ideas. Like what could make this a really meaningful project where his student athletes could really grow a little relationship with these students”
Soon after, in October 2025, Harper for Kids put their plan into action and held a Zoom presentation with Christina Karamouzi, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Megan Grant, with hopes of completing six presentations with the entire team by the end of 2025.
“The student athletes were incredible.” Peanut Harper said. When speaking to the children, Tim and Peanut Harper always begin by introducing the student athletes, and then asking if they could share what success means to them.
“The whole point is to help the students start to think what success means to them and try to live up to that every day”
Afterward, the discussion transitions into a moderated Q and A format, where the children ask questions to the student athletes.
“One of them asked Christina, ‘What is a daily habit of success that has helped you in your schoolwork and in your sport?’ Another asked Charlisse, ‘If you knew about Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, when you were in elementary school, how could it have helped you?’ A third student then asked Megan, ‘What do you enjoy most about reading?’”
Following this, the student athletes read pages of “Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success” to the children before opening up the floor to follow-up questions.
“Christina’s follow-up question after she read about success was ‘How do you motivate yourself to keep practicing something even when it’s not your favorite thing to do? And how will it help you get better?’”
Peanut Harper expressed her gratitude to assistant athletic director Ric Coy and former UCLA softball player and coach Sue Enquist for their support in helping plan the collaboration.
Community service is a central part of UCLA women’s basketball, and through this partnership with Harper for Kids, the team carries on Coach Wooden’s legacy by inspiring the next generation.
As Peanut Harper puts it: “At the end of the day, it’s about helping kids remember to try their best and be the best person they can be.”
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Featured Image Photographed by Sapna Drew/BruinLife
