“Pursuing
Victory with Honor”
After combining their “Six Pillars of Character”
curriculum into his own lecturing style, Naber produced a
keynote speech called “Pursuing Victory with Honor,” which
teaches audiences how to appreciate quality character and
how to make the ethical standard a part of their everyday
decision making process.
Naber’s devotion to character building allows him to
articulate the powerful and sensitive lessons of personal
ethical development that are most visible in the sporting
arena. By applying the same training method he used in
sports, Naber allows audiences across the globe to
appropriate the top quality decision making skills and
let’s him share how to succeed in life without succumbing
to the temptations that face us all.
Tributes to Naber’s character
Naber’s background in character education
John Naber has been a life-long advocate for ethics and
character education in sports. Active in student
government, he served as the Volunteer Head Swimming Coach
for the International Special Olympics, and was
instrumental in raising over $6,000,000 to build an
aquatics facility that provides free swimming lessons to
all the Pasadena area school children, and scholarships
for participation on the swim and dive teams.
In 1973, after not contesting his disqualification
(over a meaningless infraction) during the US national
swimming championships and World Team Trials (that denied
him a likely gold medal at the 1973 World Championships),
he was awarded the UNESCO/Pierre DeCoubertain Fair Play
Trophy, for his strict adherence to the rules and devotion
to the spirit of friendly and fair competition.
Naber often took time during international meets to
befriend his competition, as well as to encourage his
teammates (in spite of his hefty competition schedule).
His relationships with many of his competitors continue to
this day, and he is currently serving as the President of
the US Olympic Alumni Association where he pioneered an
Olympians speaking workshop to mentor many of America’s
Olympians on how to better present themselves as
ambassadors of the Olympic ideals, through their various
public appearances.
Naber also oversaw the creation of the “Olympians for
Olympians Relief Fund” a non-profit foundation that
distributes funds to America’s Olympians who happen to
find themselves in distressed conditions, following their
Olympic exploits.
After going through specialized training (conducted by
Michael Josephson at the Josephson Institute of Ethics),
Naber was appointed as Chairman of “Character Counts!
Sports.”
His talk, “Character Driven Accomplishment” features
the introduction of “The “Six Pillars of Character” and
discusses the temptations which lead most people to
justify their less than laudable behavior on the field of
play, and the simple means to correct this behavior.
John Naber is a featured author in the book “The
Power of Character” (1998, Jossey-Bass Inc.
Publishers) where prominent Americans talk about life,
family, work, values, and more.
Arrange for a
Character Training
Program.
