Christmas at my house always comes with lots of books. 

Being a loyal Oregon State University Beaver, it was especially fun to read an autobiography by Coach Craig Robinson titled, A Game of Character.

The subtitle, A family journey from Chicagos Southside to the Ivy League and beyond, tells an inspiring story about how a modest man who worked for the city water works raised two super-achieving children.

Robinson turned down the University of Washington to attend Princeton, where he became the top player in the Ivy League. 

This meant his father and mother had to come up with $3,000 or so by borrowing and working extra shifts to pay the difference between a free ride at UW and an Ivy League education.

Princeton was followed by a professional career in England, an MBA from the University of Chicago and a high-paying job in the financial industry.

However, bond trading and the six-figure salary that brought was not enough for a man who loved to teach and coach basketball. 

Robinson left to earn $20,000 or so as an assistant coach at Northwestern. The values he had learned in childhood helped him turn around that program, as well as at Brown University, where he became head coach, taking a last-place team to first.

 Then came the Beaver challenge of restoring a once-proud program in the Pac-12. 

 The playbook at both Brown and OSU for his players included lessons on hard work, determination and developing the desire and confidence to succeed even against long odds.

These are the lessons Coach Robinson learned from his dad and mom, and a close family in a lower-income neighborhood of Chicago.

For example: Luck is just another word for hard work or Know who you are and live your life with conviction.

His little sister, Michelle Obama, grew up the same way and followed him to Princeton and then earned a law degree from Harvard.

 She eventually met a young man named Barack Obama, also a Harvard law graduate. They did not become engaged until older brother had checked on his character in a game of street basketball.

You can find out how pick-up basketball is a way to take a measure of a man by reading this interesting book. Hint: It has to do with being determined, but a good passer (unselfish) and honest (quick to admit when you fouled). It also helps to have a good shot.

Politicians, especially those running for the GOP presidential nomination, talk a lot about family values and the need to pursue the American dream by working hard, sacrificing, pursuing education and being respectful to parents and others in society.

Reading this book by Craig Robinson, it struck me that we are blessed at the moment to have just such a family in the White House.

Whatever ones politics and feelings on what the Congress or federal government are doing at the moment, Michelle Obama is a wonderful role model. We do have a first lady who, in fact, learned important family and American work ethic values from loving parents.

Coach Robinsons book is good reading. It would be especially worth buying a copy to pass along to a high school student or young person, who could use some advice on how to make it in sports and life.