The year was 1947. Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball’s modern era. Miracle on 34thStreet made its debut on the big screen. The CIA and United States Air Force came into existence. And Tex Winter became an assistant coach on Kansas State’s men’s basketball program to kick start a coaching odyssey that would span the ensuing six decades and culminate with his enshrinement in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday.
Born Morice Frederick Winter on Feb. 25, 1927 in Texas, Winter, prior to became a staple on the hardwood sidelines, played for the famed Sam Barry—one of only three coaches to lead teams to both the NCAA Final Four and College World Series—at Southern California for two seasons, where he was first introduced to the triangle offense that would eventually become his legacy.
Upon graduating in 1947, Winter migrated from Los Angeles to Manhattan, Kans. to join future Hall-of-Fame coach Jack Gardner’s staff at KSU. Over the next four seasons, the Wildcats compiled a 77-28 record and made two trips to the Final Four, including a 68-58 defeat at the hands of Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky Wildcats in the 1951 title game.
Upon the completion of the aforementioned 1951 season, the 30-year-old Winter, who was awarded the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award in June 2010, found himself at the forefront of the college basketball landscape as one of the most sought after coaching prospects in the nation.
Shortly thereafter, Winter was introduced as the sixth head coach Marquette history and, subsequently, the youngest head man in college basketball.
While the soft-spoken Winter, whose career head coaching record (collegiate and professional) stands an impressive 486-235, spent only two seasons in Milwaukee and compiled a 25-25 record (his best campaign came in 1952-53 when the Warriors went 13-11), it served as the springboard for a coaching career that is unparalleled.
From 1953-1983, Winter served as the head coach of Kansas State University (where, over a 15-year span, Winter was the architect of eight Big East Conference championship teams, made two appearances to the NCAA Final Four, was named the national Coach of the Year in 1958 and, in 1962, published a book, The Triple-Post Offense, which detailed the nuances of the triangle offense), Washington University (1968-1971), Houston Rockets (1971-1973), Northwestern University (1973-1978) and Long Beach State University (1978-1983), until hired as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls in 1985.
Four years into his employment with Bulls, however, one of Winter’s counterparts on the staff, 44-year-old assistant Phil Jackson, supplanted Doug Collins on the Chicago bench and set into motion one of the most prolific coaching partnerships in the annals of professional sports.
With Winter’s triangle offense as the template of their offensive attack, Jackson and Winter transformed Michael Jordan (perhaps you have heard of him?) from solo artist to trusting teammate and, over the next nine years, would bring six NBA titles to the Windy City.
Following the lockout shortened season of 1998-99, Winter, who was considered a strong candidate to make the US Olympic team in 1944 as a pole vaulter until the Games were cancelled due to World War II, took his talents back to Los Angeles as a member of Jackson’s maiden season with the Lakers.
Serving as an assistant and consultant with the Lakers for the next nine years (1999-2005, 2006-08), the 89-year-old Winter collected three more championship rings for his trophy case until a massive stroke in April 2009 forced the former MU head coach into a very unfamiliar and foreign place: away from the sidelines.
When news broke of Winter’s impending induction among basketball’s legends and luminaries in the Hall of Fame this past June, Jackson felt it a bittersweet moment for his former right-hand man.
“When Tex was verbally and cognizantly capable of receiving this award, I would have been much happier,” noted the Zen Master in 2010, as reported by ESPN.com, who served as the presenter to Winter at his induction. “The fact now that he’s had a stroke that’s impaired his capabilities, it kind of irritates me a little bit in that this wasn’t done 10 years ago when he was still serving basketball as such a great capacity.
“Still, in all, I’m happy that it’s been awarded.”
Joining original Dream Teamer Chris Mullin; the enigmatic Dennis Rodman; former big men Artis Gilmore and Arvydas Sabonis; and eight-time NBA Champion Tom “Satch” Sanders, among others, as one of the 10 to be immortalized in Springfield, Mass. yesterday, Winter, due to his condition, was unable to deliver his acceptance speech to the assembled mass at the 52ndinduction ceremony.
Nevertheless, Winter’s son, Chris, summed up his father’s ethos and overall commitment and dedication to his craft perfectly.
“Tex would probably say to Phil [Jackson] and everyone out there that there’s really no rest in the world. If you have something to offer it, offer it. It’s not that Tex really ever believed he belonged in here. He just really didn’t believe in sitting on his backside. That’s all there is to it.”
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