 Winter withMarquette in 1953 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1922-02-25)February 25, 1922 nearWellington, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | October 10, 2018(2018-10-10) (aged 96) Manhattan, Kansas, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1940–1942 | Compton JC |
| 1942–1943 | Oregon State |
| 1946–1947 | USC |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1947–1951 | Kansas State (assistant) |
| 1951–1953 | Marquette |
| 1953–1968 | Kansas State |
| 1968–1971 | Washington |
| 1971–1973 | Houston Rockets |
| 1973–1978 | Northwestern |
| 1978–1983 | Long Beach State |
| 1983–1984 | LSU (assistant) |
| 1985–1999 | Chicago Bulls (assistant) |
| 1999–2004 | Los Angeles Lakers (assistant) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 453–334 (college) 51–78 (NBA) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
As head coach:
As assistant coach: | |
| Awards | |
| |
| Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2011 | |
| College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2010 | |
Morice Fredrick "Tex" Winter (February 25, 1922 – October 10, 2018) was an Americanbasketball coach and innovator of thetriangle offense, an offensive system that became the dominant force in theNational Basketball Association (NBA) and resulted in 11NBA Championships with theChicago Bulls in the 1990s and theLos Angeles Lakers in the 2000s.[1] He was a head coach incollege basketball for 30 years before becoming an assistant coach in the NBA. He was an assistant toPhil Jackson on nine NBA championship teams with the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers. Winter was inducted into theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2016, the NBA created the annually presented Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award in his honor.
Winter was born on February 25, 1922,[2] nearWellington, Texas, (a fact which later provided him with his nickname when his family moved to California[3]) 15 minutes after twin sister Mona Francis.[4] He grew up in an unpainted shack just outside of Wellington, located in theTexas panhandle, during theDust Bowl.[5] The Winter family moved toLubbock, Texas, in 1929, where his mechanic father died of an infection after being speared by a marlin while fishing, when Tex was seven or eight years old.[4][5]
Winter had to work while in elementary school to help his family, one such job being to collect boxes for a local baker in exchange for day-old bread.[citation needed] In 1936, Winter and his sister moved toHuntington Park, California with their mother, who would work as a clothing store sales manager. His older football star brother Ernest remained in Texas to finish high school, while his older sister Elizabeth had already married and moved to California first and encouraged them to move there.[4] Winter worked on atruck farm when he first arrived in California, bringing overripe fruit home to the family.[5]
While attendingHuntington Park High School, theLoyola University of Los Angeles (now Loyola Marymount University) basketball team practiced at his high school. Winter carefully studied coachJimmy Needles’s reverse action offense, which was an early template of the later triangle offense.[5] Along withPhil Woolpert andPete Newell, Winter was a ball boy for Loyola University.[6] Both Woolpert and Newell would become Hall of Fame head coaches.[7][8]
After graduation from high school in 1940, Winter attended college atCompton Junior College for two years, where he became a renowned pole vaulter and earned a pole-vaulting scholarship toOregon State University.[2][9] He was on the basketball and track teams at both schools.[9] As apole vaulter, Winter competed against Bob Richards, a 1948 and 1952 Olympian.[6] He was considered a strong candidate for the US Olympic team in 1944, but theOlympics were cancelled byWorld War II.[9]
Winter met his wife Nancy at Oregon State.[5] Both of them entered theUnited States Navy in early 1943, with Winter going into fighter pilot training and his wife intoWAVES.[4] After his pilot's wings were conferred he was assigned to fighter pilot duty in thePacific. However, his orders were rescinded after his brother's plane was shot down, and Winter remained atNaval Air Station Glenview in Illinois for the duration of the war.[citation needed] After the war, he was assigned toNAS Corpus Christi as atest pilot for an experimental jet craft. While in the navy, Winter was a starting guard for his basketball team under the commanding officerChuck Taylor.[10] He left the Navy with the rank ofEnsign in 1946.[citation needed]
Winter returned to college after the war at theUniversity of Southern California (1946-1947), where he learned thetriangle offense from his coachSam Barry,[11][citation needed] or as stated elsewhere, Winter learned the fundamentals of Barry's system from which Winter himself would devise the triangle offense.[3] The Naismith Hall of Fame has said the triangle offense evolved in part from Barry's center-opposite offense.[12] He was a basketball teammate ofBill Sharman,Alex Hannum, andGene Rock, future professional basketball players.[13][3][2] Like Winter, Sharman and Hannum would go on to be Hall of Fame coaches,[14][15] though Winter, in a rarity, went in for his contributions as an assistant coach.[16]
At USC, Winter was also on the track team, and was named an All-American as a pole vaulter.[2]
After graduating college in 1947, Winter immediately entered the coaching profession as an assistant toHall-of-FamerJack Gardner atKansas State University (K-State or Kansas State), a position he held from 1947 to 1951.[17][18][19] It was as an assistant at Kansas State where he began to devise the triangle offense.[3] He was Garnder's assistant in 1948 and 1951 when the team went to the final four of the NCAA tournament.[20] He would work as a basketball coach for the next 61 years.
In 1952, Winter began a two-year stint as head coach atMarquette University, becoming the youngest coach in major college basketball.[10][5][21] In 1953, Winter returned to Kansas State as its head coach; at 31, still the youngest major college coach.[18][22][23] Winter served as Kansas State's head coach for the following 15 years, posting a 261–118 (.689) record,[3][21] though his record has also been reported as 262-117.[20][19] He still owns the record for most league titles (eight) in school history and twice led the Wildcats to the Final Four (1958 and1964).[3][24][19] Winter guided K-State to postseason play seven times overall, including six trips to the NCAA Tournament, and boasts one of the highest winning percentages in K-State's history.[25][19]
Winter was namedUPI National Coach of the Year in 1958,[19] after he led Kansas State to the Final Four by knocking offOscar Robertson and second-rankedCincinnati in an 83–80 double-overtime thriller.[26] Junior centerBob Boozer was one of three Wildcats to be named a first-team All-American,[27] along with teammatesJack Parr[28] and Roy DeWitz who were also named All-Americans.[29] Boozer, Parr and DeWitz were all named to the Midwest-Lawrence All-Regional NCCA team that year.[30] Earlier in the season, on February 3, 1958, No. 4 ranked Kansas State defeatedWilt Chamberlain and the No. 2 ranked University of Kansas in double overtime, using a defensive scheme Winter devised to impede Chamberlain's offense.[31]
K-State advanced to their fourth Final Four in1964. Winter's Wildcats knocked offTexas Western andWichita State to reachMunicipal Auditorium inKansas City, Missouri.[32] Two-time Big Eight selectionWillie Murrell averaged 25.3 points per game during the run,[33][34] which ended in a 90–84 loss to eventual national championUCLA.[35] It was the first of UCLA's 9 NCAA championships over the next 10 years.[32]
In 1962, Winter also wrote the bookThe Triple-Post Offense, about the triangle offense – the offense which he developed and utilized with such success at Kansas State.[5] Following his leaving Kansas State, turning over the head coaching position to his assistantCotton Fitzsimmons,[36] Winter also served as head coach at theUniversity of Washington (1968–1971, where he was hired by then Athletic DirectorJoseph Kearney),Northwestern University (1973–1978), andLong Beach State. In 1982, LSU'sDale Brown, who Winter befriended when Brown was a high school coach, hired Winter as an assistant for one year 1983–84.[37][19]
In 30 years as a college head coach, Winter compiled a career record of 453–334.[3]
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Winter was hired by Pete Newell as head coach of theHouston Rockets for two seasons, 1971–1973, posting a 51–78 (.395) record. Winter replaced his old USC teammate, Alex Hannum. He was fired and replaced by assistant coachJohnny Egan on January 21, 1973. The trading ofElvin Hayes to theBaltimore Bullets prior to the1972–73 season and the Rockets' subsequent subpar performance were factors in his dismissal.[38][39]
In 1985, Winter started another chapter of his life after contemplating retirement, serving as an assistant coach with theChicago Bulls, and teaching the triangle offense toMichael Jordan. He was hired to the position by General ManagerJerry Krause, an old friend he had met while at Kansas State. As an assistant toPhil Jackson, who took over as the Bulls' head coach in 1989, Winter and his ball-movement offense were an integral part of the Bulls'NBA championships in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, and 1998.[40][19]
Winter followed Jackson to theLos Angeles Lakers. Led byShaquille O'Neal andKobe Bryant, the Lakers won three championships using the triangle system in 2000, 2001, and 2002.[40] Winter was also a consultant for the NBA champion2008–09 Los Angeles Lakers team.[41]
Winter had a great bond with Bryant, helping Bryant understand the value to Bryant of playing within the team's system, and watching hours of film together.[6] Jordan respected Winter because of Winter's only being satisfied if things were done correctly.[5] Jordan learned a great deal from Winter, finding him to be a great teacher and tireless worker, with a constant focus on details and preparation.[3]
On April 25, 2009, Winter suffered a stroke inManhattan, Kansas, while attending a Kansas State basketball reunion.[42]
He lived near Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas with his Alzheimer's-stricken wife[43] and son Brian. He suffered from the after-effects of his 2009 stroke, including an uncooperative right side and nerve pain in his neck and shoulder.[44] He has two other sons, Russ and Chris.
Winter died on October 10, 2018, at the age of 96.[45]
Winter is a member of several Halls of Fame, including the Kansas State Athletics Hall of Fame (1991),[19]Kansas Sports Hall of Fame (1997),[20] and theNational Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, and he was awarded theJohn Bunn Award for lifetime achievement from theNaismith Basketball Hall of Fame.[46][47] In June 2010, he was given theChuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, along with Hall of Fame coachDr. Jack Ramsay, by the NBA Coaches Association.[48][9][49] In 2003, Kansas State fans voted him the Kansas State basketball coach of the century.[18]
In 2002, after the Lakers' third consecutive championship, the team made rings for the players and coaches honoring Winter. On the front of the jewel-encrusted ring was a design with several triangles, honoring Winter’s triangle offense.[18]
On his eighth time on the final ballot for theNaismith Basketball Hall of Fame, it was announced on April 2, 2011, that Winter had been elected. He was formally inducted on August 12, with his Boston-based physicist son Chris giving a speech in his behalf.[50][12]
In 2016, the NBA established The Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award, presented annually to a storied assistant coach who has consistently made a substantial impact over at least fifteen years. The award "honors the career of Hall of Famer Tex Winter who over an outstanding NBA coaching career set a standard of loyalty, integrity, competitive excellence and tireless promotion of NBA basketball."[49]
On May 26, 2012, Winter was inducted into theCompton Community College Athletics Hall of Fame, under the category of Basketball.[9]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marquette Golden Eagles(Independent)(1951–1953) | |||||||||
| 1951–52 | Marquette | 12–14 | |||||||
| 1952–53 | Marquette | 13–11 | Won the National Catholic Invitational Tournament (NCIT) | ||||||
| Marquette: | 25–25 (.500) | ||||||||
| Kansas State Wildcats(Big Seven / Big Eight Conference)(1953–1968) | |||||||||
| 1953–54 | Kansas State | 11–10 | 5–7 | T–4th | |||||
| 1954–55 | Kansas State | 11–10 | 6–6 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1955–56 | Kansas State | 17–8 | 9–3 | 1st | NCAA Sweet 16 | ||||
| 1956–57 | Kansas State | 15–8 | 8–4 | 2nd | |||||
| 1957–58 | Kansas State | 22–5 | 10–2 | 1st | NCAA University Division Final Four | ||||
| 1958–59 | Kansas State | 25–2 | 14–0 | 1st | NCAA University Division Elite Eight | ||||
| 1959–60 | Kansas State | 16–10 | 10–4 | T–1st | |||||
| 1960–61 | Kansas State | 22–5* | 13–1* | 1st | NCAA University Division Elite Eight | ||||
| 1961–62 | Kansas State | 22–3 | 12–2 | 2nd | |||||
| 1962–63 | Kansas State | 16–9 | 11–3 | T–1st | |||||
| 1963–64 | Kansas State | 22–7 | 12–2 | 1st | NCAA University Division Final Four | ||||
| 1964–65 | Kansas State | 12–13 | 5–9 | T–6th | |||||
| 1965–66 | Kansas State | 14–11 | 9–5 | 3rd | |||||
| 1966–67 | Kansas State | 17–8 | 9–5 | 4th | |||||
| 1967–68 | Kansas State | 19–9 | 11–3 | 1st | NCAA University Division Sweet 16 | ||||
| Kansas State: | 261–118 (.689) | 154–57 (.730) | |||||||
| Washington Huskies(Pacific-8 Conference)(1968–1971) | |||||||||
| 1968–69 | Washington | 13–13 | 6–8 | 4th | |||||
| 1969–70 | Washington | 17–9 | 7–7 | 5th | |||||
| 1970–71 | Washington | 15–13 | 6–8 | 5th | |||||
| Washington: | 45–35 (.563) | 19–23 (.452) | |||||||
| Northwestern Wildcats(Big Ten Conference)(1973–1978) | |||||||||
| 1973–74 | Northwestern | 9–15 | 3–11 | 9th | |||||
| 1974–75 | Northwestern | 6–20 | 4–14 | T–9th | |||||
| 1975–76 | Northwestern | 12–15 | 7–11 | T–7th | |||||
| 1976–77 | Northwestern | 9–18 | 7–11 | T–7th | |||||
| 1977–78 | Northwestern | 8–19 | 4–14 | T–9th | |||||
| Northwestern: | 44–87 (.336) | 25–61 (.291) | |||||||
| Long Beach State 49ers(Pacific Coast Athletic Association)(1978–1983) | |||||||||
| 1978–79 | Long Beach State | 16–12 | 7–7 | 4th | |||||
| 1979–80 | Long Beach State | 22–12 | 11–3 | 2nd | NIT second round | ||||
| 1980–81 | Long Beach State | 15–13 | 9–5 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1981–82 | Long Beach State | 12–16 | 7–7 | T–4th | |||||
| 1982–83 | Long Beach State | 13–16 | 6–10 | 7th | |||||
| Long Beach State: | 78–69 (.531) | 40–32 (.556) | |||||||
| Total: | 453–334 (.576) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
*1960–61 record reflects one win by forfeit over Colorado. |
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win–loss % |
| Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win–loss % |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston | 1971–72 | 82 | 34 | 48 | .415 | 4th in Pacific | – | – | – | – | Missed Playoffs |
| Houston | 1972–73 | 47 | 17 | 30 | .362 | 3rd in Central | – | – | – | – | – |
| Career | 129 | 51 | 78 | .395 | – | – | – | – | |||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
