Tex Winter

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Bulls.com

CHICAGO – Today, the Chicago Bulls named the inaugural class for the organization’s new Ring of Honor, which will recognize and celebrate past players, coaches and front office staff who made outstanding contributions and helped define the organization throughout its history. The Bulls will celebrate the first class, which includes 13 individuals and the 1995-96 team, with several events in January including a halftime presentation during the Bulls game against the Golden State Warriors on January 12 and a private gala at the United Center on January 11, both proudly presented by Magellan Corporation. Fans will be able to engage with the Ring of Honor through a United Center atrium experience that will be open to the public from January 10 through January 12, as well as a website that will launch in early January.&nbsp;

“The Chicago Bulls Ring of Honor will be a first-of-its-kind celebration honoring many of the legends who have helped shaped our organization over the past 57 years,” said Michael Reinsdorf, president and chief executive officer. “They have deep connections to our fans and community and represent a spirit of competition, hard work, and toughness.&nbsp; This January, we look forward to cementing their legacy in Bulls history and inspiring the future of our organization.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Bulls will add to the Ring of Honor every two years with the next class being inducted in 2026.&nbsp;

The inaugural class includes 13 individual Bulls legends and one team: Artis Gilmore, Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan, Johnny “Red” Kerr, Dick Klein, Jerry Krause, Toni Kukoc, Bob Love, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Jerry Sloan, Chet Walker, Tex Winter, and the 1995-96 team, which went 72-10 and won the 1996 NBA Championship.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Bulls will honor the following players, coaches and staff from the 1995-96 team:&nbsp;&nbsp;

Chicago Bulls Ring of Honor Selection Criteria&nbsp;&nbsp;

Chicago Bulls Ring of Honor honorees must all meet a set of criteria:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

For the first class, in addition to the general evaluation criteria, all individual players have been honored by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame or have had their retirement banners raised at the United Center.&nbsp;&nbsp;

To learn more and sign up for updates, please visit Bulls.com/RingofHonor. To buy tickets for the January 12 game, please visit Bulls.com/tickets.&nbsp;&nbsp;

chicago-bulls-launch-ring-of-honor-and-announce-inaugural-class

Chicago Bulls Launch Ring of Honor and Announce Inaugural Class

FINAL: Bulls 104, Indiana 89 : Bulls (2-2), Pacers (2-2)

LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: Holiday and LaVine each with 22.  Indiana: Young: 16LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Parker, Payne, Portis each with 6.  Indiana: Young: 10LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: Dunn: 7  Indiana: Collison 5.

CCI RECAP: The Bulls changed up their starting lineup going with rookie Wendell Carter Jr. at the five and Bobby Portis at the four.  Robin Lopez and Jabari Parker came off the bench as the Bulls took it to Indiana from the opening tipoff. Portis responded with a 20-6 game while Carter got in early foul trouble. Meantime, Parker scored 11 first half points and crashed the glass collecting 6 rebounds. The Bulls defense was outstanding.

CCI STAT OF THE NIGHT:  17 - 1st quarter points by the Pacers as the Bulls doubled the score setting the tone for the game.

CCI GAME BALL: Zach LaVine. I'm giving the game ball to  Zach for his defense on Victor Oladipo, who went 4 of 15 from the floor. LaVine shut him down.

CCI QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: Fred Hoiberg on Bobby Portis: "Bobby set the tone with his voice, defensively. People in the top row could hear him. It got guys communicating out there."

STATEMENT FROM CHICAGO BULLS ON THE PASSING OF TEX WINTER:
The following statement is from John Paxson, the Chicago Bulls Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, on behalf of the Bulls:
"Tex Winter was a basketball legend and perhaps the finest fundamental teacher in the history of our game. He was an innovator who had high standards for how basketball should be played and approached everyday. Those of us who were lucky enough to play for him will always respect his devotion to the game of basketball. His contributions to the Bulls organization will always be remembered."

Statement from Bill Wennington: "When I came to the Bulls in 1993, I was a seasoned veteran in the NBA. I had been on good teams and bad. In my mind, the Bulls offense was brilliant. Tex Winter had devised an offensive system that made each player on the court more valued, because each was given the ability to score in the unselfishness of the triangle offense.  Tex also cared about you as a man and wanted the best for you on and off the court. The basketball world has lost a great basketball mind, mentor, coach and friend in Tex Winter."

CCI REMEMBERS WINTER:  I first met Tex as a kid growing up in Seattle. At that time, Tex was the head coach at the University of Washington and spoke at a coaching clinic in the Bellevue, Washington area. I attended with my next door neighbor who was a high school coach. I tagged along and was captivated with his knowledge and ability to break down the game. Keep in mind, I was, and still am, a gym rat. And from that moment on, I followed his career that led him to the San Diego/Houston Rockets-back to college at Northwestern, Long Beach State, LSU then the Bulls and Lakers. Credit the late Bulls GM Jerry Krause. He believed in Tex from day one. I had many conversations with Tex throughout the years about his time in Seattle and his life as a coach. He was truly one of a kind.

Jimmy Butler with a Minnesota meltdown and I'll leave it at that.

Orlando 102, Memphis 86.  Orlando's Mo Bamba sat this one out with a right wrist injury. Jonathan Isaac had a 15-8 game for the Magic.

Atlanta 130, Spurs 127. Pau Gasol had a double-double of 14-10. Rudy Gay still ballin with 28. Atlanta's Trae Young 22 points 7 assists. He drained a 30 footer to win it for the Hawks. Both teams shot over 50%.

Toronto 118, Nets 91. Kyle Lowry was ejected from the game after being called for a foul. Kawhi Leonard was a +21 with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals and 1 block.

Washington 102, Pistons 97. Oh my, John Wall: 32 points in 32 minutes AND... 5 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals and a block.  Andre Drummond with 17 points and 20 rebounds. Save some of the gravy for the main course next week.

Miami 140, New Orleans 128. Shades of the old ABA.   Miami's Bam Adebayo  26 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 5 steals. Think he's sending a message to the Heat about hearing his name in trade rumors?

Portland 116, Phoenix 83. Jake Layman can fill it up.  5 threes for the veteran out of Maryland as he scored 28 lifting the Blazers.

Lakers 123, Warriors 113. LeBron in 18 minutes with a rock solid 15-10-5 game. Lonzo Ball played for the first time since last March (knee surgery), scoring 7 points in 23 minutes.

Boston's Gordon Hayward says he's dealing with back soreness and that it is getting "progressively worse."  The Celtics open up the regular season next week hosting the 76ers.

Caught up with ESPN/ABC's Doris Burke last night, and as always, it was great reconnecting. Doris is excellent at her craft and a great, great person. She is a great role model for women AND men.

Thanks for reading CCI. Always a pleasure. Reach me at cswirsky@bulls.com or Twitter: @ctsbulls

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Chuck Checks In: 10.11.18

This story, used with permission by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, was written in 2011 prior to Tex Winter's enshrinement. Winter passed away October 10, 2018 at the age of 96.

"Morice Fred “Tex” Winter was a coach who made us aware of appeasing the basketball god(s). There were principals to be followed to play it the right way. He also lived his life that way," said Phil Jackson after hearing of Tex's death.

The first time Phil Jackson ran into Tex Winter was by chance in an airport. Jackson was then playing for the New York Knicks and was with his teammate Bill Bradley, the future U.S. senator.

"Bradley pointed him out," recalled Jackson, "and he said, ‘That's Tex Winter. He runs one of the sweetest offensive systems in college basketball. He can take any team with relatively good talent and beat great teams with movement and passing and team play.'"

Little did Jackson know then that some 20 years later Winter would be by his side as muse and teacher for an unprecedented run of 11 NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, though Jackson was just one of hundreds, perhaps thousands, who were inspired by the rumpled, little basketball genius who was everything from a world class pole vaulter to top gun fighter pilot to a basketball savant whose teams of modest talent beat Wilt and Oscar and Magic and whose influence helped shape the likes of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.

Though the common denominator was the game.

Tex's accomplishments as one of the best coaches in the game at Kansas State from 1953 through 1968 were preeminent: Eight conference titles in 15 years, four times coach of the year, a No. 1 national ranking and highly regarded by his peers as he was elected president of the coach's association and a guiding force in rules changes as well as nation's winningest coach when he left Kansas State.

Yet also a modest, ethical and moral man who declined to be caught up in the worst elements of recruiting, thus his many subordinately talented teams who succeeded beyond their expectations. Yet, if also practicing fairness, Tex was a man who experienced in Texas in the Dust Bowl days of the Great Depression the hardship and emptiness of need and was not one to let it overwhelm others.

"Tex is a very stand up guy," said Jackson. "He has the purest intentions about basketball, but when he had kids who could not make it home for Thanksgiving he was going to feed them. He was going to feed them right or wrong."

Tex once famously asked beseechingly why, "If an English teacher takes a student home for dinner, he's a humanitarian. If a basketball coach does, he's a crook."

For Tex, the game always has been a labor of love, though also a way to live life the right way. You didn't pound your chest or brag about it. You just did it.

He was an evangelist, of sorts, of the game. He'd go anywhere to teach it, to conduct clinics. Iceland, New Zealand, the Philippines, and if there wasn't a budget, he'd pay. Though this still was Tex the child of the Depression, who always wondered why everyone ate out on the road when there were these fabulous--in his view--free press room meals of meat and mashed potatoes.

When the Lakers or Bulls would send him to scout, he'd get the senior citizen airfare rate. One time he was going to do some advanced scouting for the Bulls while they were in New York. He was to see the Nets in New Jersey. He insisted on going to the Port Authority terminal to take a bus even though the team would pay for taxi or limousine. A waste of money, Tex said, and took the bus.

But it always was a first class ride during the games with his triangle offense, perhaps the ultimate in a pure basketball game. There were no play calls or numbering systems. Players reacted to the defense, passed the ball and moved until the best shot presented itself.

Tex adapted the concept playing for Sam Barry at the University of Southern California with teammates Bill Sharman and Alex Hannum, the latter who went on to use variations of the triangle in successful NBA and Hall of Fame careers. Though Tex's concepts came from years of study from being a ball boy at Loyola U. for Jimmy Needles while Tex was at USC and studying Needles' "reverse action" offense to Barry's "center opposite" game at USC.

As ball boy at Loyola, Tex would work with Phil Woolpert, who went on to coach Bill Russell at the U. of San Francisco and Pete Newell, who won the national championship at the U. of California with his motion offense and later would hire Tex to coach the San Diego/Houston Rockets.

Tex left USC to become the nation's youngest head coach at Marquette, though perhaps the essence of Tex was leaving the power schools like Kansas State to take the head coaching job in the Big 10 at Northwestern, where there was almost no chance to win regularly given the school's small size and rigorous academic standards.

But for Tex it always was about the game and the people who played, and while Tex was just 44-87 at Northwestern, they beat Magic Johnson's Michigan State team and the high flying Michigan team with Rickey Green and Phil Hubbard. Like Tex used to joke, "There are a lot of teams we can beat. They just aren't on our schedule."

As John Wooden once said after his UCLA team with Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe and Lynn Shackleford trailed at halftime twice in 10 days against Tex's then U. of Washington teams and barely squeaked by them in UCLA's toughest games of the season and later faced an injury decimated Washington: "Even if all five Washington players should break their legs, there'd be ample reason to fear Winter."

Morice Frederick "Tex" Winter was born in 1922 in Texas, though not known as Tex until the family moved to southern California after his father died when Tex was 10. Tex was small, maybe 5-8 and 125 as a sophomore in high school, and though not a star, he was fast and was a leader. He could have been a track star, but was found to have an enlarged heart and prevented from running. So he took up pole vaulting and was a natural. He would eventually compete frequently against a U. of Illinois vaulter named Bob Richards, who placed third in the 1948 Olympics with a vault of 13-9. The winner was at 14-1. Tex had been injured in the trials, but already had vaulted 14-4. Richards would go on to star in the 1952 Olympics and be immortalized on the Wheaties box.

Tex went to Oregon State on a basketball scholarship, though the highlight was meeting and marrying Nancy Bohnenkamp. Both joined the Navy and Tex went into aviation for fighter pilot training. After the war, Tex was selected to be a test pilot for experimental jet craft, or as he later put it "a guinea pig." Four of the eight pilots died in training.

Tex eventually became a flight instructor back in Texas, where he met Barry, who then recruited Tex to USC.

Tex was a sponge in studying and learning the game, every day of his working basketball life like the first day. Jackson said Tex would chart every play during games and there'd be times he'd run out of paper and be writing on the leg of trainer Chip Schaefer. Tex was always detail oriented with a lesson plan, the quintessential teacher.

One time with the Bulls during the Finals against the Jazz, Tex got called for a technical foul. He was devastated to be costing his team a point. He'd been telling the official he was missing illegal back picks being set by John Stockton. The official said Tex didn't know he was talking about. "Check page 44, section 33," Tex said.

Tex was the one who got Jackson to use Michael Jordan more in the post to enhance the offense but also to save wear on Jordan. Tex also was influential in getting Bryant to work more within the system after his pre-Jackson forays with wild talented excesses.

"Kobe went to see Tex a lot," Jackson recalled. "Tex was the one able to get him to understand to stay within the system, slow down. They'd watch tape together for hours. They developed a great bond."

But Tex wasn't one to defer to anyone when it came to the game, which transcended everyone. Tex would frequently jab Jackson when he wasn't calling timeouts, "You're being outcoached! Get going." And Tex was the one when the Bulls were falling well behind in Game 6 of the 1992 Finals who told Jackson, "Get Jordan out. He's hurting us." If you wanted honestly you asked Tex. Or listened. Jackson did remove Jordan and the Bulls went on to overcome a 15-point fourth quarter deficit and win their second title.

"He seemed to always come up with an idea that would solve a problem and help us to a championship," said Jackson.

After graduating from USC, Tex became an assistant to Jack Gardner at Kansas State and at 28 became the nation's youngest head coach at Marquette. After two seasons at Marquette, Gardner left Kansas State and Tex returned as head coach.

It was a brilliant, memorable run with not the most highly recruited players, but a much copied system of play that would defeat the giants. There was the memorable win over Kansas and Wilt at the end of the 1957-58 season that sent Wilt to the pros and Kansas State to the NCAA's as back then only the conference champion went. Then in the tournament, Kansas State beat Oscar Robertson and the No. 1 ranked Cincinnati.

Tex would publish his famous Triple Post Offense book in 1962, and typical of the teacher that Tex was and it was the student who mattered most, I had once asked Tex to help me with the offense. He brought me the book to read. I looked inside and realized it was the copy he'd inscribed personally to his mother. I told Tex I couldn't borrow it, that it was too valuable. Tex said it was more important I learn what I needed.

It was that influence that inspired a generation of coaches, from the likes of Bill Guthridge and Gene Keady at Kansas State to Dale Brown, a high school coach Tex befriended, to Jackson, who adopted the triangle for use with the Bulls and Lakers to become the most successful coach in NBA history.

"Basketball and teaching was his calling," said Jackson. "Like a missionary."

tex-a-teacher-and-pioneer-of-the-game

Tex: A teacher and pioneer of the game

admin

The following statement is from John Paxson, the Chicago Bulls Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, on behalf of the Bulls: 

"Tex Winter was a basketball legend and perhaps the finest fundamental teacher in the history of our game.  He was an innovator who had high standards for how basketball should be played and approached everyday.  Those of us who were lucky enough to play for him will always respect his devotion to the game of basketball.  His contributions to the Bulls organization will always be remembered."

statement-from-chicago-bulls-on-the-passing-of-tex-winter

STATEMENT FROM CHICAGO BULLS ON THE PASSING OF TEX WINTER

Sam Smith

This story was written in 2011 prior to Tex Winter's enshrinement into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Winter passed away Wednesday at the age of 96.

It was quintessential Tex Winter, but also a metaphor for the art of basketball, as Winter believed and taught it, and which on August 12 will see him among the Class of 2011 for induction in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

It was at one of the Bulls' private championship celebrations in that golden era, players, staff, investors and the Most Very of VIPs. Tex was with family and friends and casually making some introductions for his kids and their spouses. Everyone knew Tex from his success coaching in college and in the NBA with the Bulls and later Lakers championship teams, 10 titles as likely the most successful assistant/mentor in NBA history.

Plenty of big timers were there, like Lamar Hunt, one of the original investors in the Bulls, who also was perhaps America's most noted sportsman for helping found the American Football League, Major League Soccer, owning teams and being one of the world's richest men along the way.

Tex became famous for popularizing the triple-post, sideline triangle, or simply, triangle offense, a basketball system based on equal opportunity. It was a system based on ball movement and player movement with purpose. The reaction was to what the defense does.

"This is Lamar Hunt," Tex was saying conversationally to his daughter in law, Kim. "He's from Texas, too."

No, nothing about being from the family of oil tycoons or founding sports leagues or of being one of the founders of the Chicago Bulls. Just Lamar from Texas.

Vintage Tex, because that little anecdote says much about Morice Fredrick "Tex" Winter and the basketball philosophy that helped make the teams he worked with among the most successful in the history of American team sports.

It was, as Tex once said, based on equal opportunity, which also was something of a tenet of Tex's life. He believed if you supplied the basic elements of effort, spirit, determination, ambition and character—with, of course, some talent—you could succeed, success measured in helping your team. Not who you were, but what you did.

Sure, the Bulls with Michael Jordan had the biggest star of the game, hardly just another guy. But the system was flexible enough to adjust for individual brilliance within the team concept, which was a crucial element of the success of the 1990's Bulls and 2000's Lakers. Think of some of the guys who starred at the biggest times: John Paxson, Steve Kerr and Bobby Hansen in Chicago, just to name a few.

It was that same system which enabled Winter in a fabulous college career to defeat teams led by the transcendent stars of the day, like Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson.

Of course, you also need talent. So when Tex went to the University of Washington, he couldn't quite get by UCLA and Lew Alcindor, though no one gave them tougher games. And no one else got by them, either. When Tex went to Northwestern, his teams couldn't win consistently. But they routinely defeated top Big 10 teams.

That also was the essence of Tex as a coach.

He didn't chase awards or individual honors. The group—the team—was what mattered. So in what was pure Tex, he left one of the most successful programs in the nation, Kansas State, to his then assistant, Cotton Fitzsimmons, when Kansas State was a national power.

His teams had won eight conference titles in 15 seasons and Winter was one of the winningest coaches in college basketball, fourth most successful in college basketball when he left Kansas State. His teams finished in the top 10 nine times. He was the chairman of the NCAA rules committee. He'd written a bible on tactics, the Triple-Post Offense. He was perhaps the most in demand speaker for clinics. He was voted national coach of the year.

But Tex still went to moribund basketball programs like the University of Washington. And places where his win/loss record would badly suffer, like Northwestern. Still, it never mattered to the affable Tex because he could teach and coach and, after all, it was never about him, but the game and the players. It didn't matter who you were, but what you did. And no one was above teaching or improvement because that was the goal.

If Michael Jordan didn't pass the ball correctly, Tex explained the correct way, which he did.

"Michael said he knew he wasn't passing the ball right," Phil Jackson recalled with a laugh.

So did Craig Hodges and Billy McKinney, two of Tex's college players who went onto NBA careers despite limited physical abilities, players who were every bit as important to Tex as Jordan.

"No way I'd ever have played in the NBA without his fundamentals, the preparation, the routines he taught every day," said McKinney.

It was about teaching and helping and growing and celebrating the game, no matter who you were. That, really, is what makes you a Hall of Famer.

It was a tough life for Tex growing up in dusty West Texas during the years of the Depression and the Dust Bowl. His father died of an infection when Tex was 10 and Tex had to work while in elementary school to help support the family. Sometimes you never can forget, and Tex admits he always kept the little shampoo and lotion bottles from the team hotels. One of his jobs as a kid was to collect boxes for a local baker in exchange for day old bread for the family. For years, Tex always kept boxes and would get the trainers to give him the Nike sneaker boxes. Hey, you never know.

It helped cement the reputation of being the absent minded professor. But until you've been there, you cannot know the hardship. "I lived through when we hardly had enough," Tex once told me. "I don't forget."

But life finally changed a bit for the better when he was in high school. His older sister had married and moved to California. He and his twin sister and mom joined her while his football star brother stayed behind to finish school in Texas, though not like it was the gold rush. Tex still worked to help support the family, boxing produce at a local market and paid in day old vegetables and fruits to help feed the family.

Though there was no expense spared for the game.

Tex while coaching was an evangelist of the game. He'd go anywhere to teach it, to conduct clinics. Iceland, New Zealand, the Philippines, and if there wasn't a budget, he'd pay. Though this still was Tex the child of the Depression, who always wondered why everyone ate out on the road when there were these fabulous—in his view—free press room meals of meat and mashed potatoes.

But it always was a first class ride during the games with his triangle offense, perhaps the ultimate in pure basketball. There were no play calls or numbering systems. Players reacted to the defense, passed the ball and moved until the best shot presented itself.

After high school, Tex attended junior college in Los Angeles, where he became a renowned pole vaulter and earned a scholarship to Oregon State.

Tex adapted the triangle concept playing for Sam Barry at the University of Southern California with teammates Bill Sharman and Alex Hannum, the latter who went on to use variations of the triangle in successful NBA and Hall of Fame careers. Tex went to USC when he got out of the Navy after World War II as a fighter pilot.

Tex's concepts also came from years of study from being a ball boy for Loyola University while Tex was in high school. As ball boy at Loyola, Tex would work with Phil Woolpert, who went on to coach Bill Russell at the University of San Francisco and Pete Newell, who won the national championship at the University of California with his motion offense. Newell later would hire Tex to coach the San Diego/Houston Rockets. Tex also played summer league basketball in L.A. against Jackie Robinson.

Tex became a starting guard for his Navy team during the war on the recommendation of his commanding officer, Chuck Taylor, the developer of the famous Converse sneaker, and Tex in a game at Chicago Stadium against Northwestern went against famed future quarterback Otto Graham. Then at the Chicago relays, Tex finished second to the world record setter in the vault.

Tex would publish his famous Triple-Post Offense book in 1962, and typical of the teacher that Tex was, it was the student who mattered most.

Tex left USC to become the nation's youngest head coach at Marquette, though the essence of Tex was leaving the power schools like Kansas State to take the head coaching job in the Big 10 at Northwestern.

While Tex was just 44-87 at Northwestern, they beat Magic Johnson's Michigan State team and the high flying Michigan team with Rickey Green and Phil Hubbard. Like Tex used to joke, "There are a lot of teams we can beat. They just aren't on our schedule."

While at Washington, Tex routinely coached against the UCLA dynasty with Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe and Lynn Shackleford. In one 10-day stretch playing UCLA twice, Tex's team led both times at halftime and barely fell late even with top players hurt. Said John Wooden: "Even if all five Washington players should break their legs, there'd be ample reason to fear Winter."

Tex got his nickname when the family moved to California. He was small early in high school, maybe 5-8 and 125 as a sophomore, and though not a star, he was fast and was a leader. He could have been a track star, but was found to have an enlarged heart and prevented from running. So he took up pole vaulting and was a natural. He would eventually compete frequently against a University of Illinois vaulter named Bob Richards, who placed third in the 1948 Olympics with a vault of 13-9. The winner was at 14-1. Tex had been injured in the trials, but already had vaulted 14-4. Richards would go on to star in the 1952 Olympics and be immortalized on the Wheaties box. Tex made the Olympic team when the Olympics were cancelled during World War II.

Tex met his wife, Nancy, at Oregon State. Both joined the Navy and Tex went into aviation for fighter pilot training. After the war, Tex was selected to be a test pilot for experimental jet craft, or as he later put it "a guinea pig." Four of the eight pilots died in training. Tex was Top Gun before we ever heard the name.

Tex was a sponge in studying and learning the game, every day of his working basketball life like the first day. Jackson said Tex still would chart every play during games and there'd be times he'd run out of paper and be writing on the leg of trainer Chip Schaefer. Tex was always detail oriented with a lesson plan, the ultimate teacher.

One time with the Bulls during the Finals against the Jazz, Tex got called for a technical foul. He was devastated to be costing his team a point. He'd been telling the official they were missing illegal back picks being set by John Stockton. The official said Tex didn't know he was talking about. "Check page 44, section 33," Tex said.

Tex wasn't one to defer to anyone when it came to the game. Tex would frequently jab Jackson when he wasn't calling timeouts, "You're being outcoached! Get going."

And Tex was the one when the Bulls were falling well behind in Game 6 of the 1992 Finals who told Jackson, "Get Jordan out. He's hurting us."

If you wanted honesty, you asked Tex. Or listened. Jackson did remove Jordan and the Bulls went on to overcome a 15-point fourth quarter deficit and win their second title.

After graduating from USC, Tex became an assistant to Jack Gardner at Kansas State, and at 28 became the nation's youngest head coach at Marquette. After two seasons at Marquette, Gardner left Kansas State and Tex returned as head coach.

It was a brilliant, memorable run with not the most highly recruited players, but a much copied system of play that would defeat the giants. There was the memorable win over Kansas and Wilt at the end of the 1957-58 season that sent Wilt to the pros and Kansas State to the NCAA's as back then only the conference champion went. Then in the tournament, Kansas State beat Oscar Robertson and the No. 1 ranked Cincinnati. Reports at the time called it one of the biggest games of the era.

"Tex had an offense that was unique," said Jackson. "And then he was the guy always in early watching game film, talking always with players about ways to improve their game within the offense. His dedication was truly inspirational and instrumental to everything we've been able to accomplish."

Tex would publish his famous Triple-Post Offense book in 1962, and typical of the teacher that Tex was, it was the student who mattered most. I once asked Tex to help me with the offense. He brought me the book to read. I looked inside and realized it was the copy he'd inscribed personally to his mother. I told Tex I couldn't borrow it, that it was too valuable. Tex said it was more important I learn what I needed.

It was that influence that inspired a generation of coaches, from the likes of Bill Guthridge and Gene Keady at Kansas State, to Dale Brown, a high school coach Tex befriended, to Jackson, who adopted the triangle for use with the Bulls and Lakers to become the most successful coach in NBA history.

Brown was an unknown North Dakota high school coach. Tex was a legend at Kansas State. Brown was enthralled with the Triple-Post Offense book and called Tex. He said he wanted to use its principles for his teams. So Tex invited Brown to Kansas. Kansas State was ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time. Brown came and Tex ended up having Brown stay at his home with him as they talked about the game and the offense long into the night.

It's why Tex left the larger stage of Kansas State to take on projects like the NBA's Rockets just as they moved to Houston and had to play a "home" schedule with games as far away as San Antonio, the University of Washington to compete against the giants at UCLA, Northwestern and then Long Beach State.

"The things we did every day, the fundamentals, the detail, the mental and physical preparation, some guys would laugh," recalled McKinney, now an executive with the Milwaukee Bucks. "But every year we'd beat top ranked teams. That was our signature. We just didn't have the talent to do it consistently."

Another protégé was Jerry Krause, a scout who reveled in Winter's detailed practices at Kansas State. When Krause was named Bulls general manager in 1985, his first hire was Winter, who served first as an advisor until Jackson was hired and embraced Winter's systems, philosophy and beliefs.

"He's the best teacher of the game I've ever been around," said Krause, who scouted and was an NBA executive for more than 30 years. "He has a great feel for people. He teaches big men better than anyone I've ever seen. If he were an economist or scientist, he'd have the Nobel Prize. Just a special guy. He'd turn donkeys into thoroughbreds."

Winter then took a seat by Jackson's side until a stroke at a Kansas State reunion in 2009 limited Tex from fulltime Lakers' involvement.

tex-winters-basketball-philosophy-and-triangle-offense-products-of-equal-opportunity

Tex Winter's basketball philosophy and triangle offense products of equal opportunity

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