Tex Winter

Winter was born on February 25, 1922, He grew up in an unpainted shack just outside of Wellington, located in the Texas panhandle, during the Dust Bowl. The Winter family moved to Lubbock, 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. Both Woolpert and Newell would become Hall of Fame head coaches. == College ==

After graduation from high school in 1940, Winter attended college at Compton Junior College for two years, where he became a renowned pole vaulter and earned a pole-vaulting scholarship to Oregon State University. He was on the basketball and track teams at both schools. As a pole vaulter, Winter competed against Bob Richards, a 1948 and 1952 Olympian. He was considered a strong candidate for the US Olympic team in 1944, but the Olympics were cancelled by World War II. == Naval service ==

Winter met his wife Nancy at Oregon State. He left the Navy with the rank of Ensign in 1946. == Post-war college ==

Winter returned to college after the war at the University of Southern California (1946-1947), where he learned the triangle offense from his coach Sam Barry, or as stated elsewhere, Winter learned the fundamentals of Barry's system from which Winter himself would devise the triangle offense. The Naismith Hall of Fame has said the triangle offense evolved in part from Barry's center-opposite offense. He was a basketball teammate of Bill Sharman, Alex Hannum, and Gene Rock, future professional basketball players. Like Winter, Sharman and Hannum would go on to be Hall of Fame coaches, though Winter, in a rarity, went in for his contributions as an assistant coach. At USC, Winter was also on the track team, and was named an All-American as a pole vaulter. ==College coaching career==

After graduating college in 1947, Winter immediately entered the coaching profession as an assistant to Hall-of-Famer Jack Gardner at Kansas State University (K-State or Kansas State), a position he held from 1947 to 1951. It was as an assistant at Kansas State where he began to devise the triangle offense. In 1953, Winter returned to Kansas State as its head coach; at 31, still the youngest major college coach. Winter served as Kansas State's head coach for the following 15 years, posting a 261–118 (.689) record, Junior center Bob Boozer was one of three Wildcats to be named a first-team All-American, along with teammates Jack Parr and Roy DeWitz who were also named All-Americans. Boozer, Parr and DeWitz were all named to the Midwest-Lawrence All-Regional NCCA team that year. Earlier in the season, on February 3, 1958, No. 4 ranked Kansas State defeated Wilt Chamberlain and the No. 2 ranked University of Kansas in double overtime, using a defensive scheme Winter devised to impede Chamberlain's offense. K-State advanced to their fourth Final Four in 1964. Winter's Wildcats knocked off Texas Western and Wichita State to reach Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. Two-time Big Eight selection Willie Murrell averaged 25.3 points per game during the run, which ended in a 90–84 loss to eventual national champion UCLA. It was the first of UCLA's 9 NCAA championships over the next 10 years. Winter also served as head coach at the University of Washington (1968–1971, where he was hired by then Athletic Director Joseph Kearney), Northwestern University (1973–1978), and Long Beach State. In 1982, LSU's Dale Brown, who Winter befriended when Brown was a high school coach, hired Winter as an assistant for one year 1983–84. In 30 years as a college head coach, Winter compiled a career record of 453–334. ==Professional coaching==

Leones de Ponce (1952–1954) Winter coached Leones de Ponce (basketball) from 1952 to 1954, earning consecutive BSN finals appearances and winning the first two championships in franchise history in 1952 and 1954. NBA Winter was hired by Pete Newell as head coach of the Houston Rockets for two seasons, 1971–1973, posting a 51–78 () record. Winter replaced his old USC teammate, Alex Hannum. He was fired and replaced by assistant coach Johnny Egan on January 21, 1973. The trading of Elvin Hayes to the Baltimore Bullets prior to the 1972–73 season and the Rockets' subsequent subpar performance were factors in his dismissal. In 1985, Winter started another chapter of his life after contemplating retirement, serving as an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls, and teaching the triangle offense to Michael Jordan. He was hired to the position by General Manager Jerry Krause, an old friend he had met while at Kansas State. As an assistant to Phil 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. Winter had a bond with Bryant, helping him understand the value of playing within the team's system, and watching hours of film together. Jordan respected Winter because of Winter's only being satisfied if things were done correctly. Jordan learned a deal from Winter, finding him to be a teacher and tireless worker, with a focus on details and preparation. ==Health and death==

On April 25, 2009, Winter suffered a stroke in Manhattan, Kansas, while attending a Kansas State basketball reunion. He lived near Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas with his Alzheimer's-stricken wife 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. He has two other sons, Russ and Chris. Winter died on October 10, 2018, at the age of 96. ==Legacy and honors==

Winter is a member of several Halls of Fame, including the Kansas State Athletics Hall of Fame (1991), In June 2010, he was given the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, along with Hall of Fame coach Dr. Jack Ramsay, by the NBA Coaches Association. In 2003, Kansas State fans voted him the Kansas State basketball coach of the century. 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." On May 26, 2012, Winter was inducted into the Compton Community College Athletics Hall of Fame, under the category of Basketball. ==Head coaching record==