http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs...893763,00.html
Tex Winter made it clear.
Surely, he told author Ann Parr, there was a better subject for a book than him. But she persisted. The result was "Coach Tex Winter: Triangle Basketball," a book detailing Winter's nearly 60-year coaching career and life outside the game he loves.
Winter, the innovator of the triangle offense, has always remained on the periphery of college and pro basketball. Team play is crucial. Individual play is secondary, he says.
Winter, who spent the second half of his coaching career away from the spotlight, helped Phil Jackson win nine NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. He's challenged Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, two of the NBA's greatest individual talents, to play a team game.
"He doesn't believe in focusing and singling out any individual," Parr said.
When 2007 hits, it will mark 60 years since Winter started his coaching career as a young assistant at Kansas State. Bypassed several times for the Hall of Fame, Winter says he wants the honor for friends, family and former players.
"I've developed some very fine players at the college level," said Winter by telephone from his home in Salem, Ore. "At the pro level, I've been very fortunate to be associated with some of the best players to ever play the game. To see what they can accomplish within the philosophy of the triangle offense has been a real thrill for me and a blessing."
Winter, 84, lives with his wife Nancy of 60 years and contemplates his future. His contract with the Lakers ended June 30, but it was extended to September. Years spent traveling from one coaching stop to the next has affected Nancy.
"She's depressed," Winter said. "I'm having problems with that right now. It's made a difference in our lives."
How Nancy is doing will weigh heavily on his decision next month when he sits down with Jackson and Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak to decide whether or not he can continue to contribute.
The new book explores how Winter arrived here, a decorated coaching figure, from his humble beginnings in Wellington, Texas. He was born Feb. 25, 1922, Morice Frederick Winter, 15 minutes behind twin sister Mona.
A young Fred Winter moved his family to Lubbock, Texas. He lost his father when he was 10 as he and his family had to manage under the difficult circumstances of the Depression. Winter's older brother, Ernest Winter, then 13, emerged as the take-charge father figure Fred Winter needed.
"He drove me to the point that often times, of course, I resented it a great deal. But I'm sure without having had him do that, I don't believe I would have gone very far," Winter said.
The family moved to California and Huntington Park in the mid-1930s. People there heard Fred Winter's Texas drawl and the nickname "Tex" was born.
"I accepted it," Winter said. "I tell people I haven't been able to live it down and Texas won't know what I've done to live up to it."
Pole vaulting and basketball headlined Winter's athletic career and it took him from Huntington Park High to Compton Junior College. He later went to Oregon State, where he mixed his love of basketball and track and met his future wife-- Nancy Bohnenkampfrom LeGrande, Ore.
World War II beckoned and Winter joined the Navy and became fully qualified, but never saw action. He returned to Compton briefly and completed his education at USC in June 1947.
With his college days and athletic exploits complete, this is where Winter started along the coaching trail that took him from Kansas State to NBA champion with the Bulls and Lakers. Kansas State always remains a fond memory, a time when he recruited, developed talent, the triangle worked smoothly and his team became a national power.
After Winter finished at USC, he interviewed with Ventura Junior College to become head track coach and assistant basketball coach for $3,500.
"I wasn't offered the job or anything, but I had looked into it and was really interested and (USC coach) Sam Berry talked me into going to Kansas State instead," said Winter, who was paid $3,000 in Manhattan, Kan.
Winter spent four years there and became Marquette's head coach in 1951, at the time the youngest Division I head coach in NCAA history. Two years later, coach Jack Gardner left KSU and Winter, drawn to the challenge, agreed to return.
Winter's KSU teams struggled the first two years, but over the course of his 15-year stay enjoyed his most successful college-coaching job with a 262-117 record. He ended legendary Kansas coach Phog Allen's career on a losing note. Two KSU teams (1957-58 and 1958-59) ranked No. 1 nationally.
"You could really coach, I felt like, and develop teams," Winter said. "I don't think you're able to do that under the way modern programs work with the freshmen being eligible."
Winter faced John Wooden while at KSU, losing a 90-84 decision in a 1964 NCAA Final Four game, and again at Washington.
"We never became close friends, but he's someone who I have always looked up to and admired and I felt like, that in many respects, he helped my coaching career a great deal because of the opportunity to play against him," Winter said.
When Winter left Kansas State, he made coaching stops at Washington (three years), San Diego and Houston Rockets (two), Northwestern (five) and Long Beach State (five). Now 61, Winter considered retirement before Dale Brown talked him into joining LSU as an assistant/consultant in 1983.
"It didn't bother me because what I wanted to do is spend my time with youngsters teaching basketball and that's the opportunity (Brown) gave me at Louisiana State," Winter said.
Winter, who knew Bulls general manager Jerry Krause from his time at Kansas State, agreed to join the Bulls as an assistant in 1985. The job led to his longtime partnership with Jackson, who bought into the triangle offense. Winter and Jackson worked together to win six rings with the Bulls from 1991 to 1998 and three more with the Lakers with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal from 2000 to 2002.
"He's not an easy man to coach," Winter said of Bryant. "He's impulsive, but on the other hand, he's certainly one of the all-time great players."
In 2004, Los Angeles traded O'Neal to the Miami Heat and Jackson left. Last season, Jackson returned and so did Winter, intrigued by coaching Bryant again.
"It was a factor," Winter said. "I was excited about seeing what my relationship with Kobe would be when I started telling him what he was doing wrong, which you have to do."">