Tex Winter

Morice Fredrick "Tex" Winter (February 25, 1922 – October 10, 2018) was an American basketball coach and innovator of the triangle offense, an offensive system that became the dominant force in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and resulted in 11 NBA Championships with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s and the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2000s under head coach Phil Jackson, with Winter an assistant coach to Jackson on the first nine of those championship teams; and a consultant for the 2008-09 Lakers' championship team. In 2002, after the Lakers won their third consecutive NBA 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. Winter was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2016, the NBA Coaches Association created the annually presented Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award in his honor. In 2010, he was given the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award by the NBA Coaches Association. In 1998, Winter was awarded the John Bunn Award for lifetime achievement from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Winter was a head coach in college basketball for 30 years. He was the youngest head coach in major college basketball for a number of years, and during his 15 years coaching Kansas State University he went to the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four twice (1958 and 1964), won eight conference titles, and had nearly a 70 percent winning percentage. In March 1958, he was voted the United Press college Coach of the Year. Winter was selected the Big Eight Coach of the Year at Kansas State three consecutive seasons (1957 to 1960), and again in his final season in the Big Eight (1967–68)....