Ex-Bulls assistant Winter finally a Hall of Famer

Jerry Krause has long been a vocal supporter of Tex Winter’s inclusion in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

While this next quote should be taken with a grain of salt, it shows where the former Bulls general manager ranks Winters among the great basketball minds.

“If Tex had been a biology teacher, he would have gotten the Nobel Prize,” Krause said this week in a phone interview. “He’s a genius, besides being one of the best people I know.”

According to Krause, as soon as he was introduced as Bulls GM at a 1985 news conference, he headed upstairs to phone Winter and offer him a spot on the coaching staff.

At the time, Winter was assisting Dale Brown at LSU and had spent less than two years of his life working in the NBA. Winter had a brief, unsuccessful stint as head coach of the Houston Rockets from 1971-73.

Winter’s greatest success was at Kansas State from 1953-68 when he led the Wildcats to the Final Four in 1958 and ’64. He also was head coach at Northwestern, Marquette, Washington and Long Beach State.

After joining the Bulls, Winter’s coaching talents enjoyed a second life. Known as architect and innovator of the “triple post” or “triangle” offense, Winter worked with Phil Jackson to win nine NBA championships with the Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers.

Jackson will be the presenter when Winter, 89, finally is enshrined in the Hall of Fame on Friday. Krause said it was Jackson’s decision to use the triangle offense with the Bulls.

Winter has been in failing health since suffering a stroke more than a year ago, but he is planning to make the trip to Springfield, Mass. Winter’s son John is planning to make the acceptance speech. Winter and his wife, Nancy, are living with another son, Brian, in Manhattan, Kan.

“I saw Tex about two months ago, spent maybe an hour-and-a-half with Tex and Nancy,” said Krause, who is working as a special assistant for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“He spoke as much as he can speak. We communicated. It was great to see him. He would talk a little bit on the phone after the stroke, but nothing much. It got down to where he couldn’t talk on the phone.”

Former Bulls center Bill Cartwright, who spent three seasons coaching with Winter on the Bulls’ staff, also thinks the Hall of Fame induction is long overdue.

“The big thing about Tex, he was not only an innovator, but he’s helped so many people,” Cartwright said. “When I first came here, I was in his office every day, just learning from him, talking basketball, learning the triangle.

“As a person, there’s nobody better than this guy.”

For Krause, this will be something of a reunion weekend. After vowing not to set foot in the Hall of Fame until Winter was included, this will be his first visit to Springfield since Earl Monroe’s ceremony in 1990.

“Tex Winter’s a Hall of Famer,” Krause explained. “That building should represent people like him. I just made up my mind that I wasn’t going to do it. As a result, I skipped Michael (Jordan’s) thing, I skipped Scottie (Pippen’s) thing, skipped Phil’s thing, because I live up to my word.

“I said I wouldn’t walk in that building. People said, ‘Why aren’t you going to Jordan’s thing?’ It had nothing to do with Michael. It had to do with Tex.”

Krause’s history with Winter goes back to the days when Kansas State dominated the Big 8 Conference in the 1960s.

Winter’s college coach at USC, Sam Barry, often is credited with creating the triangle offense, but Winter refined it and perfected it over the years.

“When I got into scouting, I met him and we talked,” Krause said. “I’d go to a couple practices and I saw the things he did and I was just amazed by them. His way with big people was tremendous. His way of teaching was great.”

Krause continued to build the relationship when Winter was head coach at Northwestern from 1973-78. Considering how competitive the Big Ten was in those years, a couple of 7-11 conference records were an impressive achievement.

“He won at Northwestern when nobody could win at Northwestern,” Krause said. “When he was at Northwestern, we spent a lot of time together. We talked a lot about the game.

“I told him if I get an NBA general manager’s job, the first person I’m going to call is you. We kind of laughed about it.”

There were plenty of laughs during the Bulls championship era. On Friday, Krause expects to be holding back tears.

mmcgraw@dailyherald.com