Tex Winter Legendary Coach To Be In Lindsborg

Legendary basketball coach Tex Winter will be in Lindsborg on Saturday morning, November 17.

Coach Winter is the one person who more than anyone else has developed the highly effective basketball triangle offense. For a new coaches’ training video, he and a video production company will utilize many members of the Bethany College men’s basketball team and BC coach R. Clair Oleen in a full morning video shooting session at Ray Hahn Gym and P.E. Center, in Lindsborg, Ks.

Early this week it was unclear if the public and news-media would be able to view quietly the filming from a balcony area in Ray Hahn Gym at Bethany.

"In the NBA, eight of the last 11 world champion teams have run the Coach Winter’s offense, including the L.A. Lakers with head coach Phil Jackson. Winter actually gives credit for the triangle attack to Coach Sam Berry of USC in the 1930s, but the full development is due to coaching work of Coach Winter. This opportunity on November 16 for us to work with Coach Winter directly is a once-in-a-lifetime experience!" coach Oleen stated.

Oleen added: "At Bethany we have run the triangle offense for the past five years, and I feel very fortunate that I have been able to build a personal relationship with Coach Winter. This is very exciting for me, for our team, and many of our recent BC student-athlete alumni."

Recently coach Fred "Tex" Winter has been known as an assistant coach for the L.A. Lakers, and for his previous coaching. However, his basketball contributions extend back for decades.

He has many ties to Kansas, and his son Brian still lives in Manhattan, Kansas. When he was the head coach at Kansas State University, one of Winter’s players was Lindsborg native Jim Holwerda, son of the late Dr. William G. and Violette Holdwerda, and uncle of Betty Holwerda Hunter of Lindsborg. Lindsborg resident Jack Parr, a KSU student-athlete player for Winter, recently was named by KSU during the centennial of Wildcast basketball as one of the top five players ever at that institution. And there’s more.

Coach Winter, although he now is getting along in years, is still actively coaching in the NBA at Los Angeles. And he continues to work with many projects.

Coach Oleen said this week that he is working to get a time for fans and news-media to visit with Coach Winter while he is in Lindsborg.