Coach Tex Winter: Triangle Basketball [Paperback]

Ann Parr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2006

The life story of legendary Coach Tex Winter. At the age of ten, Tex experienced the untimely death of his father. What resulted was an awakening belief in the coordinated efforts of family members to work together as a team. His family experiences and resultant skills laid the foundation for what became known as his Triangle Offense, a strategy that revolutionized college and professional basketball. Coach Tex Winter: Triangle Basketball is an inspiring story of overcoming hardship to develop the attitudes and relationships for success at home, school and career. Contains 160 full-color pages of news clips, personal notes, photographs, and Tex's chalkboard sayings. Includes quotes from family, friends and legends such as Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson and others.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Hardcore hoopheads and would-be coaches will look for details about Tex's famed innovations to the triangle offense, and younger readers will undoubtedly appreciate the colorful graphics, pictures, and bite-sized text sections. --Kirkus Discoveries

Knowledgeable sports fans will really enjoy this book. It's a thorough, wonderful exploration of one man's life, a man who had an important and lasting impact on a great game. --14th Annual International Self-Published Book Awards Commentary

Award Winner in Sports Category --Best Books 2006 USABooksNews

From the Inside Flap

Tex Winter began his coaching career in the fall of 1947 as assistant coach at Kansas State University and continues through this season, 2005-06 as assistant coach and consultant with the Los Angeles Lakers. He has stayed in the field, teaching and coaching, nearly sixty consecutive seasons, except for the 2004-05 season when he followed through on his threat to retire. The retirement lasted one season.

This book highlights Tex's background, values and character; how he found his love for sports, followed it, and thrived. It follows the development of his major contribution to the game of basketball- the Triple Post Offense, often called the Triangle Offense. It provides background for the Triangle's evolution, and it underlines the sometimes rocky and painful road to the legacy he leaves. As his friend Pete Newell says, "He changed the game of basketball and gave a name to a particular pattern of offense."

Most of all, this book shows how Tex Winter became the teacher and coach that he, as a young teen, defined as his life's work.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: NDX Press (July 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193380310X
• ISBN-13: 978-1933803104
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #499,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #57 in Books > Teens > Sports & Hobbies > Sports

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Coach Tex Winter: Triangle Basketball, July 7, 2006

By 

Ted R. Hayes (Wichita, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coach Tex Winter: Triangle Basketball (Paperback)

Ann Parr has written a most in-depth, factual and inspiring closeup and personal story of one of the nation's great basketball minds, Tex Winter. Her years of personal friendship with Coach Winter, nurtured through her husband Jack Parr, who was an All-American for Winter at Kansas State, has provided the author with a unique, inside opportunity to share with the rest of us, the values and attributes behind the genius sitting on the bench during nine NBA world championship seasons.

This is not a book of "x"'s and "O"'s, or "triple-post/triangle offense intracacies. Rather, it is a story of how one man's belief in the team concept over individual talent became a foundation for those nine NBA world championship teams - each of which abounded in individual superstar talent but never won until grasping Winter's team philosophy in the triangle offense which Phil Jackson so masterfully orchestrated on the court.

Having had the privilege of knowing Tex Winter for years, I was nonetheless mesmerized by the stories he told through Ann Parr. I learned so much about Tex and his teams and his dreams and even got a great glimpse at what it was like to coach the likes of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Scottie Pippen and the most intriguing Dennis Rodman.

"Triangle Basketball" is a must read for basketball fans and for those striving to find out why some teams are so successful where others fail. Tex Winter, already a giant in basketball lore in this country, was given, in my opinion, a magnificent boost through Ann Parr's book, to a permanent place of honor in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. With beautiful graphics, photos and quotes from numerous men who played for Tex Winter, my appreciation and affection for Tex Winter and for the author were magnified a thousand times. I simply could not put this book down.
Ted Hayes, Executive Director
State of Kansas Sports Hall of Fame

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hooked from the Middle, July 18, 2006

By 

Donald E. Tarver (Salina, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coach Tex Winter: Triangle Basketball (Paperback)

I read magazines and newspapers, not books. I had some free time recently and picked up this Tex Winter book. Although I like to watch basketball, I don't know much about the specific plays and strategies, and I didn't know who Tex Winter was. I flopped the book open -- to a middle page -- and started reading. I kept turning back toward the front of the book to find out what happened before, and then what happened before that, and pretty soon, I couldn't put the thing down. All the interesting quotes and stories by and about famous players and coaches got me hooked. And all the quotes and personal notes by Tex made me read more. It's great, and I'd recommend it for anyone who has any interest in basketball, or sports in general, or just likes inspirational personal stories. It's a "can't put down" book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Godfather of the Triangle Offense, May 28, 2009

By 

Jeremy Bendat "Jeremy Bendat" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coach Tex Winter: Triangle Basketball (Paperback)

This book is fantastic. I am a huge Laker fan, and for years watched the Zen Master teach his players to execute the Triangle Offense, but never really understood its origin or knew anything about the man that invented it. It wasn't until Coach Tex Winter had his stroke that I decided to read about this man's life, and all that he accomplished while creating a whole new way to play basketball. With details that go back to Tex in grade school, and all the way through the different teams he coached, this book will not only inform its readers about Tex as a man, but also about Tex as a coach, mentor, and inventor of the Basketball's most complicated and effective offense. This book is ideal for any fan of basketball that loves the game, but also wants to learn about the man who created the offense that changed it forever.