This story, used with permission by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, was written in 2011 prior to Tex Winter's enshrinement. Winter passed away Wednesday at the age of 96.
The first time Phil Jackson ran into Tex Winter was by chance in an airport. Jackson was then playing for the New York Knicks and was with his teammate Bill Bradley, the future U.S. senator.
"Bradley pointed him out," recalled Jackson, "and he said, ‘That's Tex Winter. He runs one of the sweetest offensive systems in college basketball. He can take any team with relatively good talent and beat great teams with movement and passing and team play.