Lakers’ Winter suffers an apparent stroke

SALT LAKE CITY — As Saturday wore on, the update the Lakers were given about longtime team consultant Tex Winter, who suffered an apparent stroke this weekend, was that he was resting in a

hospital in Manhattan, Kan., and that the next 24 to 72 hours were critical in his recovery.

Winter, 87, briefly left the Lakers to go to Kansas State, where he coached the men’s basketball team that advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 1958. He was there for a reunion.

“He had to be taken to the hospital because he had a fall in the shower and had some troubles,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said Saturday. “I’ve been in touch with the family and they feel

relatively at ease with the situation, as difficult as it could have been. I’m happy to say that, and they’ve basically said, ‘Take your mind of off this and put it where it belongs right

now.’ ”

Winter has been a longtime mentor for Jackson, whose team is playing the Utah Jazz in a first-round playoff series in Salt Lake City.

Jackson said that Lakers medical personnel are staying in contact with doctors in Kansas.

“He’s a tough guy,” Kobe Bryant said. “I’m sure he’ll bounce back.”

Bryant talked about how Winter is a “basketball purist” who wants the game played the right way. And when it wasn’t, Winter wasn’t afraid to speak his mind.

“When he first got here, he and I used to do individual film sessions pretty much every day,” Bryant said. “We’d just watch the whole game from start to finish. He just shared so much

knowledge with me. That’s the thing I think I’ve learned the most from him.”

Winter has been battling shingles since late 2007 and recently told The Times that this season would be his last if he was still ailing when training camp started in October.

In his 63rd season of earning a basketball-related paycheck, Winter is credited with being a modern-day architect of the triangle offense.

In fact, Jackson has lobbied numerous times for Winter to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Winter has been recognized by the Hall of Fame with a lifetime achievement award but has not

officially been elected into its membership.

As per his contract, Winter is with the Lakers two weeks every month. Earlier this month, he talked about the possibility of this being his last season.

“I’m getting too old,” he said, smiling. About returning, he said, “At one time, I thought I would, but I’m not sure any more. I would feel a whole lot better about it if I didn’t have these

shingles.

“It’s really taken me downhill. The thing I don’t want to become is too much of a distraction if my health doesn’t hold up.”

Winter, who played for USC, took his first coaching job as an assistant with Kansas State after World War II. He eventually became the Wildcats’ coach from 1954 to 1968 and still holds a

school record with a .691 winning percentage.

Times staff writer Mike Bresnahan contributed to this report.