C. L. Nix is shown in a 2011 photo in front of his field of roses in Whitehouse. Coach Nix passed away on Oct. 15.

East Texas has lost a legend.

C.L. Nix, who was born in a two-room sharecropper’s shack and grew up to become an All-America basketball player, a legendary coach, an entrepreneur and a pillar of his community, passed away on Thursday, Oct. 15.

“We were raised to work,” Coach Nix, who was born in depression-era Laneville, told the Tyler Morning Telegraph back in 2011. “In ‘51 we had cotton and stuff and there was a similar dry year to this one, but maybe not as bad. That made me want to get an education and do something besides farming.”

Coach Nix graduated from Laneville High School in 1952 and was recruited to play basketball by Tyler Junior College legendary coach Floyd Wagstaff. He was an All-American junior college player for the Apaches from 1952-54. He was inducted into the TJC Circle of Honor in 2008. Coach Nix met his beloved wife Peggy Shira at TJC.

After TJC, Nix played basketball at Stephen F. Austin State University where he earned All-Lone Star Conference honors as well as All-America accolades. There, he earned his master’s degree in Education. He held many individual scoring records at SFA and in 1988 was inducted into the SFA Hall of Fame.

After graduating from SFA in 1957, he and his wife Peggy moved to Whitehouse. There, the two helped build the community and Coach Nix developed the Wildcats into a basketball powerhouse.

In 2018, the Whitehouse ISD honored the East Texas icon by naming the school’s gymnasium C.L. Nix Arena.

Coach Nix was a high school principal in Whitehouse for a few years, in addition to coaching basketball for about 30 years.

When he began his career in Whitehouse, the district had only 22 teachers and maybe 300 students, Coach Nix said. There also was only one campus, at Farm-to-Market Road 346 and Texas Highway 110.

Originally hired to coach boys basketball, Coach Nix also coached the girls team for four or five years and saw several achievements during his tenure, including the 1978 UIL Class 2A boys state basketball championship. The Wildcats were also state runners-up in 1972 and semifinalists in 1979.

During his coaching career, Coach Nix compiled a record of 715-232. He also coached his sons, Cary and Jamie, on the Wildcats championship teams.

His Whitehouse teams won 18 district titles and made seven appearances in the regional tournament. He was recognized in 1988 by the Texas High School Coaches Association as being the third winningest active coach in Texas.

He and his late wife have an endowed scholarship at TJC — C.L. and Peggy Nix Endowed Scholarship. This scholarship is given to a graduate of Whitehouse High School. Priority consideration is given to deserving students according to character, scholastic achievement and need. Mrs. Nix, who worked at General Electric/Trane for 41 years, passed away in 2017.

Besides coaching, Coach Nix always had other business interests. Nix Roses is one of the few remaining wholesale rose growers in the greater Tyler area. Nix Roses are still sold today at the French Quarter. He was a founder and director of City National Bank of Whitehouse and served on the board of Oakbrook Health Center. He developed several housing additions in Whitehouse, had cattle operations, and raised and raced thoroughbred horses. The city of Whitehouse honored C. L and Peggy as Mr. and Mrs. Yesteryear in 2010.

He is survived by his four children, Jan Cook (Louis), Cyndi Hendrix (Joe), Cary (Sharon), and Jamie (Shirley), grandchildren Chris, Chad, Russell, Kevin, Amanda, Jordan, James and Caitlin, 10 great-grandchildren, and his brother, Jerry. He was preceded in death by his parents, his beloved wife, Peggy, his four brothers, Merwyn, Michael, David and Leland Ray, and sister, Kathy.

A private graveside service for the family was held on Oct. 18, with grandsons serving as pallbearers and all of his former basketball players serving as honorary pallbearers.

A public memorial service will be held at the C. L. Nix Gymnasium at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct 25.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations to the C. L. and Peggy Nix Scholarship Fund (TJC Foundation, P.O. Box 9020, Tyler, Texas 75711, indicate for C. L. and Peggy Nix).