Former Apache inducted into Texas HS Basketball Hall of Fame

The Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024

C.L. Nix (Coach) – Nix was at the helm at Whitehouse High School for 30 years. During that span, his teams won 714 games, including 26 seasons with more than 20 wins. He led them to three State Tournament appearances in 1972, 1978 and 1979, winning the State Championship in 1978 with a 36-1 record. Coach Nix was an outstanding basketball player at Laneville HS.  After graduatin, he went on to have an All-American career at Tyler Junior College playing for legendary coach, Floyd Wagstaff.  Follwing TJC, he attended SFA, where he set numerous scoring records and was named an All-American.  The Whitehouse High School gym is named in his honor. He was selected one of the Top 100 Coaches in UIL history in 2021.  

Gary Surratt (Coach) – Surratt coached for 36 years with stops that included Crowley, Carthage and Huntsville High Schools. During that span, his teams won 667 games and made 23 playoff appearances. He won two State Championships: one at Huntsville in 1979 and one at Crowley in 1999. Surratt won numerous Coach of the Year awards throughout his career.

Cassandra McCurdy (Coach) – McCurdy coached for 37 years, with 28 of those years at Dallas Skyline High School. During her tenure, Skyline had a record of 627 wins, 20 district championships, 23 consecutive playoff appearances, nine regional tournament appearances and a State Runner-Up finish in 2015. She was selected District Coach of the Year 15 times. The basketball court at Skyline is named in her honor.

Suzanne Oelschlegel (Coach) – Oelschlegel spent 42 years coaching at Irving MacArthur High School. As head coach, she guided her teams to 885 wins and a 5A State Championship in 2011. Known as Coach "O," she tutored 13 McDonald's All-Americans and three future WNBA players. The basketball court at MacArthur is named in her honor.

Kendrick Perkins (Player) – Perkins led Beaumont Ozen High School to four consecutive district championships, three consecutive trips to the State Tournament in 2001, 2002 and 2003, including the 4A State Championship in 2001, with a perfect 36-0 season. Perkins was selected the 4A State Tournament MVP and was named Texas' Mr. Basketball in 2003. As a senior, he averaged 27.5 points, 16.4 rebounds and 8.8 blocks per game, while being named a McDonald's All-American and drafted by the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies.

Jimmy Smith (Player) – Smith, who prepped at Victoria High School, was a four-time All-District player, a three-time All-Region player and a three-time All-State Player. He was the USA Today Texas Player of the Year and was selected as the MVP of the State Tournament his junior year in 1992. He was named Mr. Basketball in the State of Texas in 1993. Smith went on to play for Texas A&M.

Carol Bailey (Player) – Bailey helped lead the Levelland High School Loboettes to three consecutive State Championships in 1987, 1988 and 1989. She was named to the All- State and All- State Tournament Teams for each of those years. She was the 1-4A Sophomore of the Year 1987, Amarillo Globe Player of the Year 1988, the 1989 Sports Writers Association 4A Player of the Year, Lubbock Avalanche 4A All-South Plains Player of the Year and the TABC Player of the Year. She played collegiately at South Plains College and Wayland Baptist University

Heather Schreiber (Player) – Schreiber led Windthorst High School to a four-year record of 105-16, which included a State Runner-Up finish in 2001. Schreiber was a four-time All-State player and a Parade All-American in 2001. She scored 2,571 points, grabbed 1,237 rebounds and had 513 assists in her high school career. She went on to become a four-time All-Conference performer for legendary coach Jody Conradt at the University of Texas.

Grandson of C.L. Nix, with current Tyler Junior College women's basketball coach Trenia Tillis-Hoard in San Antonio, Texas

(Phil Hicks story on the life of C.L. Hicks)

East Texas Icon-C.L. Nix passes away

Phil Hicks-Tyler Morning Telegraph     Oct 19, 2021 updated Nov 24, 2021

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."

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).