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Cotton Fitzsimmons
Lowell Gibbs "Cotton" Fitzsimmons (October 7, 1931 – July 24, 2004) was an American college and NBA basketball coach. A native of Bowling Green, Missouri, he attended and played basketball at Hannibal-LaGrange Junior College in Hannibal, Missouri and Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. He coached the Phoenix Suns three times, was named the NBA Coach of the Year twice, and is often credited as the architect of the Suns' success of the late 1980s and early to middle 1990s. Fitzsimmons won 1,089 games in his coaching career: 223 games at the junior college level, 34 at the Division I college level and 832 in the NBA.
On May 16, 2021, it was announced that Fitzsimmons was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. The Class of 2021 enshrinement ceremony occurred on September 11, 2021.
Lowell Gibbs "Cotton" Fitzsimmons was born on October 7, 1931, in Hannibal, Missouri, to Clancy and Zelda Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons was raised in Bowling Green, Missouri, where he attended Bowling Green High School.
The family of six moved to Bowling Green when Lowell was young. There, his fourth grade classmates nicknamed him "Cotton" because of his hair. His father died when he was in fifth grade. His mother raised Cotton and three siblings.
In high school, Bowling Green High School basketball coach James A. Wilson became a key figure for Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons said: “Coach Wilson had the biggest influence on me of any male adult. He taught me the difference between rules and principles. Rules are made to be bent, sometimes even broken. Principles are something you live by. My mother raised me, of course, but I think I looked up to Coach Wilson as a father figure and wanted to be like him.”
With the 5'7" Fitzsimmons, Bowling Green High School twice advanced to the Missouri State High School Basketball Tournament.
After graduating from Bowling Green High School, Fitzsimmons worked at a brick plant in nearby Farber, Missouri. He worked for two years to help support the family until his sisters graduated from high school, just as his older brother Orland had done. During those two years, Cotton played 80 game seasons for the brickyard basketball team, was a basketball referee for local high school games and was a baseball infielder on a Bowling Green town baseball team, serving as the team manager. On his first taste of coaching, he recalled, "It's not easy going to the mound as a kid and taking out your pitcher, who's probably 30."
In 1952, Fitzsimmons enrolled at Hannibal-LaGrange College (HLG), then a junior college in Hannibal, Missouri. Fitzsimmons became a junior-college All-American, averaging 25.5 points a game at Hannibal-LaGrange (where his jersey is now retired). He led the team to the NJCAA Tournament.
Cotton Fitzsimmons
Lowell Gibbs "Cotton" Fitzsimmons (October 7, 1931 – July 24, 2004) was an American college and NBA basketball coach. A native of Bowling Green, Missouri, he attended and played basketball at Hannibal-LaGrange Junior College in Hannibal, Missouri and Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. He coached the Phoenix Suns three times, was named the NBA Coach of the Year twice, and is often credited as the architect of the Suns' success of the late 1980s and early to middle 1990s. Fitzsimmons won 1,089 games in his coaching career: 223 games at the junior college level, 34 at the Division I college level and 832 in the NBA.
On May 16, 2021, it was announced that Fitzsimmons was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. The Class of 2021 enshrinement ceremony occurred on September 11, 2021.
Lowell Gibbs "Cotton" Fitzsimmons was born on October 7, 1931, in Hannibal, Missouri, to Clancy and Zelda Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons was raised in Bowling Green, Missouri, where he attended Bowling Green High School.
The family of six moved to Bowling Green when Lowell was young. There, his fourth grade classmates nicknamed him "Cotton" because of his hair. His father died when he was in fifth grade. His mother raised Cotton and three siblings.
In high school, Bowling Green High School basketball coach James A. Wilson became a key figure for Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons said: “Coach Wilson had the biggest influence on me of any male adult. He taught me the difference between rules and principles. Rules are made to be bent, sometimes even broken. Principles are something you live by. My mother raised me, of course, but I think I looked up to Coach Wilson as a father figure and wanted to be like him.”
With the 5'7" Fitzsimmons, Bowling Green High School twice advanced to the Missouri State High School Basketball Tournament.
After graduating from Bowling Green High School, Fitzsimmons worked at a brick plant in nearby Farber, Missouri. He worked for two years to help support the family until his sisters graduated from high school, just as his older brother Orland had done. During those two years, Cotton played 80 game seasons for the brickyard basketball team, was a basketball referee for local high school games and was a baseball infielder on a Bowling Green town baseball team, serving as the team manager. On his first taste of coaching, he recalled, "It's not easy going to the mound as a kid and taking out your pitcher, who's probably 30."
In 1952, Fitzsimmons enrolled at Hannibal-LaGrange College (HLG), then a junior college in Hannibal, Missouri. Fitzsimmons became a junior-college All-American, averaging 25.5 points a game at Hannibal-LaGrange (where his jersey is now retired). He led the team to the NJCAA Tournament.
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