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C. L. Nix, husband, father, friend, coach, teacher, and beloved Papa passed away October 15th, 2020, at his home in Whitehouse, TX, after living 87 remarkable years. He was born in a two-room sharecropper’s shack in Rusk County on May 24, 1933 to Chester Lesley and Gladys Chaney Nix, the oldest of seven children. He attended High School in Laneville, Texas, where he was a standout basketball player. Upon graduation, he played basketball for the legendary Floyd Wagstaff at Tyler Junior College and in 2008, was inducted into the TJC Ring of Honor. The most memorable thing that happened while attending TJC, was that he met and married the love of his life, Peggy Joyce Shira. C. L. and Peggy made their way to Stephen F. Austin University where he continued to play basketball while getting his master’s degree in Education. He earned All-Lone Star Conference honors and was named an All-American while playing with the Lumberjacks. He held many individual scoring records at SFA that stood for many years. In 1988, he was inducted into the SFA Hall of Fame. After graduating from SFA in 1957, he began his long career at Whitehouse High School where he held coaching, athletic director, teaching and high school principal positions. During his coaching career, his varsity boys had 693 wins and 227 losses. Coach Nix took three teams to the state championship and won the 1978 championship with his two sons on the team.
During his tenure as coach and teacher, he mentored many young people who were part of his classes and teams. The school renamed their high school gymnasium after him in 1987 and when that gym was razed in 2018, they renamed the new gym after him. His biggest joy was seeing the students he had taught or coached become successful adults and good citizens.
Besides coaching, Mr. Nix always had other business interests, working until the day he died. 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 will be held on Sunday, October 18th, 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 on Sunday, October 25th at 2:00 p.m. For the memorial, people are asked to wear masks or social distance. 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, TX 75711 – indicate for C. L. and Peggy Nix). https://www.burkswalkertippit.com/obituary/c-nix
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