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A great coach and a father figure
by Eddie Johnson / July 28, 2004

On July 24, 2004 at 7:07 PM PST, I lost a teacher, a friend and, most importantly, a father figure. Lowell “Cotton” Fitzsimmons was all of those things to me. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, he was the best coach I ever had as well. You see normally when a sports figure passes on, we tend to glorify their accomplishments in their sport, but Cotton was much more than a coach. He was one of the guys. He could coach you one day and have dinner with you
and your family the next. I had ten coaches in my NBA career and Cotton is the only coach that came to my home for dinner and invited me to his.

This was the type of person Cotton was.

His relationship with you and your family was more important than just being your coach. He took great interest in how you treated your wife and how you raised your kids. He took the time to get to know your parents and would regularly ask how they were doing. I remember when I dislocated my shoulder in a game and was taken to the hospital. The first face I saw when I woke up was his. Cotton used to always refer to me as one of his sons.

I truly did not know and understand what that meant until I had the honor of carrying him to his final resting place as one of his seven pall-bearers. You see, he considered each one of his pall-bearers his son and only one was actually related to him – his son Gary. The rest of us were players he had coached during his reign in the NBA: Phil Ford, Kevin Johnson, Billy Knight, Dan Majerle and Mike Woodson. As we carried his body, my mind wandered to our 23-year relationship – the ups and downs and the many ways he demonstrated his love and support for me, like a dad would show his son.

I remembered back to my rookie year with the Kansas City Kings when I got thrown to the wolves and started my first game in the Boston Garden against the Celtics. As we lined up for jump ball, Larry Bird looked right at me and said, “I am going to kick your ass”. Now, I am from the inner city of Chicago, so it is not in my blood to back down from anybody even if it is Larry Bird. So I proceed to talk smack right back at him. And boy, what a mistake that was. Bird backed up his promise and schooled me all night long. After the game, Cotton didn’t say anything. He just stared at me long and hard in the locker room. But when I boarded the bus, he said something to me that scared the living daylights out of me. He said I should check the NBA transactions in the morning. For the next 12 games, I did not play but Cotton didn’t ignore me. His main concern was if I had found a place to live and if I was eating right.

I thought about the time when I was still a rookie rooming next to Sam Lacy and I heard Cotton enter his room. Cotton came to tell Sam that he had been traded to New Jersey. A thick glass to the wall gave me some serious insight into the caring person Cotton was. He was literally in tears when he gave Sam the news. Sam was extremely upset, but after 15 minutes they both were laughing and saying how much they would miss each other. I was impressed.

I laugh now about this incident, but it was not funny at the time. I was in training camp at the start of my second season. After a three-hour practice, Cotton took Kevin Loder and myself into another gym with Mike Woodson as the passer and told us to play one-on-one. He said the winner would start the final exhibition game and the loser might get cut. He made us play for 30 minutes straight with no rest. I started that last exhibition game and kept my starting spot for 250 straight games after that. He told me later that season that he knew I would win and that he had made a big mistake in not drafting me earlier in the draft instead of Kevin.

I remembered how different it was when Cotton left Kansas City and joined the Spurs. When we played against him, I found myself looking for his approval during the game.

I should have known that I was a son when one of the first trades Cotton made when he left the Spurs and came to the Phoenix Suns was to bring me to join him in 1987.

I reflected on the time he told me in 1989 after he became the coach of the Suns that he would have a hard time playing me if I did not play consistent defense. I went on to have the best season of my career winning the Sixth Man of the Year award.

I hate the time when I asked Jerry Colangelo to trade me in 1990 because I felt Cotton was harder on me than anyone else on the team.

I remember the day the Suns traded me to Seattle. We were in New Jersey and Cotton and I got on the same elevator and he could not even look at me. I refused to get dressed for the game because I knew I was traded. How did I know? Because that was the first time he had never encouraged me to be ready for an opponent.

He would have never admitted this, but I know he was proud when I scored 28 points in the second half to beat the Suns when I returned to Phoenix in a Sonic uniform.

Later that summer – when the season was over – my wife, Joy, and Cotton’s wife, JoAnn, got together and plotted to get Cotton and I in a room together because we had not spoken in almost a year. It was truly a great moment because it gave us a chance to air out our differences and become like father-son again.

When I retired from the NBA in 1999, one of the first calls I received was from Cotton. And when I decided to pursue broadcasting, he was right there giving me all the advice I would need to be the best I could be.

That’s the type of person Lowell “Cotton” Fitzsimmons was. Yes, he was one of the greatest coaches ever to lead a team, but to me, he was like Dad!

I know now what being one of the sons of Lowell "Cotton" Fitzsimmons meant and I am so glad I got the chance to tell him how much I loved him before he passed away.

Eddie Johnson is a regular contributor to HoopsHype.com

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