Philip Douglas Jackson was born in Deer Lodge in 1945. His parents were both Pentecostal ministers, and the family moved around Montana before settling in Williston, North Dakota, where he became a high school basketball star. He played college basketball at the University of North Dakota and spent 12 seasons in the NBA, mostly with the New York Knicks, winning championships in 1970 and 1973.
His coaching record is the reason his name is known everywhere. He led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles in the 1990s with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, then won five more with the Los Angeles Lakers with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Eleven titles as a head coach is still an NBA record.
The lake house
Montana stayed part of his life. Jackson has owned property on Flathead Lake near Bigfork for decades and spent offseasons there, and he has described the place as where he recharges. He wrote about Montana summers in his books, including “Sacred Hoops” and “Eleven Rings,” which also describe his interest in Zen Buddhism and Native American spiritual traditions and how he used them in coaching.
His approach was unusual for the league. He used the triangle offense, developed with assistant Tex Winter, and he was known for giving players books to read on road trips.
Jackson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 2007. He later served as president of the Knicks from 2014 to 2017.
In the Flathead, he is mostly a neighbor who keeps a low profile, which seems to be how he likes it.