Denton’s Field Named for Cotton Nix

 admin  |    Mar 20th, 2015

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Denton’s Nix to have field named after him

By Patrick Hayslip
Staff Writer
phayslip@dentonrc.com

Life didn’t exactly pan out the way Cotton Nix wanted to. That’s not to say he’s unhappy with the outcome, but his journey from a baseball player at Denton High School to its head coach to his career as a scout for the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros hasn’t come without some twists and turns along the way.

The longtime Denton native has had a hand in local sports for decades, and after designing and building Denton High’s baseball field more than 50 years ago with his own hands, Nix will be honored on Tuesday in a pregame ceremony to rename Bronco Field to Cotton Nix Field at the Broncos’ District 6-5A opener against Fort Worth Brewer.

If weather is an issue, there will still be a reception in the school’s cafeteria.

Family and early years

Nix’s love of baseball started as a father-son connection as is often the case in what is widely referred to as “America’s pastime.”

His father, Arthur Lee, was a ball player for a local team called the Denton Bears, a semi-pro team that played on the weekends around town. Nix also played with his father for the Bears — a special time in his childhood.

“I played with my dad one year,” Nix said. “He played for them and I got to play with him, thank goodness, which was a real pleasure. It sure was.”

Along with Nix’s affinity for baseball, Arthur Lee also held the nickname Cotton — for his white hair.

Growing up, Nix also had white hair, which fit right along with his father.

Starting high school at the age of 13, Nix played on the Broncos’ varsity baseball team under then head coach John Guyer, who Nix had a passionate respect for.

“He’s like a second father to me,” Nix said. “He took care of me. He means everything to me. I wish he was still here today. I still see his family. If I had a problem, I would go to him. He was a real good baseball coach. He understood what makes kids tick.”

The field, which was formerly located at Denton High’s current track location, had plenty of defining characteristics that Nix remembers.

“It was all blackland dirt all the way,” Nix said. “This side of Denton was all blackland gumbo, most of it, but they smoothed it out pretty good. There was grass in the outfield, probably smooth. The infield was as fast as a bullet. I liked it. I had good hands and coordination for a kid.”

Nix played second base and shortstop as a “little bitty kid”, but eventually grew into a man.

“I was 13 years old and I still had baby fat on me,” Nix said. “By my senior year, I started to firm up. I had a big bull neck on me. I had quick wrists. I started to become a man. I graduated and I could have signed a contract for five or 10 thousand dollars. I could have signed a pro contract the night I graduated, but my dad said no. He said ‘he’s 16 and he’s not leaving home.’ We didn’t know that I couldn’t sign anyway. You had to be 18.”

The UIL passed a rule while Nix was in school that once a student had accrued eight semesters, they had to graduate.

Nix had ideas on playing baseball for two more years, but he was forced to graduate.

Out of high school, Nix decided he was going to go into construction, but that didn’t last.

“I went to work on a highway and I found out real quickly that I was going to college,” Nix said. “I fell in real good there. In February, you had to go out there and drive a pneumatic roller. It was cold, cold, cold. I thought, man, there’s got to be a better way. I did know I wanted a teacher’s certificate, so I took hours in social studies that would let me teach that or business.”

Along with his father’s advice of earning a college education, Nix enrolled at North Texas in accounting. But that didn’t last either, as he switched to business administration, earning his Bachelor’s degree in 1956.

Three years later, when he returned to Denton, he earned his Master’s degree in physical education.

Nix also met his now wife Joyce at North Texas. Joyce was an elementary teacher in Denton ISD at Robert E. Lee Elementary and Newton Rayzor Elementary for 25 years.

Cotton and Joyce would have two sons, Mickey, who currently works at IBM, while his other son David followed in his father’s footsteps as a head baseball coach at Arlington High School.

Nix had a close friend that was an assistant trainer and clock keeper for North Texas that wanted him to take over for him, so he spent time learning and growing closer to the game of basketball.

Under then head coach Pete Shands and his assistants, his career outlook to began to clear up.

Transition to coaching and the start of Denton baseball

“I never knew I would coach basketball,” Nix said.

After graduating from North Texas, his first coaching job was at Irving I.S.D., where he was a ninth grade football and basketball coach and a middle school baseball coach.

In 1958, after two years at Irving, Nix received a call from an old mentor.

At home asleep or watching a “shoot-em-up” as Nix recalls, he picked up the phone and it was his head coach John Guyer, who had since been promoted to principal. One of his first decisions was to name Nix head baseball coach.

“That’s probably my best thrill,” Nix said. “The day Mr. Guyer called. ‘Coach, how would you like to be head baseball coach for me?’ I said do you want me to come tonight or in the morning? We had a pretty good laugh. That was probably my biggest thrill was coaching my old school.”

Also starting out as the “B” team basketball coach, Nix would later be asked to coach the varsity basketball team, which won two district championships.

In 1964, it was time for a new field, so Nix, his coaches and players went to work.

“They had a tractor with a blade and the first thing they did was get the rocks out of right field,” Nix said. “Then, me and my baseball boys lined off. It used to be 310 [feet] here, 310 there and 310 to center field. It had a black dirt infield too, but we got grass infield later, which the kids loved.”

The superintendent at the time wouldn’t allow Nix to take donations for field improvements, so they had to come up with the money themselves.

Unable to afford a scoreboard, each team kept track of the score in the dugout themselves.

“They knew [the score], especially when district [play] got here.”

On to scouting

As his former classmate’s kids began to enter his social studies and government classes, Nix knew it was time to move on.

“I said, I better leave,” Nix said. “I didn’t want to be busting my best friend’s kids’ butts. You don’t make too many friends in coaching.”

From coaching baseball, basketball and football, Nix entered the scouting world in 1974.

He started out scouting with the Texas Rangers and after a few years he spent a year with the San Diego Padres before finding a home with the Houston Astros.

Nix said his scouting days were some of the most memorable.

“When I look back, I met a future president in George Bush,” Nix said. “I met a New York Yankee ball player named Billy Martin. He was wound as tight as the stitches on a baseball. He was a dude. I also met Conway Twitty. He got to be a good friend before it was all over. I’ve led a good life.

“I’d like to mention my [former players], but I can’t do it.”

Coming full circle

Nix retired from scouting in 1990 and moved to Lake Kiowa in 1994, where he is still active playing the game of golf he started at the age of 14.

When Nix found out Bronco Field was being renamed to Cotton Nix Field, he was more than thrilled.

“This right here is going to be one of the biggest honors I’ve ever had,” Nix said. “I got a call and was asked if I was interested. They had a name bank and my name popped up. The board approved it and called me that night. They said, ‘you’re approved.’ I said what? They wanted to call it a stadium. I said, no. It’s a baseball field.”

With all that Nix has been through, having his name on the field that he once helped build and for a team that he once coached, it is all still hard to believe.

“Just like this field, I had no idea this would happen,” Nix said. “I would probably carve my name out here before I thought this would happen.”

PATRICK HAYSLIP can be reached at 940-566-6873 and via Twitter at @PatrickHayslip.