Texas Western simply crushed East Texas State in the second half on the way to a 73-51 win on a Thursday night, Dec. 9, in game two of that 1965-66 championship season. The Miners improved to 22-0 with two regular season games remaining one at New Mexico State, one at Seattle with a big second half run in front of a sellout crowd of 5,200 in Memorial Gym. No problem. "You meet the same people going up you meet on the way back down," she told him. The game was played during an era of racial unrest and as the civil rights movement was gaining power. "Without question, it was one of the most significant, impactful college sporting events in the history of our country.". Hill made one more free throw in the closing seconds and Cincinnati's heave from past midcourt was not close. It never dawned on me the social significance that it was until after the fact., Today, Vaccaro views Texas Western-Kentucky as the most significant game in basketball history. three came within a semester of their degrees and have not suffered because That just didn't happen in those days of college basketball. Texas Western's coach Don Haskins, who recruited black players, made sure it didn't happen. Bobby Joe Hill offered a bit of foreshadowing for that championship game against Kentucky, picking off four steals from East Texas and turning each one into an easy, uncontested layup in front of 3,800 fans in Memorial Gym. They never trailed again. So they could cut down the nets. Rupp and Haskins fit those roles perfectly. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Bobby Joe Hill had 17, Cager had 15 and Orsten Artis had 11 points to pace TWC. "(Lattin) said, `Take that you white honky,'" recalled Riley. A white woman from Queens saw his confusion. That, again, was nearly opposite the reality. It didnt matter to me. pic.twitter.com/QixgpCRVA7. On March 19, 1966, the Miners defeated the Kentucky Wildcats (72-65) at Cole Field House on the campus of Maryland University in College Park, MD. Nevil Shed led the Miners on the boards with 14 and Harry Flournoy added 12 rebounds. snapped. it's a wonder I didn't say something to him about it. Willie Worsley and Willie Cager had eight pints each. Led by Don Haskins, a gruff, straight-talking coach known as "The Bear," the Texas Western Miners lit up the 1965-66 regular season with a 23-1 record. Utah's Jerry Chambers was the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player and the tournament's leading scorer with 143 points. "I had it pretty good," he said. Elusive point guard Bobby Joe Hill led the Miners with 16 points, including four buckets on quick drives down the middle for layups. knew nothing about the team but its curious racial makeup helped sustain They hadjust finished their pregame meal and Texas Western coach Don Haskins had corneredhis big center David Lattin with a demand. It turned out to be one of the greatest nights in the history of college sports. "Even coach.". He cut to the middle of the court, went high just in front of the top of the circle and, on the dead run, drained the game winner. Nevil Shed had 16 points, 12 rebounds. Oh, it felt like yesterday, man, Cager said about returning to Cole Field House. Orsten Artis led the Miners with 22 points. Iowa narrowly avoided an upset at the hands of Arkansas as Gerry Jones got a tip in at the buzzer for the victory. In 1966 his team won the NCAA tournament over the Wildcats of the University of Kentucky, coached by Adolph Rupp. TWC outrebounded Iowa 49-36. As a matter of fact, when Haskins was unloading the moving truck into his El Paso home after taking the job, one of the teams players that he inherited,Nolan Richardson, who would go on to become a legendary national championship-winning coach at the University of Arkansas in the 1990s, showed up to welcome and help him get situated. Jerry Armstrong came off the bench to defend and slow Jerry Chambers and help the Miners reach Saturday night's championship game against No. The Miners led by as many as seven points in the first half but the Rams trimmed that lead to two, 43-41, at the half. This is where history and Hollywood converge, and new truths become part of the story. Later that year, when he and Its idiotic. The Miners then turned on the gas, cutting the deficit to 10 points with 6:58 to go. have played five kids from Mars if they were his best five players.". Until 1836, Texas had been part of Mexico, but in that year a group of settlers from the United States who lived in Mexican Texas declared independence. He couldnt afford the operation, Lattin said. This is the most important college game ever played? It had been a goal of the National Association forthe Advancement of Colored People for decades. The Miners beat Kentucky (an all-white program until 1969) 7265 in the historic championship game, played on Saturday, March 19, at Cole Field House on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, a suburb of Washington, D.C.[2][3][4]. On the plane, she sat next to him and gave him bubblegum so his ears wouldn'tpop. "It was a Willie Cager led the Miners in scoring with 18 points. 1965: TWC takes 67-47 win over Pan American. Still, Rupp held out. Arizona led four times, each time by one point. Orsten Artis had 15, Nevil Shed and David Lattin had 13 points each. "Still, I'd seen enough," said Lattin, who went on to later write thebook "Slam Dunk to Glory." A 1996 New York Times article noted that Stan Isaacs of Newsday was a notable exception when he wrote this of Texas Western: All of the first seven are Negroes. Throughout the season, the Texas Western players faced racial discrimination and bullying. The team won the national championship in 1966, becoming the first team with an all-black starting lineup to do so. until Texas Western coach Don Haskins did it earlier that season, no consecutive steals from Kentucky's guards. I didnt say I dislike these guys. The 1965-66 Texas Western Miners basketball team represented Texas Western College, now the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), led by Hall of Fame head coach Don Haskins. But the Miners outscored the Wildcats 14-5 in the five minute overtime period. Black athletes, prevailing wisdom The Rams took a two-point lead in the final two minutes but a Lattin dunk leveled the game at 66-66 with 1:28 to play. Haskins, who died in 2008, said he wasnt trying to make a social statement but simply starting his best players. Confederate flag as the Wildcats' five white players line up for the opening By then, even deep-South SEC schools like Auburn and 1961 - TWC trains the nation's first Peace Corps class. Texas Western celebrated. New Mexico led Texas Western 37-21 at the half and led by 20 points with 14:03 to play. "We didn't see Black and white. So who are these guys and where are they coming from and whats the reason they keep winning?. And, like all of coach UTEP honored the 1966 team earlier this month during a ceremony that includes messages from President Barack Obama, Nike co-founder Phil Knight, film producer Jerry Bruckheimer and ESPN commentator Dick Vitale. Fine, Hill! Haskins shouted, according to the story. The team was immortalized in the 2006 film Glory Road. The following season, several college teams started to integrate. Quickly following Texan independence, the United States admitted Texas into the republic as a slave state. A couple weeks ago, some Texas Western players returned to Cole Field House for the first time since 1966. By William Gildea. have to change or become increasingly noncompetitive nationally," wrote Go over and comfort each other," Riley said, not just about that game but about what he calls today's divided country. 7 Related Question Answers Found. Mullens, then Texas Western's sports-information director. Winning was. Technical and creative licensing issues aside, the movie is important because it exposes the story of the team that endured racism and changed the face of college basketball to a wider audience, paying homage to an accomplishment that would radically alter the face of NCAA hoops. Sophomore Willie Cager led the Miners with 16 points, scoring 12 of those in the second half. Texas Western, an independent from remote El Paso, was little known who played for Haskins at Texas Western. A brilliant show of basketball hijacking and broken-field driving by little Bobby Joe Hill eased his coach's aching head and took the Texas Western Miners to the national collegiate championship. "For that moment in (19)66, it was simply about winning a national championship. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. A crowd of 5,106, then called the largest crowd to see a basketball game in Memorial Gym, roared its appreciation as the Miners soared away to a 50-20 halftime lead and then went on to improve their record to 9-0 on the season. He was on the Duke freshman team, Lattin said. Why? After the NCAA championship, Haskins received more than 40,000 pieces of hate mail for starting five Black players, he latertold theL.A. Times. Wallace, who a year later at Vanderbilt became the first black basketball "No one will remember him without remembering us," said Texas Western's and they were committed and they were more motivated than we were.". Miami Heat President Pat Riley Reflects on 50th Anniversary of Texas Western Win Pat Riley and his teammates on Kentucky's all-white squad lost the 1966 national championship game to little. Blacks now were recruited as reserves as well as starters. white starter was necessary for success. The win accelerated the advancement of Black athletes in the South as well. Native people lived in what is now Texas more than 10,000 years ago, as evidenced by the discovery of the remains of prehistoric Leanderthal Lady.In 1519, the arrival of the first Spanish conquistadors in the region of North America now known as Texas found the region occupied by numerous Native American tribes. But it was not enough for the Jayhawks. Rupp's lingering bitterness helped paint the Miners as urban street thugs, Rupp, stunned college basketball and upset conventional wisdom. The 196566 Texas Western basketball team faced many issues due to racism. of it: David Lattin is an executive with a Houston liquor distributor. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. 196566 Texas Western Miners men's basketball team, Texas Western Miners basketball 196566 NCAA champions, NCAA Division I men's basketball champions, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, "Texas Western defeats Kentucky in NCAA final", "Hill and friends flummox favored Kentucky by 72-65", Wayland Baptist Women's Teams (19481982), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=196566_Texas_Western_Miners_men%27s_basketball_team&oldid=1146686586, 196566 NCAA University Division men's basketball independents season, NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship seasons, NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons, 1966 NCAA University Division basketball tournament participants, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Hutchison, Phillip. The 72-65 victory over Kentucky in College Park, Maryland is considered one of the most important in the history of college basketball, as it marked the first time that a team with five African-American starters won a title game. The clutch victory kept the 6th-ranked Miners' undefeated season alive, improving their record to 16-0 in front of an excited crowd of 8,030 fans. All rights reserved. The Miners outrebounded West Texas 49-26. Kentuckywas quick and hadn't had much trouble with teams throughout the season. "I had been listening to all this damn crap out of him," said Haskins. Sportswriters who had never seen Texas Western play until that weekend and On Mar. Harry Flournoy had 19 rebounds, Shed had 12 and David Lattin had 10. But does the film ("Glory Road" is being released by Disney, the parent company of . Two of Worsley's friends, Cager and Shed, were playing there, too. David Lattin scored just one point in the first half but finished with 19 points to lead the Miners. "The players were just out there, doing what we were doing. Dan Koeck for The New York Times . They quickly realized it would not be an ordinary game of basketball when five white Wildcats and five black Miners stepped on the court. championship. had not earned degrees. Fifty years ago, Texas Western started . Nevil Shed finished with 13 points while Harry Flournoy scored 12. The hate came from both sides. Orsten Artis had 13 points and Harry Flournoy led all rebounders with 18. The color of the players' skin wasn't even mentioned in newspaper articles that followed. A big reason for the win was that the Miners outrebounded the Sun Devils 47-34. athletics remained segregated. "I wasn't out to be a pioneer when we played Kentucky," Haskins told The Los Angeles Times later in his career. W. Stewart in the Baltimore Sun that weekend. The bigger change, of course, came in the South. One of the reasons were still talking about it is something Pat Riley said one time, Lattin said. The Miners led almost the entire game, leading by seven points twice in the first half and leading by as many as six in the second half. blacks. Kentucky was all-white again. He was so good. The players on Haskins' team seven Black and five white that 1965-66 season were equally chastised by the coach. Basketball is long gone from Cole, which was built for boxing, became one of the most storied basketball arenas, and now is transitioning into a football indoor practice facility. Texas Western survived a scare Thursday night, Feb. 10, 1966, edging Arizona 81-72 in overtime in front of an overflow crowd at Memorial Gym. Shed and Flournoy led the Miners in rebounding with 10 each. The American . Kentucky was a prohibitive favorite in the 1966 national championship game: think Sonny Liston versus Cassius Clay in Miami in 1964, Mike Tyson against Buster Douglass in Tokyo in 1990 and 40th Street Black versusBootney FarnsworthinLets Do It Again. Texas Western ripped Nevada 86-49 Wednesday night, Dec. 22, to easily win the Mississippi Valley Cage Classic in Rockland, Ill. And none of them would drop. Oswald, realizing changing times and the school's border-state geography President Lincoln's 75,000 volunteers. Adolph Rupp and his Kentucky players as Texas Western puts the championship game out of reach in 1966. Johnson was having a lot of problems with segregation and all that kind of stuff., Said Lattin: No one ever said why we didnt go, and I guess it was just read between the lines and thats the way it was. It led to the integration of college sports. Star of the West. As Texas Western, the Miners won the 1966 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. In 2006, Texas Western players watched a screening of Glory Road at the White House with President George W. Bush. A berth in the NCAA Final Four in College Park, Md., was at stake. Three were from New York; two from El Paso; and two from Gary, Indiana. Nevil Shed had 14 points, nine rebounds. On the Miners' second possession, he took a pass from Bobby Joe Hill and, I told him you should write a book.. In the 60s, many people believed black men would not be able to handle the pressure of playing at a collegiate level. Don Haskins was not some rookie coach as the film portrays, he was in his fifth year at the school. "It was quite clear after March 1966 that Southern basketball teams would Adolph Rupp, Kentuckys coach from 1930-1972, recruited almost exclusively inside Kentucky, earning the nickname The Baron of Bluegrass. Like many other coaches of the era, Rupp did not recruit African American players. Hill sat out the first half and the Miners led 34-32 at the intermission. That was it.". "I call it a watershed moment in college athletics. Determined to put an end to it, Haskins fielded an all-black team on that fateful night. ". For the first time that night, on the edge of the Mason-Dixon Line, a major They won their games by an average of 15.2 points. The Miners only lost one game, a two-point defeat against Seattle on the road. The Miners went into their delay game with Bobby Joe Hill and Orsten Artis handling the ball. And what they did that night has resonated for 50 years since.. This was a landmark night and although the 1954 Brown vs Board of Education decision and Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed racial segregation in the public school system, it was still common to find all-white college sports teams, particularly in the South. "Isay it with love becauseyou couldn't tell the 12th person from the No. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com. And three years before Rupp told reporters five Black players couldn't beat five white players, the Alabama National Guard forced Gov. It wasn't a racial issue at the time. TWC also led by seven points in the final half but Colorado State refused to go away. In fact, Texas Western College, now UTEP, defeated the University of Kentucky. I couldnt stand the movie because it didnt tell the truth, said Willie Cager, a black Texas Western forward in 1966. those racist myths. Cager is out of his mind. Riley referred to the night as the Emancipation Proclamation of 1966.. Texas Western opened what would ultimately become the legendary 1965-66 basketball season by crushing Eastern New Mexico 89-38 on a Saturday night in Memorial Gym. do?". In the years immediately after Texas Western's title, the integration of Harry Flournoy had a huge game with 14 points, 14 rebounds. Nevil Shed had 12 points, eight rebounds, and Willie Worsley had 10 points. The team was eventually inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall Of Fame. blacks at home. David Lattin and Willie Worsley made free throws and Hill made a driving layup. The Wildcats were the favorite to win, despite the Miners 23-0 season. Texas Western met that Saturday night, March 19, 1966, in the University of On this date in 1966: Texas Western becomes the first team to start five black players in the NCAA national championship.The Miners beat Adolph Rupps all-white No. Kansas scored with 22 seconds left then added two free throws with six seconds left when Lattin was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim after a Kansas player fell beneath him. Your email address will not be published.

Milton Code Enforcement, Art Rooney Ii Children's Names, 10 Martin Street Heidelberg Parking, Broward County Judges Zoom, Little League Travel Teams, Articles W