The 1965-1966 Season TEXAS WESTERN MINERS
Coach Don Haskins (The Bear)
The 1965-1966 Texas Western Miners from El Paso, Texas, led by Coach Don Haskins had a historic year. The Miners ended the regular season at 23-1 and went on to win a National Championship ending with an overall record of 28-1. To this day Texas Western (now UTEP) is the only school in the state of Texas with a National Championship in Men's Basketball. Texas Western finished the 1965-1966 season ranked third in the AP College Basketball Poll. The NCAA tournament was a 22 team tournament at the time Kentucky was number 1, Duke number 2, Texas Western number 3 and Kansas number 4. The Miners started the NCAA Tournament by defeating Oklahoma City 89-74 in the first round, in the second round in a game that went into overtime they defeated Cincinnati 78-76. Their next game in the Midwest Regional vs Kansas went into double overtime and they came out with the 81-80 victory. In the semifinals Texas Western defeated Utah 85-78 which led to the National Championship game vs the #1 ranked Kentucky Wildcats that would make history. The Kentucky Wildcats had won 4 National Championships prior to the 1966 game , Texas Western had only made it to the NCAA tournament two times and had never advanced past the first round. Coach Haskins' Texas Western Miners went into the 1966 Championship game as underdogs. Almost every media outlet and the coaches around the NCAA had picked Kentucky to win the tournament.
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"I really didn't think about starting five black guys. I just wanted to put my five best guys on the court...I just wanted to win that game." - Don Haskins |
"I was simply playing the best players I had. It was what I had done all year." - Don Haskins |
Historic win by Texas Western over Kentucky
Sports Illustrated Cover
Two years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed racial segregation in the public school system, a school from El Paso, Texas made history on the night of March 19,1966. Texas Western took on Kentucky in the NCAA Championship Game. This game is considered as the game that changed college basketball.The historic game was played at the University of Maryland's Cole Field House. 14,253 were at Maryland to witness this game. Coach Don Haskins made history that day by starting 5 African American players (Bobby Joe Hill, David Lattin, Orsten Artis, Willie Worsley & Harry Flournoy.) It was the first time in the history of the NCAA that a coach had started an all African American lineup. The Kentucky Wildcats led by Coach Adolph Rupp went with an all white starting lineup and did not have any African American players on their team. The Kentucky Wildcats were the number 1 ranked team in the country. Coach Don Haskins only played seven players that night which included the starters and 2 subs which where Willie Cager and Nevil Shed. The other players on the team (Louis Baudoin, Jerry Armstrong, David Palacio, Togo Railey & Dick Myers) did not play that night. Nevil Shed put the Miners up 10-9 in the first half and after that Texas Western never trailed again. Kentucky's next two possessions ended with Bobby Joe Hill stealing the ball and giving Texas Western a 14-9 lead. Kentucky came in strong in the second half and cut the lead down to 1 but Bobby Joe Hill & Orsten Artis went on a six point run giving Texas Western all the momentum once again. Texas Western went on to win the 1966 NCAA Championship game 72-65 over the Kentucky Wildcats. Bobby Joe Hill led the Miners that night with 20 points , David Lattin had 16 points and added 9 rebounds, Orsten Artis had 15 points and 8 rebounds, Willie Cager & Willie Worsley had 8 points each Cager added 6 rebounds, Nevil Shed had 3 points and Harry Flournoy who left early in the first half due to an injury had 2 points. Highlights that are always remembered from that game include the steals by Bobby Joe Hill and the 4 monstrous dunks by David Lattin.
How it changed the game of College Basketball
Coach Don Haskins' answer to why he started an all African American lineup was, "I really didn't think about starting five black guys. I just wanted to put my five best guys on the court...I just wanted to win that game." Coach Don Haskin's assistant Moe Iba said, "The fact that he was doing something historic by playing five blacks, that probably never crossed Don's mind...Hell he'd have played five kids from Mars if they were his best five players," about Coach Haskins decision on playing just the African American players. After 1966, teams in the South in All-White leagues began to recruit African American athletes. On December 1970 Tom Payne was the first African American player to dress up for Adolph Rupp and the Kentucky Wildcats. During 1966 to 1985 the number of African Americans on college teams went from 2.9 to 5.7. Before the 1966 game the saying for teams in the North was "Two blacks at home. Three on the road. And four when behind" Coach Don Haskins received death threats and hate mail after the win in 1966. Despite all the hate he got from bitter people in 1966 Coach Haskins continued to stay humble about his decision he said, "I was simply playing the best players I had. It was what I had done all year"
Texas Western began to make history before 1966, in 1955 Texas Western was the first state college in Texas to integrate their undergraduate classes. A few years later Texas Western hired an African American administrator becoming the first college to do that in the University of Texas system.
Texas Western began to make history before 1966, in 1955 Texas Western was the first state college in Texas to integrate their undergraduate classes. A few years later Texas Western hired an African American administrator becoming the first college to do that in the University of Texas system.
"We were just kids playing basketball having fun... It was not that big a deal to us..."-David Lattin |
"We were more white-oriented than any of the other teams in the Final Four...We played the most intelligent, the most boring, the most disciplined game of them all."-Willie Worsley |
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Author Information/Sources
Author of website: Guadalupe Dominguez Rubio
SOURCES
http://ia.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=36425
http://gloryroad.utep.edu/home.aspx
http://www.sptimes.com/News/121399/Sports/Texas_Western_changes.shtml
SOURCES
http://ia.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=36425
http://gloryroad.utep.edu/home.aspx
http://www.sptimes.com/News/121399/Sports/Texas_Western_changes.shtml