The third-ranked Miners received word this week they were given an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The top rebounder for the Miners was Flournoy with 11. Orsten Artis had 13 points, Nevil Shed had 11 points, eight rebounds, Bobby Joe Hill had 11 and Harry Flournoy had eight rebounds. "It was a thrill for meI'm kind of a young punkand to play a game with Mr. Rupp is quite an honor, let alone win it," Haskins, 36, told reporters after the game. After the NCAA title in 1966,the nation watched the players goto the White House and meet Lyndon B. Johnson. 4 in the nation, edged Arkansas in the other semifinal game to set up a much anticipated meeting with the Miners in the Thursday night championship. The score was tied at 72-72 with two minutes to play. number of blacks on college teams jumped from 2.9 to 5.7. The Miners led the Buffaloes just 30-27 at the half but ran away for a 78-64 victory, improving their record to 21-0 for the season. meeting in an interview for the oral-history project at Texas Western, now It was the first. A crowd of 5,399 packed Memorial Gym and spilled over into the auxillary gym to watch on closed circuit television. Riley has one regret about that game, and it's not the loss. The opening game in Wichita will pit Colorado State and the University of Houston. Willie Worsley can't disagree Haskins' starting five were the best players on the team. "We didn't see Black and white. "It was a player, Tom Payne. Nevil Shed had 11 points and 17 rebounds in the game and guard Willie Worsley added 10 more points. 4 Iowa, were ranked ninth in the nation on that first Monday of 1966. His only defeat in an NCAA title game haunted Rupp. court, he confronted his two guards about the steals," recalled Eddie 3 of 13. Fine, Hill! Haskins shouted, according to the story. "You can't measure the importance of this game and the outcome of it.". all-white and another whose starters were entirely black. On Saturday night, Dec. 18, 1965, the same two teams met again in Memorial Gym in front of 4,601 fans and a Miner team with Hill proved to be a very different team. a 16-11 advantage. Riley was a junior starter on Rupp's Kentucky team in 1966 and, he said, these playerswere young men, barely out of that lanky teenage stage. The Miners ran their record to 8-0 with a dominating second half performance. The 196566 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. Rapoport said former Georgetown coach John Thompson recalled Texas Western-Kentucky wasnt a big deal in the black community. I never knew that. and a great villain must meet. Nevada edged Creighton 97-96 in double overtime in the other semifinal game. 1966: Miners edge Kansas, 81-80, in overtimes. He didnt treat African-American guys differently than white guys.. Don Haskins was not some rookie coach as the film portrays, he was in his fifth year at the school. Heading into the 1966 NCAA semifinals -- this was before the corporate and catchy Final Four -- the prevailing opinion was that the second semifinal between Kentucky and Duke would decide the national champion. But that wasnt the same thing as President (Lyndon) Johnson), Cager said. "Even coach.". "Rod Hundley, the former West Virginia and Lakers star, had the funny At the games end, Rupp was defeated and humiliated by the loss, reports the Washington Post. Texas Western took an early lead and never relinquished it on its way to a national championship. The players did not feel the way the coach felt," he said. All Rights Reserved. As basketball lore has told a thousand times since, Texas Western did beat Adolph Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats in the 1966 NCAA championship. tap. Even Texas Western players remain amazed theyre still remembered 50 years later. The aesthetics also fall short because the Miners played in front of sellout crowds in a college arena that held thousands of fans, not in some rinky-dinky high school gym with few people dotting the bleachers. The Miners went out that night and beat a very good Tulsa team 63-54 in front of 5,000 fans in Memorial Gym. ordinary basketball. In College Park, Maryland on March 19, 1966, underdog Texas Western College defeats Kentucky, 72-65, in the NCAA men's college basketball finalthe first NCAA title for an all-Black starting. But examine the grainy film more closely. superior rebounding stifled Kentucky. Miami Heat President Pat Riley Reflects on 50th Anniversary of Texas But it was not to be. I couldnt stand the movie because it didnt tell the truth, said Willie Cager, a black Texas Western forward in 1966. The team was coached by Hall of Famer Don Haskins. Its not really a book, its more like a pamphlet, Lattin said. Texas Western edged Fresno State 75-73 on Friday night, Dec. 17, 1965 with an injured Bobby Joe Hill watching from the sidelines. He was so good. 1965: TWC takes second win of young season. It was one of those Southern states that had through the years enforced widespread segregation. Your email address will not be published. Annexing Texas (article) | Khan Academy The 196566 Texas Western basketball team faced many issues due to racism. Kentuckys well-regarded coach, Adolph Rupp, was known for being racist. Kansas scored again but Cager took a pass from Hill inside and scored and the Miners were up 81-75. Willie Worsley led the Miners in scoring, hitting from the outside and finishing with 18 points. 69 Texas Western 1966 Premium High Res Photos ESPN Classic - Texas Western's 1966 title left lasting legacy And already on the team when Haskins arrived was Nolan Richardson, who went on tobecome the first Black coach at a major university in the south at Arkansas. Chambers still managed to score 38 points in the game. Orsten Artis had 13 points and Harry Flournoy led all rebounders with 18. According to longtime Kentucky assistant Harry Lancaster's autobiography, Glory Road (film) - Wikipedia Whether it happened or not, five First of all, we came from nowhere and no one expected us to be there. When you do something for someone else, its a legacy that lasts forever.. But UTEP's trail blazing legacy is marked by more than the historic victory on March 19, 1966. as Haskins had suggested, slammed a forceful dunk over Kentucky's Riley. point to prove. Winning was. David Lattin had 18 points, Hill 17, Orsten Artis 16, Nevil Shed 12 and Harry Flournoy 11 as the Miners outscored the Bulldogs 49-33 in the second half. [5] and inspired the book and film Glory Road. It led to the integration of college sports. Rupp's Runts, Rupp, stunned college basketball and upset conventional wisdom. Hill led the Miners with 18 points. 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. He just couldn't take it.". The Miners roster consisted of seven African-Americans. 1966: TWC, Cincinnati defense to clash in NCAA. How many black players did Texas Western have on the team? I want to win, bottom line. "`They can do everything with Theydid it againstKentucky's all-white squad. I was ready to play that game. Texas Western broke open a close game in the second half and raced away to take a 76-64 victory over Seattle University Thursday night, Jan. 6, 1966, in Memorial Gym. 1 ranked Kentucky team 72-65. pic.twitter.com/Lmk67DtL3o. The exciting victory earned the Miners a spot in the NCAA Final Four along with Utah, Duke and Kentucky in College Park, Md. David Lattin scored just one point in the first half but finished with 19 points to lead the Miners. disciplined game of them all.". Of Texas Western's seven black players -- the Miners also had four whites Texas Western won 72-65 in the title game. "The legend of Texas Western: journalism and the epic sports spectacle that wasnt. Determined to put an end to it, Haskins fielded an all-black team on that fateful night. Video from the game showed a Confederate flag being waved by a Kentucky fan. Julia Worsley never talked to her sonabout Black and white, he said. Adolph Rupp's teams, they ran at every opportunity. He treated us all poor. Texas Western Upsets Kentucky for N.C.A.A. Seattle led 39-36 at the half. Artis made seven-of-eight shots from the field and four-for-four from the free throw line. players he did recruit -- like Kentuckians Butch Beard and Wes Unseld -- The Miners, on the strength of their 86-68 win over No. Orsten Artis had 12 points and Nevil Shed and Harry Flournoy had 10 points each. On the plane, she sat next to him and gave him bubblegum so his ears wouldn'tpop. quickly. athletics remained segregated. Arizona State led 30-29 at the half but Texas Western went on a run to open the second half and led by eight points with 15 minutes to play. 1965-66 Texas Western Miners men's basketball team Four (Duke and Utah were the others)," said Texas Western guard Willie History of Texas - Wikipedia Sign up to receive The Shadow League Newsletter in your inbox. We took them out of that rhythm and they couldn'tadjust to the way we were playing them," he said. Texas secession movements, also known as the Texas independence movement or Texit, refers to both the secession of Texas during the American Civil War as well as activities of modern organizations supporting such efforts to secede from the United States and become an independent sovereign state.. The team won the national championship in 1966, becoming the first team with an all-black starting lineup to do so. The 1965-66 Texas Western Miners basketball team was headed by Hall of Fame head coach Don Haskins and represented Texas Western College, now the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). 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. Its kind like, hello, give me a break, Cager said of the flag. Five minutes into the game, the Miners led 17-4. It was a day that would become known as "Bloody Sunday" as white troopers assaulted the Black marchers, beating them with nightsticks, firing tear gas. 1965: Miners take opening game, beat ENMU. UTEP outrebounded South Dakota 65-35. "Hell, he'd 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. Texas Western romped past the University of South Dakota in the opening round of the Mississippi Valley Cage Classic Tuesday night, Dec. 21, in Rockland, Ill. It was the first time a starting five of all-Black players had won the title. It was the second big upset of the day. 1965: Miners take second win over Fresno State. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. 1966: TWC edge Sun Devils for 19th straight. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com. Game Writeup - by Gordon S. White, Jr.,New York Times. For weeks Don Haskins had splitting headachesfrightful, bursting pains that seemed to cleave his brain. Sophomore Willie Cager led the Miners with 16 points, scoring 12 of those in the second half. The Miners held Tulsa to just 37.7 percent shooting from the field. 1965: Miners outlast Weber for fourth win in row. On Mar. The Team - University of Texas at El Paso Lattin had 24 points, 12 in each half, and 13 rebounds despite fouling out with 7:44 left in the game to lead the Miners to their fourth win of the season. "The only other thing he said was, 'It's up to you.' It wasn't a racial issue at the time. There was so little madness surrounding the Brawl Erupts In Handshake Line After High School Baseball Game Over Broom Taunt, Former NBA Player Dante Exum Gets Body-Slammed And Dropped In Brawl During Euroleague Playoffs. It was what I had done all year.. Kentucky vs. Texas Western (March 19, 1966) Willie Worsley, Harry Flournoy, Orsten Artis, Nevil Shed and Willie Cager standing. The Wildcats were coached by the legendary Adolph Rupp aka The Baron Of Bluegrass and led by All-American guards Pat Riley and Louie Dampier. Coach Don Haskins, second from left, and Texas Western players celebrate after winning the 1966 NCAA basketball . The Miners, ranked fourth in the nation, improved to 17-0 on the season with Thursday's win. Worsley said he never felt any discrimination being Black in college. outside the Southwest despite its 27-1 record and its No.3 ranking. Kentucky," wrote the Sun's James H. Jackson. The Miners, coming off a 21-day break for semester exams, picked up where they left off in steamrolling the Sun Devils. Rupp had only one black player on his rosters in his 41 years of coaching in Lexington. pic.twitter.com/QixgpCRVA7. BHM 2019: The Story of Texas Western's Historic 1966 National Title - SLAM How I wasgoing to get back to see my mother.". Later that year, when he and Texas Western's (UTEP's) winning the basketball national championship helped promote the desegregation of athletics in the Southeastern Conference which had its first black basketball player in 1967.[7]. all black. 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. His mom told him he could go on one condition: He had to promise to let Cager and Shed take care of him if he got into any trouble. How Texas Western's 1966 national championship changed college - NCAA Bobby Joe Hill led the Miners with 24 points. Antonio Brown Tweets Pic Of Himself In A Baltimore Ravens Uniform. Go over and comfort each other," Riley said, not just about that game but about what he calls today's divided country. I knew it as the championship game. 7 Related Question Answers Found. I agree to receive the "CBS Sports HQ Newsletter" and marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers), and other information from CBS Sports and the Paramount family of companies. In the 60s, many people believed black men would not be able to handle the pressure of playing at a collegiate level. This Day In 1966: Texas Western, featuring the first all-black starting lineup, beats Adolph Rupps Kentucky team to win NCAA title. The further we got away from the game, the more it was talked about.. In this March 19, 1966, file photo, Texas Western basketball coach Don Haskins, second from left, and players celebrate after winning the NCAA basketball championship in College Park, Md.. "It's just one of those things that sticks out to me about that game.". They are quintet can do more things with a basketball than a monkey on a 50-foot It was discouraging, but you had to consider the source.. I didnt say I dislike these guys. By William Gildea. Haskins has been credited for being a white coach who didn't see color, for coming to Texas Western and aggressively recruiting Black players. "There was a certain style of play whites expected from blacks," said Perry They never trailed again. They would never trail again. Still, Haskins took it a step further than schools in the south were doing and heplayed his Black players. And yet, that game did more to bring a country together than those young players knew at the time. "I had been listening to all this damn crap out of him," said Haskins. Orsten Artis led Texas Western with 18 points, followed by Bobby Joe Hill with 15, Willie Worsley with 14 and David Lattin with 10. "Without question, it was one of the most significant, impactful college sporting events in the history of our country.". When pressed to provide examples of why he thinks Haskins was prejudiced, Cager laughed and replied, Youll have to see my book. Cager said he is releasing a book in a couple weeks. consecutive steals from Kentucky's guards. Florida State. So, the All-American player had a front-row seat to what happened that night. The Lobos came right back and took a 58-56 lead with 1:04 to play. Texas Western put up shot after shot after shot as the final seconds ticked off the scoreboard clock. 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. 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. The two teams finished regulation tied at 67-67. But the Miners zipped quickly back and erased the lead to dump New Mexico 67-64 in an overtime affair in Albuquerque. 1966 NCAA tournament: Bracket, scores, stats, records Texas Western's Streak Is Over : NPR Nevil Shed finished with 13 points while Harry Flournoy scored 12. Its my legacy. What Lattin noticed immediately: No blacks on either team. On hisside of the track, literally right by the track, there was a basketball goal. It was totally different from my perspective. I feel embarrassed by it., Lattin said Cager has talked about writing a controversial book for 25 years. "'I wish I could have done one thing and I didnt do it. Princeton-Dartmouth on a Friday night in January. 2001, you'll see more athletic talent at many high school games. When asked about his decision to start five African-American players, Haskins downplayed the significance saying the best players play, and I just wanted to win the game. Haskins was a humble and private man and coach who did his best to avoid the spotlight. By the time the game was played, institutional racial segregation had been outlawed in the U.S., the result of theCivil Rights Act of 1964. His reputation was such that even those black David Lattin had 20 points, 15 rebounds. David Lattin had 16 points, nine rebounds. Oklahoma City opened with a flurry but Texas Western finished with a flurry. They quickly realized it would not be an ordinary game of basketball when five white Wildcats and five black Miners stepped on the court. The U.S. Constitution does not specifically address the secession of states, and the issue was a . "The fact that he was doing something historic by playing five blacks, that It was Arizona State's worst home loss in 10 years. David Lattin led Texas Western to a comfortable 74-63 win over Weber State Tuesday night, Dec. 14, in front of 3,875 fans in Memorial Gym. The movie Glory Road was so loose with facts that it trivializes the long road that it took to integrate the game and turns it into a sort of a fairy tale, Chicago Sun Times columnist Ron Rapoport told NPR in 2006. What am I going to Still, Worsley said, his motherworried about him going to play college basketball in Texas. A couple weeks ago, some Texas Western players returned to Cole Field House for the first time since 1966. In College Park, Maryland onMarch 19, 1966,underdog Texas Western College defeats Kentucky, 72-65, in the NCAA mens college basketball finalthefirst NCAA title for an all-Black starting five. Until that moment, at the height of the civil-rights era, no major-college team had ever started five blacks in an NCAA championship game. The Miners finished their season at 28-1 after dumping Kentucky 72-65 Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 14,253 fans in Cold Field House in College Park, Md. just 38 percent. snapped. Confederate flag as the Wildcats' five white players line up for the opening Then Haskins turned to them and said they needed to go to bed, to rest up. featuring future NBA coach Pat Riley, future ESPN broadcaster Larry Conley historian Charles Martin. I hate to hear him saying that. gave it a unique opportunity, had been pushing Rupp to recruit a black. Title. After Texas Western beat Utah in the first semifinal, Lattin rushed out to watch Kentucky-Duke. During halftime of the Texas Western game, he reportedly referred to the Miners as coons, as ESPN reports. It had been a goal of the National Association forthe Advancement of Colored People for decades. They won their games by an average of 15.2 points. As early as the 1920s, the NAACP urged Black people to take part in sports, "as a way to demonstrate citizenship, reliability, sportsmanship, all those kinds of character issues," said Pierce,who studies twentieth century America andspecializes in the urban experience of Blacks. I don't mean there were any fights -- but they were desperate Seattle U. gave lone loss to Texas Western's storybook team Haskins had grownup in Enid, Oklahoma, where a railroad track separated Black neighborhoods from white ones. Mississippi had several blacks on their teams. I want to talk to them. Whites then thought that if you put five blacks on the court at the same Coach Haskins saved his life. ", This page was last edited on 26 March 2023, at 11:13. There's not much drama, very little passion, and, in In 1966 his team won the NCAA tournament over the Wildcats of the University of Kentucky, coached by Adolph Rupp. jungle wire.". Battle of Fort Sumter. Theirstory was on the the cover of Sports illustrated on March 28, 1966, with the headline "Texas Western Takes it All" witha photo of Flournoy stealing a rebound from Riley. Oklahoma City, which came into this game averaging 99.2 points per game, raced away to an 11-2 lead and led 20-9 with 13:33 left in the opening half. Texas Western met that Saturday night, March 19, 1966, in the University of We publish narratives intentionally and specifically to enlighten and transform the world. On the other side of the track sat another goal. Texas Western defeats Kentucky in NCAA final - History We were successful in kicking their booty., After Texas Westerns 72-65 victory over Kentucky, there was virtually no mention in the media about race. 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. white Converse All-Stars, are the five starters for Texas Western. Who did Texas Western lose to in 1966? - Ask About Coin Haskins start at least one white player. And none of them would drop. violent game. The Miners advanced to play Kansas Saturday night, March 12, 1966, in the Midwest Regional finals. So are the 11 important details you might not know about UTEP's historic - NCAA The hate came from both sides. Texas Western ripped Nevada 86-49 Wednesday night, Dec. 22, to easily win the Mississippi Valley Cage Classic in Rockland, Ill. Bobby Joe Hill had 20 points and Orsten Artis added 18. The game was played during an era of racial unrest and as the civil rights movement was gaining power. The win boosted Texas Western to a spotless 4-0 record and handed Weber State its first defeat, dropping the Wildcats to 3-1. Don Haskins, the coach who hastened the full integration of college basketball when he started five black players for Texas Western College against an all-white University of Kentucky team and. contest, in fact, that its starting time was 10 p.m., it wasn't carried by a 1966: TWC beats NM Aggies 104-78, win 15th. Colorado State, which has also already been selected for the NCAA Tournament, led the Miners by five, 37-32, with 15:04 to play in the game. Texas Western led 32-27 at the half and held on to a 60-59 lead with 1:56 to play. Texas secession movements - Wikipedia The starters. Tulsa, which came into this game with a 10-1 record, kept the game close early on. Texas Western smothered Tulsa defensively on Monday night, Jan. 3, 1966 the day the Miners first moved into the Associated Press national rankings. "You know what I was thinking about? Instead, Kentucky went back to its bench, heads hanging,humbled. According to Lattin, Haskins heard that Cager was ill many years ago and persuaded a friend to operate on Cager for free.
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