His only defeat in an NCAA title game haunted Rupp. But before Haskins arrived in El Paso for the 1961season, the college had already been recruiting Black players. What Lattin noticed immediately: No blacks on either team. Haskins has been credited for being a white coach who didn't see color, for coming to Texas Western and aggressively recruiting Black players. 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. Tulsa, which came into this game with a 10-1 record, kept the game close early on. 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. 1 person. That was it.". Between 1966 and 1985, the average Texas Western's Streak Is Over : NPR Fifty years later, the tributes to Texas Western (now known as the University of Texas-El Paso) keep coming. Lattin said Cagers remarks are idiotic and that Haskins coached black and white players the same way. 1966: TWC nips Pan American, stays unbeaten. 2023 www.elpasotimes.com. [5] and inspired the book and film Glory Road. 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. featuring future NBA coach Pat Riley, future ESPN broadcaster Larry Conley In the 1966-67 season, Bobby Joe Hill had 18, Willie Worsley 12 and David Lattin had 11. quickly. But I didn't.". Overview Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845 and became the 28th state. Texas Western Upsets Kentucky for N.C.A.A. of a bitch is ordering me to get some niggers in here. The Miners roster consisted of seven African-Americans. The Disney movie took liberties. The other What If: Duke Had Played Texas Western In 1966 Instead Of Kentucky? Utah's Jerry Chambers was the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player and the tournament's leading scorer with 143 points. In his time at Texas Western/UTEP, he compiled a 719-353 record, suffering only five losing seasons. Cager scored in the lane, was fouled and made the free throw to put the Miners up 74-70 in overtime. And those letters from the whites in the south, you can just imagine what they said. Kansas scored again but Cager took a pass from Hill inside and scored and the Miners were up 81-75. 4 Iowa, were ranked ninth in the nation on that first Monday of 1966. No problem. Finally, after two overtime and tons of tension, Texas Western edged Kansas 81-80 in front of 8,200 breathless fans in Lubbock Memorial Auditorium on Saturday night, March 12, 1966. "It was like they were sitting theredazed," said Lattin, who, with Willie Worsley, arethe only two starting playersstill alive. racial matters. 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. Harry Flournoy scored nine points in the first half, seven more in the second half to lead the Miners with 16 points. I wish at that time we could haveall just embraced each other.'". Enter a date in the format M/D (e.g., 1/1), Texas Western defeats Kentucky in NCAA final, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/texas-western-defeats-kentucky-in-ncaa-finals, Elvis Presley puts a down payment on Graceland, Bodies found in Yosemite serial killer case. Coach Rupp was infamous for not allowing black men to play on his Kentucky team. It was Arizona State's worst home loss in 10 years. According to longtime Kentucky assistant Harry Lancaster's autobiography, The crowd is white. "(He said) `You "That game was the catalyst that opened athletic, academic and employment doors for those who followed us. The blacks own the game today and that game paved the way, Vaccaro said. ". It wasn't a racial issue at the time. But after Texas Western won, amid the shrieks of joy and fanfare and the cutting of nets,Lattin remembers looking over at the reporters on press row. I want to win, bottom line. 1966 Texas Western Champ Roots For Grandson In NCAA Final Four I am so angry. Orsten Artis made 11-of-12 free throws and led the Miners with 19 points. Ten players in laughably short pants move slowly through 40 minutes of He did his best to always reiterate that skin color was never an issue when he put his Miners on the floor with the highly favored Wildcats. The year after winning the title, the school became the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP). 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. Otherwise, games 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. The players on Haskins' team seven Black and five white that 1965-66 season were equally chastised by the coach. After the NCAA championship, Haskins received more than 40,000 pieces of hate mail for starting five Black players, he latertold theL.A. Times. historian Charles Martin. Coach Haskins, I loved him very much. Haskins coached until 1999, never reaching another Final Four. In the 60s, many people believed black men would not be able to handle the pressure of playing at a collegiate level. Texas Western used its smothering defense, fierce rebounding and a balanced scoring attack to dismantle Iowa. snapped. Their tenacity paid off, and Texas Western won the game 72 65. The 1965-66 Texas Western Miners basketball team represented Texas Western College, now known as the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP). 1965: TWC takes second win of young season. In fact, 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. Linda Brown From Historic Brown v. Board Case Passes Away, Did Somebody Say Sweep? We publish narratives intentionally and specifically to enlighten and transform the world. Its kind like, hello, give me a break, Cager said of the flag. quote of the tournament when he was talking about Texas Western," wrote John A crowd of just over 5,000 gathered at Las Cruces High more than half of them Miner fans to watch TWC improve to 23-0 on the season. George Wallace to end his blockade so Black students could enroll at Alabama. Texas Western was never threatened and never trailed against Pan American Saturday night, Dec. 11, 1965, in front of 4,500 fans in Memorial Gym. Curiously, while Oswald had been prodding Rupp, Texas Western president They won their games by an average of 15.2 points. In fact, the opposite was true. It was a special beginning to a special season. At Northern colleges, where the unwritten rule for coaches had been, "Two That was exciting for him to do that, Armstrong said. In fact, until Texas Western coach Don Haskins did. I got mail from Blacks, saying that I was exploiting Black kids,Haskins said. David Lattin led TWC with 14 points, 11 rebounds. quintet can do more things with a basketball than a monkey on a 50-foot This Day In 1966: Texas Western, featuring the first all-black starting lineup, beats Adolph Rupps Kentucky team to win NCAA title. The team was presented with keys to the city of El Paso. The Miners, on the strength of their 86-68 win over No. They hadjust finished their pregame meal and Texas Western coach Don Haskins had corneredhis big center David Lattin with a demand. had come to Tennessee (on the same day Seattle beat Texas Western), shot 1965: Texas Western shocks Iowa in Sun Meet final. MINERS WIN, 72-65. One of the reasons were still talking about it is something Pat Riley said one time, Lattin said. Learn how your comment data is processed. Artis made seven-of-eight shots from the field and four-for-four from the free throw line. Miner coach Don Haskins substituted liberally and used 10 players in the game. It was like they just sat there, 'What are we going to write about?'". If your brains were dynamite, this place would be blown apart.. It was as if history demanded that for change finally to occur, a great hero Nevil Shed had 12 points, eight rebounds, and Willie Worsley had 10 points. Texas Western walked the ball up court, ran 1952 - Student pranksters "borrow" a live alligator from San Jacinto Plaza. David Lattin had 20 points, 15 rebounds. But the Miner defense held the Golden Hurricane scoreless for almost five minutes and that led to a 38-25 TWC halftime lead. 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. On the Miners' second possession, he took a pass from Bobby Joe Hill and, 1966: Seattle wins, 74-72, to end Miner string. of Rupp's 1,066 games at Kentucky, in March of 1972, his team lost to Haskins says I was simply playing the best players I had. By William Gildea. Coach Haskins saved his life. A Championship in 1966 Was a Step for Integration Sportswriters who had never seen Texas Western play until that weekend and Kentucky was all-white again. Artis had 12 points, seven rebounds, Shed had 12 points and Harry Flournoy hhad 11 points, eight rebounds. Confederate flag as the Wildcats' five white players line up for the opening Texan Jack Johnson (literally) fought his way into the white boxing world at the turn of the 20th Century. Harry Flournoy had 18 rebounds and Nevil Shed had 10. Instead, Kentucky went back to its bench, heads hanging,humbled. outside the Southwest despite its 27-1 record and its No.3 ranking. "We didn't see Black and white. Long before he became a shoe marketer who landed black basketball players million-dollar endorsement deals, Sonny Vaccaro listened to Texas Western-Kentucky on the radio from Pittsburgh. "`Nigger ball' they used to call it. Mississippi had several blacks on their teams. "Nevil (Shed)I'll never forget him saying back then," Riley said. The squad also had four Anglo-Americans (Jerry Armstrong, Louis Baudoin, Dick Meyers, and Togo Railey and one Mexican-American Dave Palacio). Changing the day will navigate the page to that given day in history. Haskins had grownup in Enid, Oklahoma, where a railroad track separated Black neighborhoods from white ones. I had a couple. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. Those two layups gave the Miners UTEP Celebrates 50th Anniversary In an arena filled with white cheerleaders, referees, and officials, it seemed impossible that an all-black team just won the NCAA title. For example, when they won the championship no one brought out a ladder for them to cut down the net. TWC held the Chiefs to just 37.3 percent shooting and outrebounded them 40-32. The Miners, who had beaten Arizona State 84-67 earlier in the season in Tempe, improved their record to 19-0 with the win in Memorial Gym. In "Glory Road," the 2006 Disney movie about Texas Western, Miners coach Don Haskins tells his team the day before the championship that he will play only blacks the next night to make a social. First of all, we came from nowhere and no one expected us to be there. There was so little madness surrounding the Whether Texas Western-Kentucky deserved this much significance in social history is debatable. The Texas-Indian wars were a series of conflicts between settlers in Texas and the Southern Plains Indians during the 19th-century. That just didn't happen in those days of college basketball. Texas Western ripped Nevada 86-49 Wednesday night, Dec. 22, to easily win the Mississippi Valley Cage Classic in Rockland, Ill. The game began with a message. In 2006, the movie Glory Road, depicting the significance of this game, was released. was a senior buyer with El Paso Natural Gas Co. Thats when people started talking about it, Lattin said. Sign up to receive The Shadow League Newsletter in your inbox. The Miners overwhelmed Oklahoma City 89-74 Monday night, March 7, 1966, in the NCAA Tournament in Wichita, Kans. Texas Western appeared to be dead in the water with 14 minutes to play Saturday night, Feb. 12, 1966, trailing New Mexico by 20 points. Willie Worsley and Willie Cager had eight pints each. The Texas Western Miners did make history, with an all-black starting five winning the national title in 1966. Haskins start at least one white player. When you do something for someone else, its a legacy that lasts forever.. I want to talk to them. The duel was breath taking Texas Western 69, Kansas 69 at the end of regulation; TWC 71, Kansas 71 at the end of the first overtime. Nevil Shed led the Miners with 19 points and Willie Worsley added 14. Seattle University held off the final Miner onslaught to defeat Texas Western 74-72 Saturday night, March 5, 1966, to end the undefeated season in front of 11,557 fans in Seattle. 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. Even when Texas Western players started dribbling the ball around at the end ofthe game to let the clock run out. The Miners led by five with 1:17 to go in regulation but Kansas scrambled back to tie it 69-69 and force overtime. David Lattin had nine points, four rebounds before fouling out with still 9:33 left to play in the game. 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. If you get too low, it's a long way back up.". It was March 19, 1966, the night a team with five black starters made history by winning a national championship. Wallace, who a year later at Vanderbilt became the first black basketball Adolph Rupp and his Kentucky players as Texas Western puts the championship game out of reach in 1966. Texas Western, playing its third game in six days, traveling from Tucson to Albuquerque and back to Memorial Gym, edged Arizona State 69-67 Monday night, Feb. 14, 1966. Significance of Texas Western's 1966 NCAA title not realized at first The team won the national championship in 1966, becoming the first team with an all-black starting lineup to do so. The Miners, ranked fourth in the nation, improved to 18-0 with the win. 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. Hill made a free throw and Cincinnati scored twice, giving the Miners a 77-76 lead. player, Tom Payne. probably wonder what all the fuss is about. v. t. e. The Texas Revolution (October 2, 1835 - April 21, 1836) was a rebellion of colonists from the United States and Tejanos (Hispanic Texans) in putting up armed resistance to the centralist government of Mexico. 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. I feel embarrassed by it., Lattin said Cager has talked about writing a controversial book for 25 years. "The fact that he was doing something historic by playing five blacks, that Orsten Artis had 15 points, eight rebounds. 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. So, when it came to the championship game, Worsley said he wasn't thinking about Kentucky being white. It was totally different from my perspective. Informed by Haskins that Rupp had vowed five Athletes who had UTEP Library Research Guides: UTEP History: Timeline universities. Willie Worsley led the Miners in scoring, hitting from the outside and finishing with 18 points. They werent some unheard of team that came out of nowhere, as Haskins had led them to two previous NCAA Tournaments. Flournoy led the Miners with 17 rebounds while Lattin added nine boards. TWC then went on an 11-0 run to take a 56-55 lead with four minutes to play. All-white leagues like the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southwestern Conference, and Southeastern Conference became integrated within the next two years. Biden Opens a New Back Door on Immigration - The New York Times Texas Westerns players came from all over the country to El Paso, Texas. Willie Cager led the Miners in scoring with 18 points. No big deal. Friends noted that even as he was dying with cancer in a Lexington hospital 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. This guy could jump out of the gym. three came within a semester of their degrees and have not suffered because The Miners shot 50.8 percent from the field and held the Aggies to just 34.1 percent. Nevil Shed finished with 13 points while Harry Flournoy scored 12. I know we didnt approach the game thinking about race, and I dont think the Kentucky team approached it as a racial game either., Texas Western player: Don Haskins was prejudiced. Bobby Joe Hill went the length of the floor to hit a jumper at the buzzer, leading Texas Western to a 68-66 win over Colorado State Friday night, Feb. 4, 1966, in Fort Collins, Colo. Nor, for that matter, was UCLA the only time in John. Their tenacity paid off, and Texas Western won the game 72 - 65. Essentially, the final game pitted Kentucky's offense against Texas Western's defense, and it was the defense that held up.". "No longer couldthe excuse be used that Blacks were not smart enough, were undisciplined, could not work under pressure,could not follow directions and were not equipped to function on our own," Flournoy, a Texas Western starting five from Gary, Ind., wrotein his biography for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. all-white and another whose starters were entirely black. Then he walked out of my room." As basketball lore has told a thousand times since, Texas Western did beat Adolph Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats in the 1966 NCAA championship. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Bobby Joe Hill led the Miners with 18 points. "No one will remember him without remembering us," said Texas Western's Walking toward the red "M" at center court, in their orange uniforms and Hill led the Miners with 18 points. In 1966, Texas Western Changed the Face of College Athletics And so in that historic game that Lattinand his fellow players really didn't know was historic "we passed the ball a lot and we would shoot a lot. It didn't win as many games as his . They never trailed again. "I call it a watershed moment in college athletics. The Miners improved to 20-0 on the season and coach Don Haskins got his 100th career victory against only 25 losses. She heldhis hand during the flight. Other Kentucky players shown are Tommy Kron (30) and Larry Conley (40). 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. 1 ranked Kentucky team 72-65. pic.twitter.com/Lmk67DtL3o. 1965: Miners beat Fresno State 75-73 in game 5. one shocked coach asked Haskins afterward. Sophomore Willie Cager led the Miners with 16 points, scoring 12 of those in the second half. Miami (Ohio) WBB coach resigns after investigation, Texas joins Top 25 And 1 after landing Abmas, Five-star prospect Ron Holland decommits from Texas, Ranking college basketball's top 40 transfers of 2023, No. 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. 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.. But the Miners zipped quickly back and erased the lead to dump New Mexico 67-64 in an overtime affair in Albuquerque. knew nothing about the team but its curious racial makeup helped sustain Hill led the Miners in scoring with 15 points. David Lattin had 14 points, seven rebounds. As basketball lore has told a thousand times since, Texas Western did beat Adolph Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats in the 1966 NCAA championship. stupid sons of bitches!' Still, Worsley said, his motherworried about him going to play college basketball in Texas. Texas Western College, now UTEP, defeated the University of Kentucky. Even Texas Western players remain amazed theyre still remembered 50 years later. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. Texas Western smothered New Mexico State early and raced away for an easy 73-56 win over the Aggies on Wednesday night, March 2, 1966, in Las Cruces. section: | slug: significance-of-texas-westerns-1966-ncaa-title-not-realized-at-first | sport: collegebasketball | route: article_single.us | The Miners, who shot just 37.1 percent to 54.5 percent for Arizona State, held on for the win. But the Miners raced back, took a 45-39 lead and never looked back. It was discouraging, but you had to consider the source.. Bobby Joe Hill led the Miners with 20 points. Orsten Artis led the Miners with 22 points. On February 6, 2016, the now University Of Texas El Paso Miners held a reunion for the 1966 players at the Don Haskins Center. Fine, Hill! Haskins shouted, according to the story. That, again, was nearly opposite the reality. His reputation was such that even those black Nevil Shed intercepted an in-bounds pass and dropped in a lay-up and the two teams went into overtime, knotted at 58-58. "You know what I was thinking about? Even during the game when competition was heated, the trash talk never went there. Lattinscored 16 points and had nine rebounds while Rupp's words from that press conference echoed in his mind. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Rupp had only one black player on his rosters in his 41 years of coaching in Lexington. '", "The Miners, who don't worry much about defense but try to pour the ball The third-ranked Miners received word this week they were given an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The players did not feel the way the coach felt," he said. Texas Western players remember Pat Riley, a Kentucky star, coming into their locker room afterward to congratulate the Miners. Annexing Texas (article) | Khan Academy a rigidly patterned offense, "We were more white-oriented than any of the other teams in the Final Ray suggested 1966: TWC squeaks by CSU, 68-66, for 16th straight. He was so good. Texas Western smothered Tulsa defensively on Monday night, Jan. 3, 1966 the day the Miners first moved into the Associated Press national rankings. Harry Flournoy had 19 rebounds, Shed had 12 and David Lattin had 10. But the Miners outscored the Wildcats 14-5 in the five minute overtime period. 1965: Miners take opening game, beat ENMU. What Texas Western's Black players and white coach did in 1966 The win improved the Miner record to 24-1 and propelled them into the NCAA Midwest Regional Friday night, March 11 against the University of Cincinnati in Lubbock. 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