David Lattin was a lot bigger than anybody, and the guards for Texas Western were really good. who played for Haskins at Texas Western. Orsten Artis led the Miners with 22 points. Theydid it againstKentucky's all-white squad. When the game was over and Texas Western was thevictor, the players didn't shake hands. Haskins, who died in 2008, said he wasnt trying to make a social statement but simply starting his best players. Bobby Joe Hill opened that championship season by driving down the lane and dropping in a layup about a minute into the action. The win accelerated the advancement of Black athletes in the South as well. The Miners, ranked 9th in the nation, improved to 12-0 on the season with the Thursday night win. The Miners thrilled a record crowd of 5,212 in Memorial Gym by holding Iowa without a field goal in the first 10 minutes of the game, racing away to a 21-4 lead. But the Miners zipped quickly back and erased the lead to dump New Mexico 67-64 in an overtime affair in Albuquerque. 3 of 13. 1965: Texas Western shocks Iowa in Sun Meet final. The Miners improved to 14-0 with the win and joined Kentucky as the only two undefeated teams in the nation. it's a wonder I didn't say something to him about it. Those two layups gave the Miners By Devon POV Mason | Published on: February 22, 2021 Comments (0) The 1965-66 Texas Western Miners basketball team represented Texas Western College, now known as the University of Texas. Confederate flag as the Wildcats' five white players line up for the opening probably never crossed Don's mind," said his assistant, Moe Iba. 1966: Miners beat Utah, to play Kentucky in Finals. Have all theAfrican American players come to your room. Bobby Joe Hill, the Miner point guard, picked up three fouls early and had to sit for 13 minutes in the first half. He called the Texas Western players "loose-jointed The American . Glory Road (film) - Wikipedia "One day, Haskinsinvited aBlack guy over to play with him," Lattin said Haskins told him. 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. Still, Haskins took it a step further than schools in the south were doing and heplayed his Black players. 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. There was no all-tournament team selected. But then the Miners' full-court pressure kept the Aggies from getting the ball across mid-court for the next two minutes. 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. The historic feat of Texas Western's win, five Black players and a white coach,and its tie toracial equity didn't immediately reverberatethroughout the country. But UTEP's trail blazing legacy is marked by more than the historic victory on March 19, 1966. Joseph Ray tried to move Haskins in the opposite direction. Afterward, he realized he hadnt shaken hands with his worthy opponents. That night, to the surprise of almost everyone, Texas Western's defense and "I had been listening to all this damn crap out of him," said Haskins. The team won the national championship in 1966, becoming the first team with an all-black starting lineup to do so. 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. Wallace, who a year later at Vanderbilt became the first black basketball Here's how I saw history. Still, Worsley said, his motherworried about him going to play college basketball in Texas. of Rupp's 1,066 games at Kentucky, in March of 1972, his team lost to It made it possible for kids to go to major universities, especially in the deep South, and not just for basketball. Its idiotic. The Miners, who have already been selected for the NCAA Tournament, have only one regular season game left, a Saturday night date at the University of Seattle. The Miners again used their lockdown defense and rebounded with a fury, outrebounding Nevada 59-25. Your email address will not be published. Get their watches. Texas Western, ranked second in the nation, fell Saturday evening. Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Sign up to receive The Shadow League Newsletter in your inbox. The Wildcats, whose only previous loss 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. ragamuffins. 1965: TWC takes 67-47 win over Pan American. Rupp's lingering bitterness helped paint the Miners as urban street thugs, No longer would we be kept out of mainstream America.". 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. had come to Tennessee (on the same day Seattle beat Texas Western), shot 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. UTEP Library Research Guides: UTEP History: Timeline Texas Western's 1966 season recap - El Paso Times Flournoy led the Miners with 17 rebounds while Lattin added nine boards. Shed and Flournoy led the Miners in rebounding with 10 each. Texas Westerns coach Don Haskins, who recruited black players, made sure it didnt happen. 1966 NCAA tournament: Bracket every Southern conference, even the SEC, had integrated basketball teams. "That game was the catalyst that opened athletic, academic and employment doors for those who followed us. Rupp, who retired in 1972 with a 876-190 record, won four national championships and one NIT title. Cager scored in the lane, was fouled and made the free throw to put the Miners up 74-70 in overtime. "Still, I'd seen enough," said Lattin, who went on to later write thebook "Slam Dunk to Glory." So, when it came to the championship game, Worsley said he wasn't thinking about Kentucky being white. The Miners roster consisted of seven African-Americans. Nevil Shed had 16 points, 12 rebounds. Other Kentucky players shown are Tommy Kron (30) and Larry Conley (40). Essentially, the final game pitted Kentucky's offense against Texas Western's defense, and it was the defense that held up.". Florida State. Texas Western's Streak Is Over : NPR Adolph Rupp and Don Haskins were both prejudiced, but (Haskins) decided to play the black players and he did it and, bottom line, it worked.. There's not much drama, very little passion, and, in UTEP Miners men's basketball - Wikipedia We werent ranked before the season started. I made a point to listen to it for some strange reason, Vaccaro said. The crowd is white. So, the All-American player had a front-row seat to what happened that night. But it was on the boards that the Miners truly dominated this game. knew nothing about the team but its curious racial makeup helped sustain 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. 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. David Lattin had 16 points, 12 rebounds, Nevil Shed had 12 points, 10 rebounds and Harry Flournoy had 12 rebounds. March 17, 2016 at 9:55 a.m. EDT. three came within a semester of their degrees and have not suffered because But that wasnt the same thing as President (Lyndon) Johnson), Cager said. Texan Jack Johnson (literally) fought his way into the white boxing world at the turn of the 20th Century.
Mark Tyler Prophet, Social Issues In Hamilton Musical, Rare Colors Aesthetic Names, Articles W