Texas Western met that Saturday night, March 19, 1966, in the University of "That's how coach Haskinsfound out Black guys could really play.". During halftime of the Texas Western game, he reportedly referred to the Miners as coons, as ESPN reports. "You can't measure the importance of this game and the outcome of it.". As basketball lore has told a thousand times since, Texas Western did beat Adolph Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats in the 1966 NCAA championship. On March 19, 1966, fans packed Cole Field House in College Park, Maryland, to watch the matchup between Kentucky and Texas Western. Whether Texas Western-Kentucky deserved this much significance in social history is debatable. And, of course, the Miner defense was in full fury, holding South Dakota to just 23.8 percent shooting. Don Haskins, 78; basketball coach was first to win NCAA title with 5 The starters. It was one of those Southern states that had through the years enforced widespread segregation. 1966: TWC beats NM Aggies 104-78, win 15th. championship. True Story Of Glory Road: Texas Western Shocks Kentucky In 1966 It wasn't until December of 1970 that a Rupp team first dressed a black The thing you noticed at the start of the game was Texas Western did have a size advantage, Williams said. racial matters. The Miners advanced to play Kansas Saturday night, March 12, 1966, in the Midwest Regional finals. The Team - University of Texas at El Paso So, the All-American player had a front-row seat to what happened that night. 1965: Texas Western shocks Iowa in Sun Meet final. The year after winning the title, the school became the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP). UTEP outrebounded South Dakota 65-35. UTEP Library Research Guides: UTEP History: Timeline The opening game in Wichita will pit Colorado State and the University of Houston. In fact, until Texas Western coach Don Haskins did. Worsley said he never felt any discrimination being Black in college. In fact, the nucleus had been on campus for a while, winning 18 games the year before while qualifying for the NIT in 1965. Nevil Shed had 11 points and 17 rebounds in the game and guard Willie Worsley added 10 more points. We took them out of that rhythm and they couldn'tadjust to the way we were playing them," he said. But it was such a surprise because 90 percent of the teams we played had at least one or two African-Americans., About five years ago, Lattin randomly met C.B. Texas Western made its first big statement of the season by crushing fourth-ranked Iowa 86-68 on Thursday night, Dec. 30, 1965 in the championship game of the Southwestern Sun Carnival Basketball Tournament. Lattinscored 16 points and had nine rebounds while Rupp's words from that press conference echoed in his mind. Texas Western's 1966 season recap - El Paso Times college sports took a great leap forward. Texas Western had a cold night shooting. In a tiny motel room in College Park, Maryland, the Black players had been summoned. Lattin said it wasnt until the start of the following season, when Sports Illustrated wrote a lengthy article, that the racial makeup of the teams became a story. BHM 2019: The Story of Texas Western's Historic 1966 National Title - SLAM ". Star of the West. 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. contest, in fact, that its starting time was 10 p.m., it wasn't carried by a 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. A tight-knit group of blacks, whites and one Hispanic, the Miners played their way to the NCAA championship game against Adolph Rupp's No. 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]. One of the reasons were still talking about it is something Pat Riley said one time, Lattin said. Texas Western was beaten 74-72 at Seattle, Kentucky 69-62 at Tennessee. Lattin remembers Haskins telling him so many times about that player. [1] The Miners only lost one game, a road loss to Seattle by two points. They would never trail again. Texas Western smothered Tulsa defensively on Monday night, Jan. 3, 1966 the day the Miners first moved into the Associated Press national rankings. Then he walked out of my room.". "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. His only defeat in an NCAA title game haunted Rupp. 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. 1966: TWC nips Pan American, stays unbeaten. That was it.". Their Browse 69 texas western 1966 photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more photos and images. 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. "He treated us all the same, like (expletive deleted)," said Worsley. "You know what I was thinking about? Orsten Artis had 16, Bobby Joe Hill 14, Willie Cager 12, David Lattin 10 and Harry Flournoy 10. Texas Western led 42-32 at the half and held the Lions to just 19 points in the final half, improving to 2-0 on the season. Oh, it felt like yesterday, man, Cager said about returning to Cole Field House. The Texas Western Miners did make history, with an all-black starting five winning the national title in 1966. Kentucky vs. Texas Western (March 19, 1966) "'I'm so happy to have beena part of it," Riley said, "even on the losing side.". 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.. Later that year, when he and 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. 1966: AP rates TWC ninth in poll; Miners Defeat Tulsa. Riley worked his way into the Texas Western locker room on his own and remembers seeing pure joy,as USA Today details. Now hes saying this again? Curiously, while Oswald had been prodding Rupp, Texas Western president 1966: TWC edge Sun Devils for 19th straight. 1966: Miners beat Utah, to play Kentucky in Finals. Even when Texas Western players started dribbling the ball around at the end ofthe game to let the clock run out. Nevil Shed led the Miners with 19 points and Willie Worsley added 14. It was as if history demanded that for change finally to occur, a great hero 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 Miners, now 23-1, will travel Sunday to Wichita, Kan., where they will open the NCAA Tournament against Oklahoma City University on Monday. A white woman from Queens saw his confusion. It was discouraging, but you had to consider the source.. The Miner defense was once again on display, holding Pan American to just 31.1 percent shooting from the field and holding the visitors from Edinburg, Texas, to just 22 second half points. Its idiotic. Nevil Shed led the Miners with 17 points and Hill had 16. 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. 1966: TWC beats ASU, 84-67, breaks Tempe jinx. Don Haskins was not some rookie coach as the film portrays, he was in his fifth year at the school. In fact, the opposite was true. Harry Flournoy had 13 points, 17 rebounds and David Lattin managed 11 points, despite fouling out with 9:26 to play. Orsten Artis led the Miners with 22 points. "and Title. For example, when they won the championship no one brought out a ladder for them to cut down the net. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Texas Western made 17 of 25 second-half shots to race away from West Texas State Thursday night, Feb. 24, 1966, in front of a sellout crowd of 3,700 in Canyon, Texas. Orsten Artis made 11-of-12 free throws and led the Miners with 19 points. Confederate flag as the Wildcats' five white players line up for the opening It should have been done a long time ago as far as the commitments to all the blacks being successful. The Miners ran their record to 8-0 with a dominating second half performance. Willie Worsley had 14, Bobby Joe Hill 13 and Willie Cager 10 points to pace the Miners. 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. But, as Geoffrey C. Ward writes in "Unforgivable Blackness," Johnson's unapologetic. 2004-2023 CBS Interactive. Texas Western held on to outlast UTAH 85-78 Friday night in the NCAA semifinals in front of 14,253 fans in Cole Field House in College Park, Md. It was what I had done all year.. Annexing Texas (article) | Khan Academy 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. 1965-66 Texas Western Miners men's basketball team In 1966, American cultural and sporting mythology insisted at least one Three on the road. [6] Also, they were not invited on The Ed Sullivan Show, which was customary for the NCAA Champions. 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 exciting victory earned the Miners a spot in the NCAA Final Four along with Utah, Duke and Kentucky in College Park, Md. 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. Cager later made two free throws to give Texas Western a 76-72 lead. The night before that team meeting of Black players in his motel room, Lattin sat at the Cole Field House with his team and watched the first half of the Kentucky-Duke game. 1966 NCAA tournament: Bracket, scores, stats, records The Miners again used their lockdown defense and rebounded with a fury, outrebounding Nevada 59-25. 1949 - College of Mines name changed to Texas Western College of the University of Texas. 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. Dave Lattin played center, and his grandson plays Saturday for Oklahoma. 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. "I had been listening to all this damn crap out of him," said Haskins. He was a tough guy, but were all tough. Don Haskins portrayed by Josh Lucas, head coach of Texas Western College (now known as University of Texas at El Paso or UTEP), coached a team with an all-black starting lineup, a first in NCAA history. 3 of 13. Rapoport said former Georgetown coach John Thompson recalled Texas Western-Kentucky wasnt a big deal in the black community. jungle wire.". "Rod Hundley, the former West Virginia and Lakers star, had the funny They cruised on to take a 40-26 halftime lead. Haskins says I was simply playing the best players I had. had not earned degrees. 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. Texas secession movements - Wikipedia W. Stewart in the Baltimore Sun that weekend. number of blacks on college teams jumped from 2.9 to 5.7. 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. 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. 2 transfer Max Abmas commits to Texas. During Black History Month, with the series 28 Black Stories in 28 days, USA TODAY Sports examines the issues, challenges and opportunities Black athletes and sports officials face after the nations reckoning on race in 2020. Texas Western walked the ball up court, ran Rupp, after his first meeting with Oswald, told Lancaster, "Harry, that son There was so little madness surrounding the Still, Haskins took it a step further than schools in the south were doing and heplayed his Black players. Texas Western, ranked 6th in the nation, extended its unbeaten streak to 13-0 making the Miners one of only two unbeaten teams in the nation and, unknowingly, keeping them on a collision course with 13-0 Kentucky in the national championship game. Texas Revolution - Wikipedia I made a point to listen to it for some strange reason, Vaccaro said. 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. 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). "`They can do everything with Learn how your comment data is processed. But Texas Western was faster, could pull down rebounds and steal a pass before Kentucky realized what was happening. It was the second big upset of the day. and Louie Dampier, were small, quick and athletic. Shed led the Miners in scoring with 17 points. 69 Texas Western 1966 Premium High Res Photos white starter was necessary for success. Orsten Artis had 13 points and Harry Flournoy led all rebounders with 18. Even Texas Western players remain amazed theyre still remembered 50 years later. 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. Orsten Artis had 12 points and Nevil Shed and Harry Flournoy had 10 points each. "They didn't know what to write. through the hoop as much as possible, will present quite a challenge to Arizona State cut the lead to 62-61 with five minutes remaining. player, Tom Payne. every Southern conference, even the SEC, had integrated basketball teams. "Isay it with love becauseyou couldn't tell the 12th person from the No. One year before Texas Western won theNCAA title against Kentucky, 72-65, John Lewis led more than 600 people on a 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery. 6-keys: media/spln/collegebasketball/reg/free/stories, By pressing sign up, I confirm that I have read and agree to the. The meeting was swift and to the point. For several years Kentucky president John W. Claiborne, who was Dukes first black basketball player and became a business professor at Texas Southern. Sportswriters who had never seen Texas Western play until that weekend and "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. The Miners held Tulsa to just 37.7 percent shooting from the field. in 1977, the old coach lamented to visitors about the loss. No problem. So are the Texas Western celebrated. I wasnt out to be a pioneer when we played Kentucky, Texas Western coach Don Haskins told the Los Angeles Times years later. Winning was. But the Miners outscored the Wildcats 14-5 in the five minute overtime period. It wasn't a racial issue at the time. Lattin isn'ttalking about a team of white Kentucky players. David Lattin, who fouled out with 13:28 to go, had 13 points. "Kentucky was a worn, haggard ball club when it faced Texas Westernbut that was no alibi, for Texas Western had come through a hard season, too. been directed to small black schools now were being lured to major state It made it possible for kids to go to major universities, especially in the deep South, and not just for basketball. No longer would we be kept out of mainstream America.". Contribute to The Shadow League today and help us share our narratives.
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