Texas Western’s coach at the time was Don Haskins. He recruited his players based on skill, he didn’t care if they were white or black. Also, he went all the way to New York and Detroit to find the best players no matter their race. Texas Western’s two best players were, point guard Bobby Joe Hill, and center David Lattin, both black. The university was located in El Paso and is now known as The University of Texas El Paso. This was also a small school in Texas that most people hadn’t heard of. This played a huge role to the players because of segregation in the South. A huge storm of racism was coming there way.
Most people thought that in american culture at least one white starter was needed for success in sports. They believed this because segregation was legal in the United States until 1964, one year before their and black players didn’t really play top notch sports. People stereotyped black players thinking they would make fancy passes and shoot deep shots. Texas Western was the opposite of that, on some possessions they would pass the ball 10 times before shooting the ball. After Texas Western won the national championship, the view on blacks in sports changed dramatically.
During the regular season, Texas Western’s starters were all black. Also seven out of their twelve players were black. No team had ever started 5 black players before. Basketball wasn’t extremely segregated at the time. Loyola of Chicago started 4 black players and won a title. Also the four of the best players in the NBA were black, but Texas Western was a small school from the South, and their top seven players were black. So it was a huge deal. Texas Western finished the season with only loss, it was to Seattle. After a few wins in the tournament they faced their biggest task yet, the number 1, all-white Kentucky Wildcats.
The legendary coach Adolph Rupp, known as “The Baron,” was the Kentucky coach at the time. He was strongly against black players playing at the time. Every single player on Kentucky was white as a glass of milk. Rupp vowed before the game that 5 black players would never beat his team. Texas Western had to send a message for the world to see, and a message is what they sent. Texas Western started the game out hot with a David Lattin slam over Kentucky’s Pat Riley. Coach Rupp was furious when Texas Western took a 16-11, but little did he know Texas Western would not trail the rest of the game. The crowd was mostly white and some Kentucky fans were waving confederate flags in the air, but Texas Western’s play shut them up. When the final buzzer sounded, Texas Western became national champions with a 72-65 victory over number 1 Kentucky. After the win, nobody brought out a ladder so they could cut down the net and celebrate their win. Players had to climb on top of eachother’s shoulders to reach.
Once people living in El Paso found out Texas Western achieved what will go down as one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history, they got in their cars and yelled, “we are number one.” This game changed college basketball entirely. More Southern schools started recruiting black players too, and racism in basketball started decrease significantly. Winning the championship affected the players too. David Lattin was drafted in the first round of the NBA draft, and had a successful career. Willie Cager, Texas Western’s first or second player off the bench, started a program to help underprivileged children. The 1966 NCAA championship game impacted college basketball and civil rights greatly.