Don Haskins New Team “UTEP” a team of Whites Blacks and one Hispanic worked long and hard to help prepare these boys/men for the long treacherous journey ahead of them. Throughout the season, these set of people lead their team as well as represented Texas Western Basketball by winning The NCAA tournament also with a grand record of 28-1.
Shortly after the Big Win by (UTEP), The book and Movie “Glory Road” Was produced and thrived around the Nation. The book and movie were both based directly from the grand segregated team of Texas Western Basketball.
Led by Don Haskins The Hall of fame coach, a Tough, bold speaking coach known as "The Bear," the Texas Western Miners Plowed through the 1965-66 regular season with a 23-1 record. A respected group of blacks, whites, and one Hispanic, the Miners played their way to the NCAA championship game against Adolph Rupp's #1ranked Kentucky Wildcats, an all-white team. In 1957 Grand Haskins happily coached the dark skinned boys and girls high school teams in a Texas town of about 500 people. He was four years away from making Texas Western History known as (UTEP) University of Texas El-Paso.
People such as Whites, stereotyped the Blacks as poor kids with single parents, that grew up in ugly homes & and in the bottom of the ghettos. The Whites thought and knew that most Blacks also grew up in Broken homes. That kind of stereotype didn’t fit the 1966 Texas Western team, yet they certainly weren’t on poverty level. There were so many stereotypical things that people said about black ballplayers then. Hot weather was not the only thing that went up when you went south so did stereotype. Mostly, it was presumed they were undisciplined and stupid, and broke the law.
They were never invited on "Ed Sullivan Show" which was usually prized for the NCAA Champions. Texas Western (UTEP) winning the championship, started the integration of college athletics, with the SouthEastern Conference confirming their first black basketball player in 1967. The 1965-1966 Texas Western basketball team faced many issues because of their *Skin Color*. For example when they won the championship no one brought out a ladder for them to cut down the net. Nevil Shed had to hoist up Willie Worsley so he could do the honors.
Through the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed institutional racial segregation, it was still common to find all-white college sports teams, usually in the South. The team really presented and respected their name by winning the 1996 NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Tournament in 1996, also known as the first all-black starting lineup to win an NCAA basketball national championship.
Coach Don Haskins finally beat the valuable coach that is known as Coach Rupp, Haskins was considerably surprised and accepted high confidence in himself and his team. “I'm just a young punk," Haskins said. "It was a thrill playing against Mr. Rupp, let alone beating him." "History made in the value. If basketball ever took a turn, that was it," said Nolan Richardson, the Arkansas coach who played for Haskins at Texas Western. The Final score of the Texas vs. Kentucky game against famous Coach Rupp was a Close game of 72-65. As the season was finishing up people or fans described Coach Adolph Rupp as a racist, with no respect towards the Africans (Blacks).