The crowd is white. Follow and read more from Jon Solomon on Facebook and Twitter. 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, 19-0, and Kentucky, 20-0, were the only two undefeated teams in the nation at this point. They would never trail again. player in the Southeastern Conference. Vic Bubas always said that his 1966 team was his best. Between 1966 and 1985, the average HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. All-white leagues like the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southwestern Conference, and Southeastern Conference became integrated within the next two years. So, the All-American player had a front-row seat to what happened that night. The legendary Miner defense took over after that, allowing Eastern New Mexico just two field goals in the first half and holding the visitors to a paltry 20.8 percent shooting from the field. Trying to win a basketball game.". those racist myths. The 6th-ranked Miners smothered West Texas State defensively to take a 69-50 win Saturday night, Jan. 29, 1966, in Memorial Gym. Haskins replied, Same way I do white guys.. I am so angry. Haskins, who died in 2008, said he wasnt trying to make a social statement but simply starting his best players. For several years Kentucky president John W. It wasn't a racial issue at the time. Nevil Shed had 11 points and 17 rebounds in the game and guard Willie Worsley added 10 more points. Title. Haskins contends he doesn't recall the incident, but Ray spoke of their White and Hill exchanged free throws and the Miners led 79-73. In 1966, Texas Western became the first team with an all-black starting five to win the NCAA men's basketball tournament. They never trailed again. 1966: TWC beats NM Aggies 104-78, win 15th. One slight still bothers some Texas Western players about 1966: They didnt visit the White House and appear on the Ed Sullivan Show like past NCAA champions. But, as Geoffrey C. Ward writes in "Unforgivable Blackness," Johnson's unapologetic. Texan Jack Johnson (literally) fought his way into the white boxing world at the turn of the 20th Century. Throughout the season, the Texas Western players faced racial discrimination and bullying. 1965: Miners, Hawkeyes take first-round tourney wins. Other Kentucky players shown are Tommy Kron (30) and Larry Conley (40). The watershed game highlighted the end of racial segregation in college basketball. That night, to the surprise of almost everyone, Texas Western's defense and Black athletes, prevailing wisdom But then the Miners' full-court pressure kept the Aggies from getting the ball across mid-court for the next two minutes. Hill led the Miners with 18 points. the sportswriters on press row. Athletic directors began changing recruiting practices, and talent became more prevalent than race. After Texas Western beat Utah in the first semifinal, Lattin rushed out to watch Kentucky-Duke. Please check the opt-in box to acknowledge that you would like to subscribe. Seattle U. gave lone loss to Texas Western's storybook team 69 Texas Western 1966 Premium High Res Photos And none of them would drop. Sportswriters who had never seen Texas Western play until that weekend and But in the south, it was still rare to find a college sports team that wasn't all white. gave it a unique opportunity, had been pushing Rupp to recruit a black. Worsleywas a 5-6 basketball phenom, an only child raised by a single mother who cleaned the floors and bathrooms of white people's houses and workeda second job at a Chinese restaurant. UTEP Library Research Guides: UTEP History: Timeline But even as the jubilant Miners celebrated a new set of myths was emerging. TWC then went on an 11-0 run to take a 56-55 lead with four minutes to play. Required fields are marked *. The Miners again used their lockdown defense and rebounded with a fury, outrebounding Nevada 59-25. It led to the integration of college sports. President Lincoln's 75,000 volunteers. Texas Western, an independent from remote El Paso, was little known Heading into the 1966 NCAA semifinals -- this was before the corporate and catchy Final Four -- the prevailing opinion was that the second semifinal between Kentucky and Duke would decide the national champion. Two of Worsley's friends, Cager and Shed, were playing there, too. Mississippi had several blacks on their teams. player, Tom Payne. David Lattin led TWC with 14 points, 11 rebounds. Two years before Texas Western went on a 37-minute stretch hitting 26 of 27 shots in that NCAA championship game, Martin Luther King had given hisI Have A Dream speech. Bobby Joe Hill led the Miners with 18 points. In a tiny motel room in College Park, Maryland, the Black players had been summoned. 1966: TWC dumps New Mexico State Aggies, 73-56. 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. Their tenacity paid off, and Texas Western won the game 72 65. Texas Western used its smothering defense, fierce rebounding and a balanced scoring attack to dismantle Iowa. The Miners roster consisted of seven African-Americans. UTEP Celebrates 50th Anniversary It was totally different from my perspective. "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. "We didn't see Black and white. And, of course, the Miner defense was in full fury, holding South Dakota to just 23.8 percent shooting. Don Haskins was not some rookie coach as the film portrays, he was in his fifth year at the school. 3 of 13. Willie Worsley led the Miners in scoring, hitting from the outside and finishing with 18 points. 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. There was no all-tournament team selected. probably never crossed Don's mind," said his assistant, Moe Iba. the basketball but sign it. The Texas-Indian wars were a series of conflicts between settlers in Texas and the Southern Plains Indians during the 19th-century. Nevil Shed had 14 points, nine rebounds. Jerry Armstrong came off the bench to defend and slow Jerry Chambers and help the Miners reach Saturday night's championship game against No. [5] and inspired the book and film Glory Road. The Miners were playing and winning their third road game in four outings on this Saturday night in south Texas. Julia Worsley never talked to her sonabout Black and white, he said. By then, even deep-South SEC schools like Auburn and CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc. Commissioner.com is a registered trademark of CBS Interactive Inc. site: media | arena: collegebasketball | pageType: stories | Orsten Artis had 14 points, seven rebounds and Willie Worsley had 14 points and Harry Flournoy had seven rebounds. He called the Texas Western players "loose-jointed That was exciting for him to do that, Armstrong said. TWC held the Chiefs to just 37.3 percent shooting and outrebounded them 40-32. American cities. Worsley is a jokester, whostill likes to talk about his glory days, when he won the high school city championship in New York City, which wasplayed in Madison Square Garden. And what they did that night has resonated for 50 years since.. ESPN Classic - Texas Western's 1966 title left lasting legacy Mullens, then Texas Western's sports-information director. Star of the West. 1949 - College of Mines name changed to Texas Western College of the University of Texas. What happened to the 1966 Texas Western basketball team? It was a day that would become known as "Bloody Sunday" as white troopers assaulted the Black marchers, beating them with nightsticks, firing tear gas. Orsten Artis made 11-of-12 free throws and led the Miners with 19 points. Texas Western met that Saturday night, March 19, 1966, in the University of Texas Western vs. Kentucky: 1966 National Championship | FULL GAME All Rights Reserved. Bobby Joe Hill and Harry Flournoy added 12 points each, and Flournoy led the Miners with 14 rebounds. "You meet the same people going up you meet on the way back down," she told him. In an arena filled with white cheerleaders, referees, and officials, it seemed impossible that an all-black team just won the NCAA title. Watch the 1966 NCAA Championship game now and you'll Bobby Joe Hill had 18, Willie Worsley 12 and David Lattin had 11. "Hell no. The Miners led Seattle 34-30 at the half but moved out to a 15 point lead midway through the final half. But Hill hit a long jumper and Shed dropped in a layup and the Miners never trailed again. That was about it. He didnt treat African-American guys differently than white guys.. I hate to hear him saying that. 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. The Miners improved to 14-0 with the win and joined Kentucky as the only two undefeated teams in the nation. 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. Oswald, realizing changing times and the school's border-state geography Throughout the season, the Texas Western players faced racial discrimination and bullying. Until that moment, at the height of the civil-rights era, no major-college team had ever started five blacks in an NCAA championship game. This is the most important college game ever played? jungle wire.". The Miners, coming off a 21-day break for semester exams, picked up where they left off in steamrolling the Sun Devils. Orsten Artis led Texas Western with 18 points, followed by Bobby Joe Hill with 15, Willie Worsley with 14 and David Lattin with 10. 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. "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. But it was not enough for the Jayhawks. It first signedCharlie Brown in 1956. Through the years, before his death in 2008, Haskins repeatedlysaid he didn't play an all-Black starting five to make a social statement. Texas Western made only 34.2 percent of its shots but the Miner defense held West Texas to just 29.1 percent from the field, limiting the Buffaloes to just 50 points for the game. David Lattin was a lot bigger than anybody, and the guards for Texas Western were really good. featuring future NBA coach Pat Riley, future ESPN broadcaster Larry Conley 1966: TWC smack Chiefs, continue winning streak. Rupp's Runts, Texas Western was beaten 74-72 at Seattle, Kentucky 69-62 at Tennessee. "The running, gunning Texas College Basketball: NCAA Final Four, Texas Western coach Don Haskins in team huddle during game vs Utah, College Park, MD 3/18/1966 "People got to see this for the first time," said Gragg. Don Haskins - Wikipedia 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. Three were from New York; two from El Paso; and two from Gary, Indiana. Back then, there were very few games on TV. The score was tied 2-2 just 74 seconds into the game. The win was the Miner's fifth of the season without a loss at Memorial Gym Friday night. Willie Worsley can't disagree Haskins' starting five were the best players on the team. Hill played the second half, scored 17 points and got the Miner offense rolling, leading them to their sixth straight victory, a commanding 83-65 decision over Fresno State. 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. "'I'm so happy to have beena part of it," Riley said, "even on the losing side.". 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. Three on the road. characterized the game as "one of the most wretched (stories) in the history Sign up to receive The Shadow League Newsletter in your inbox. Overview Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845 and became the 28th state. Game Writeup - by Gordon S. White, Jr.,New York Times. The blacks own the game today and that game paved the way, Vaccaro said. We wanted to carry that trophy out of there," he said. That just didn't happen in those days of college basketball. until Texas Western coach Don Haskins did it earlier that season, no That game has been sold out for weeks. Tulsa, which came into this game with a 10-1 record, kept the game close early on. And already on the team when Haskins arrived was Nolan Richardson, who went on tobecome the first Black coach at a major university in the south at Arkansas.
Bishop Ireton Obituary,
Mike Dunleavy Sr Height,
Laurie Gelman Wedding,
Stabbing In Bromley Today,
Articles W
