GLORY ROADGLORY ROAD

HISTORY THROUGH FILMMr. Clark

Don Haskins

• Donald Lee Haskins• nicknamed "The Bear" • March 14, 1930 –

September 7, 2008

• played for 3 years under legendary coach Henry Iba at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University)

Henry Iba

• After college, Haskins played briefly with the A.A.U. Artesia Travelers

• Haskins then entered coaching, successfully leading some small-town high school basketball teams to championships.

• 1961: Haskins takes a pay cut for a chance to be a college coach, accepting a job offer at Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso)

• In the 1950s, prior to Haskins' arrival, Texas Western recruited and played African American players, in a time when it was still common to find all-white college sports teams, particularly in the South.

• When Haskins arrived in El Paso, he inherited 3 black players from his coaching predecessor

• one of those players, El Paso native Nolan Richardson, would go on to win a national title as the head coach at Arkansas

• The Miners reached the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1963 and 1964 and played in the NIT in 1965.

• He was the head coach at Texas Western College (renamed the University of Texas at El Paso in 1967) from 1961 to 1999

• at Texas Western (and UTEP), he compiled a 719–353 record, suffering only 5 losing seasons

• won 14 Western Athletic Conference championships

• 4 WAC tournament titles

• 14 NCAA tournament berths • 7 trips to the NIT• Haskins led UTEP to 17 20-plus win

seasons• served as an assistant Olympic team

coach in 1972 in Munich, Germany

• He was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997 as a basketball coach.

• The 1966 Texas Western team was nominated in its entirety to the Basketball Hall of Fame, and was inducted to the Hall on September 7, 2007.

• Don Haskins died at his home on September 7, 2008.

• Among the players he coached at UTEP over the years were future NBA all-stars Nate “Tiny” Archibald, Tim Hardaway, and Antonio Davis.

• The arena he coached in is now known as "The Don Haskins Center".

• A street is named after him in El Paso, Texas’ East side.

Texas Western University

• Located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas

• The school was founded in 1914 as The Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy

• In the mid-1950s, Texas Western College became first southern college to integrate its intercollegiate athletic teams.

• By 1967, the Board of Regents authorized that the name of the college be changed from Texas Western College to UTEP (University Texas- El Paso)

• UTEP is the largest university in the nation with a majority Mexican-American student population.

“Paydirt Pete”

• Currently there are some 19,842 students enrolled at UTEP.

• About 73 percent of UTEP's student population is Hispanic.

UTEP 2006-2010 TONY BARBEETONY BARBEE HEAD COACH

• Barbee is the first black head coach at UTEP, a school credited with helping break down the color barrier in college sports.

1966 N.C.A.A.

Tournament

EAST 1966 WESTDuke NCAA Utah

Championship Duke Utah

St. Josephs (76-74) (83-51) St. Josephs Pacific

Providence (65-48) Duke Utah

Davidson (91-81) TX Western (70-64) Houston

Davidson National

Champions HoustonRhode Island (95-65) (82-76) Colorado St.

Syracuse Oregon St. (94-78) (63-60)

Syracuse Oregon St. TX Western Kentucky (72-65)

Kentucky Kansas Kentucky Kansas

Dayton (86-79) (76-70) Dayton S.M.U.

Miami-OH (58-51) Kentucky TX Western

Western KY (84-77) (81-80) TX Western Western KY TX Western

Loyola-IL (105-86) (89-74)Oklahoma

City Michigan TX Western (80-79) (78-76)

Michigan Cincinnati

MIDEAST MIDWEST

MINERS FG FT RB F PTSBobby Joe Hill 7-17 6-9 3 3 20

David Lattin 5-10 6-6 9 4 16

Orsten Harris 5-13 5-5 8 1 15

Willie Worsley 2-4 4-6 4 0 8

Willie Cager 1-3 6-7 6 3 8

Nevill Shed 1-1 1-1 3 1 3

Harry Flournoy 1-1 0-0 2 0 2

TOTALS 22-49 28-34 35 12 72

• The Texas Western Miners finished the 1965–66 regular season with a 23–1 record

• They enter NCAA Tournament ranked 3rd in the nation in the final regular season AP college basketball poll.

• In the 1st round of the tournament, the Miners defeated Oklahoma City 89–74.

• In the next round, they defeated Cincinnati 78–76 in overtime.

• They went on to defeat Kansas in double overtime in the Midwest Regional Finals, 81–80

• Texas Western defeated Utah in the national semifinals, 85–78.

• Facing the #1 ranked University of Kentucky in the championship game, Haskins made history by starting FIVE African American players for the first time ever in a championship game

• University of Kentucky had an all-white basketball team coached by Adolph Rupp.

• The Miners took the lead midway in the 1st half and never relinquished it — though Kentucky closed to within a point early in the 2nd half.

• The Miners finished with 72 points to Kentucky’s 65, winning the tournament and finishing the year with a 28–1 record.

"I really didn't think about starting five black guys. I just

wanted to put my five best guys on the court.

I just wanted to win that game.“

- Don Haskins

“I've said this many times over the last 40 years, but for a long time I

thought winning the national championship was the worst thing ever to happen to me. I wished for a long time that we had never won that game with

Kentucky because life would have been a heck of a lot easier for

me, my school and my players.”- Don Haskins

2011-2012 Kentucky Wildcats

2011-2012 UTEP Miners

15 wins – 17 losses8th in Conference USA