Don Haskins Impact On Sports

In the following year, Don Haskins, the head coach of the Texas Western Miners, led his team to win the 1966 NCAA Men’s National Championship in basketball. They played against the University of Kentucky, or otherwise known as “all white Kentucky,” whose head coach was Adolph Rupp. The significance of the games was well known throughout the nation. Haskins started the first ever all-black lineup in history of college basketball. This left a huge impact on the nation as “it was a time of racial unrest in the United States.” According to Haskins, he did not realize how great of an impact his decision to start five black players would be. In his obituary, the have a quote from Haskins, “I wasn’t out to be a pioneer when we played Kentucky… I

I don’t think anybody thought we would win.” And a lot was made of it. Their victory over the University of Kentucky opened the gates for racial integration into sports and most importantly it allowed black student to be accepted white college campuses. According to David Lattin, one of the starting five in 1966, “It certainly made it possible for a lot of black kids to go to majority white colleges to get a better education. It was a significant point that turned racial issues around and made it possible for guys to get scholarships--and not just basketball. Football and baseball as well.” Their victory showed that the African-Americans were very much capable of matching toe to toe with white people. It showed that the black players were just as good as white players and that can be transitioned off the court into other aspects of life such as education and so

When he was asked why he waited so long to write his book, his response was “My life wasn’t ready to be told in story until there was a closure with my athletic, teaching, and coaching career.” According to him, in order for him to write about his life, he needed to live his life more and see where everything played out after the 1868 Olympics. Steele then asked Smith if he ever regretted what he did and he replied with no he has had no regrets. He said it was an act of “Faith.” He claims that he has hope in our changing society and that, from his viewpoint, his stance was a “Cry of Freedom.” He and John Carlos took the stance because they believe that African-American were just as good as any white person and they set out on a mission in front of the world to prove