Texas Western Miners Essay

Nihaar Gupta

March 11th, 2016

Texas Western Miners: The First All African-American Title Team

“Former Rockets’ coach Rudy Tomjanovich once said ‘Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion’”(Powell 12). A small team from El Paso,Texas embodied this ideal. In 1966, the Texas Western Miners defied all odds, and defeated the Kentucky Wildcats thereby becoming the first all African-American basketball team to win the NCAA title.

The Texas Western Miners were a racially diverse team. Coached by Don Haskins, the team had eight African-Americans, four white people, and one Hispanic player. However, throughout most of the year Don Haskins started an All-African American lineup. Coach Don Haskins did not base his team on race, but rather on skill.

In the 1966 NCAA Tournament, Texas Western beat Oklahoma City and Cincinnati before upsetting Kansas in the Midwest Finals in double overtime. In the Final Four, Texas Western faced the Utah Utes, and the Miners would win advancing to the NCAA Championship. Now, the Miners faced their biggest obstacle, the number one ranked Kentucky Wildcats. The Kentucky Wildcats was coached by future Hall of Fame coach Adolph Rupp, and featured superstars Louie Dampier and Pat Riley. The Wildcats, like most southeastern teams during the ‘60s, were an all white team.The Texas Western Miners were officially ruled as eight point underdogs. Since, most of America thought Kentucky would blowout the “inferior” Miners, the game was moved back to a ten o’clock tipoff time. The night before the game, Coach Haskins made a bold move; he decided to start, and play, an all African-American team. Coach Haskins made that move not for gaining publicity, but rather to nullify the Kentucky guards. As the Miners entered Cole Field House in College Park, Maryland they heard some racial comments from Kentucky fans. Texas Western ignored these comments as they warmed-up before the game.Right before the opening tip, Coach Rupp implored his team to blowout the all African-American

When Coach Haskins started the all African-American team, many people thought they would not work well together. Most of America thought the plan would fail because the unofficial theory at the time was that there had to be a minimum of one white player on the court to “control” the team. However, the Texas Western Miners defied that belief by beating the Kentucky Wildcats. This game has had an everlasting impact on the modern NCAA game. In an article in the Houston Chronicle David Lattin stated, "We made it possible for youngsters to go to all school, especially in the Deep South, where they weren't being recruited (in the mid-'60s). When they let the athletes in, they had to let the regular students in as well." (Barron 13). According to to ESPN the amount of African-American’s on each team increased from 2.9 to 5.7 between 1966 and 1985( Fitzpatrick 157). According to another article published by CBS Sports, “ ‘One of the reasons we're still talking about it is something Pat Riley said one time,’ Lattin said. ‘He said it was probably the worst day of his life when he lost that game, but he felt the right team won because it did so much for others. It made it possible for kids to go to major universities, especially in the deep South, and not just for basketball. It's my legacy. When you do something for someone else, it's a legacy that lasts