1965–66 Texas Western Miners men's basketball team

The 1965–66 Texas Western Miners basketball team represented Texas Western College, now the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), and was coached by Hall of Fame coach Don Haskins. The team made history by winning the national championship in 1966, becoming the first team with an all-black starting lineup to do so.

1965–66 Texas Western Miners men's basketball
ConferenceIndependent
Ranking
CoachesNo. 3
APNo. 3
1965–66 record28–1
Head coach
Assistant coachMoe Iba
Home arenaMemorial Gym

The Miners defeated Kentucky (an all-white program until 1969) 72–65 in the historic championship game, played on Saturday, March 19, at Cole Field House on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, a suburb of Washington D.C.[1][2][3]

The team was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 [4] and inspired the book and film Glory Road.

Roster

Name # Position Height Year Hometown
Jerry Armstrong 21 Forward 6−4 Senior Eagleville, MO
Orsten Artis 23 Guard 6–1 Senior Gary, IN
Louis Baudoin 22 Forward 6–7 Junior Albuquerque, NM
Willie Cager 11 Forward 6–5 Sophomore New York City, NY
Harry Flournoy 44 Forward 6–5 Senior Gary, IN
Bobby Joe Hill 14 Guard 5–10 Junior Detroit, MI
David Lattin 42 Center 6–6 Sophomore Houston, TX
Dick Myers 31 Forward 6–4 Junior Peabody, KS
Dave Palacio 15 Guard 6–2 Sophomore El Paso, TX
Togo Railey 25 Guard 6–0 Junior El Paso, TX
Nevil Shed 33 Center 6–8 Junior New York City, NY
Willie Worsley 24 Guard 5−6 Sophomore New York City, NY

After the championship

The 1965–1966 Texas Western basketball team faced many issues because of their race. 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.[5] Also, they were not invited on The Ed Sullivan Show, which was customary for the NCAA Champions. Texas Western's (UTEP's) winning the basketball national championship helped promote the desegregation of athletics in the Southeastern Conference which had its first black basketball player in 1967.[6]

Schedule

[7]

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site
city, state
1965/12/04*
Eastern New Mexico W 89–38  1–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1965/12/09*
East Texas State W 73–51  2–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1965/12/11*
Texas–Pan American W 67–47  3–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1965/12/14*
Weber State W 74–63  4–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1965/12/17*
Fresno State W 75–73  5–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1965/12/18*
Fresno State W 83–65  6–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1965/12/21*
vs. South Dakota
Rock Island Tournament
W 88–42  7–0
 
Rock Island, IL
1965/12/22*
vs. Nevada
Rock Island Tournament
W 86–49  8–0
 
Rock Island, IL
1965/12/29*
Loyola (New Orleans)
Sun Bowl Tournament
W 93–56  9–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1965/12/30*
#4 Iowa
Sun Bowl Tournament
W 86–68  10–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1966/01/03*
Tulsa W 63–54  11–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1966/01/06*
No. 9 Seattle W 76–64  12–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1966/01/27*
No. 6 at Arizona State W 84–67  13–0
 
Tempe, AZ
1966/01/29*
No. 6 West Texas State W 69–50  14–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1966/02/01*
No. 6 New Mexico State W 104–78  15–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1966/02/04*
No. 6 at Colorado State W 68–66  16–0
 
Fort Collins, CO
1966/02/10*
No. 4 at Arizona W 81–72  17–0
Bear Down Gym 
Tucson, AZ
1966/02/12*
No. 4 at New Mexico W 67–64OT  18–0
Johnson Gymnasium 
Albuquerque, NM
1966/02/14*
No. 4 Arizona State W 69–67  19–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1966/02/19*
No. 3 at Texas–Pan American W 65–61  20–0
 
Edinburg, TX
1966/02/24*
No. 3 at West Texas State W 78–64  21–0
 
Canyon, TX
1966/02/26*
No. 3 Colorado State W 72–55  22–0
Memorial Gym 
El Paso, TX
1966/03/02*
No. 2 at New Mexico State W 73–56  23–0
Las Cruces High School 
Las Cruces, NM
1966/03/05*
No. 2 at Seattle L 72–74  23–1
 
Seattle, WA
NCAA Tournament
1966/03/06*
No. 2 vs. Oklahoma City
NCAA Midwest Regional Quarterfinal
W 89–74  24–1
WSU Fieldhouse 
Wichita, KS
1966/03/11*
No. 3 vs. Cincinnati
NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinal
W 78–76OT  25–1
Lubbock Municipal Coliseum 
Lubbock, TX
1966/03/12*
No. 3 vs. #4 Kansas
NCAA Midwest Regional Final
W 81–802OT  26–1
Lubbock Municipal Coliseum 
Lubbock, TX
1966/03/18*
No. 3 vs. Utah
NCAA National Semifinal
W 85–78  27–1
Cole Field House 
College Park, MD
1966/03/19*
No. 3 vs. #1 Kentucky
NCAA National Final
W 72–65  28–1
Cole Field House 
College Park, MD
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central Standard Time.

References

  1. "Texas Western shocks Kentucky in final". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. March 20, 1966. p. 1B.
  2. "Hill and friends flummox favored Kentucky by 72-65". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. March 20, 1966. p. 1, sports.
  3. Buttram, Bill (March 21, 1966). "Texas Western's 'game' beats Kentucky". Free Lance-Star. (Fredericksburg, Virginia). p. 12.
  4. "Hall Of Famers – 1966 Texas Western". Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  5. Wetzel, Dan. "The Long and Winding road". Yahoo Sports. Yahoo Sports.
  6. Eagen, Matt. "Breaking the Barrier". Courant staff writer. The Courant.
  7. 1965–66 Statistics and Results Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine, University of Texas at El Paso, retrieved 2009-07-09

Further reading

  • Fitzpatrick, Frank. And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Basketball Game That Changed American Sports (2000)
  • Haskins, Don with Dan Wetzel. Glory Road: My Story of the 1966 NCAA Basketball Championship and How One Team Triumphed Against the Odds and Changed America Forever. New York:Hyperion, 2006. 254 pp. No index. ISBN 1-4013-0791-4.
  • Hutchison, Phillip. "The legend of Texas Western: journalism and the epic sports spectacle that wasn’t." Critical Studies in Media Communication 33.2 (2016): 154-167.
  • Sanchez, Ramon. Basketball's Biggest Upset: Texas Western Changed The Sport With A Win Over Kentucky In 1966 (1991) excerpt, game by game details—and play-by-play for championship game.
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