Don Haskins: 1930 - 2008

Don Haskins

Texas Western / University of Texas - El Paso Miners

The university changed its name from Texas Western College to the University of Texas at El Paso in 1967.

719-353

Tim Floyd (USC), Nolan Richardson

Nate Archibald, Tim Hardaway, Antonio Davis

1966 National Champions

Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005

His 1966 National Champions were inducted -- as a team -- in 2007

Coach Don Haskins is best remembered as the leader of the 1966 Texas Western team -- and it's all-African-American starting five -- that beat heavily-favored (and all-white) Kentucky for the 1966 National Title. But even without that pioneering win, Haskins would be remembered as one of the all-time greats. His 38-year tenure as a college coach -- spent entirely at Texas - El Paso -- featured 719 wins, 14 trips to the NCAA Tournament, and seven Western Athletic Conference championships... and a team so significant, it inspired a Disney movie.

In 2001, CBS Sportsline columnist -- and collaborator on the book Glory Road -- Dan Wetzel cited Haskins' success despite low budgets, no media attention and minimal recruiting base and called "The Bear" the greatest coach in Division I history.

Haskins passed away on September 7, 2008 -- one year to the day after his 1966 Miners were enshrined -- as a team -- in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The 1966 Champs

I certainly did not expect to be some racial pioneer or change the world.
- Coach Don Haskins, in his book Glory Road

He may not have expected it. After his 1966 Miners beat Kentucky in the national championship game, Haskins told reporters, "I just wanted to put my best five guys on the court."

At the time, attitudes about black ballplayers were racist to a degree that's shocking today. As Vanderbilt's Perry Wallace -- the first African American to play SEC basketball -- put it, "Whites then thought that if you put five blacks on the court at the same time, they would somehow revert to their native impulses."

The win was made even more significant by the opponent -- mighty Kentucky, the dominant team in college basketball of that era -- was all-white, and coached by the legendary Adolph Rupp.

Glory Road

Haskins -- with collaborator Dan Wetzel -- published the story of the 1966 Championship team in the book Glory Road. That book provided the basis for the 2006 movie of the same name, which featured Josh Lucas as Haskins and Jon Voight as Adolph Rupp.