wiqkinson5的部落格

Glory Road - 2 Stars (Average)

Basketball Coach Don Haskins does not have to hang around for his story to start. He is a partaker of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Few nowadays would call up Don Haskins. He was the guide at Texas Western in 1966 when his 27-1 team vie Adolph Rupp's 27-1 University of Kentucky Wildcats for the NCAA term.

Nothing too innovative in the region of that, with the exception of that Haskins would turn the archetypal manager in NCAA times of yore to inception an all-African American roll when the Miners square off antagonistic Rupp's all-white Kentucky squad that conspicuous two players who would get eminent in the NBA pro league: Pat Riley and Louie Dampier.

Remember these names: Bobby Joe Hill, David Lattin, Orsten Artis, Willie Worsley and Harry Flournoy during February, Black History Month. They were the protrusive lineup for Texas Western when the Miners won the NCAA title against an all-white Kentucky team, 72-65.

I would high from Michigan State University two months after Texas Western won the title, and would not be sensitive of freshly how historic this occurrence was. My higher arts school and body administrative division and line teams were united. Kentucky would not even speech act African Americans basketball scholarships, and in that were copious another colleges and universities which excluded African American players in 1966.

There was a lot of loathing in the South at that juncture. Heck, at hand was a lot spite everywhere, but not in Don Haskins' will to win for Texas Western, familiar today as UTEP, the University of Texas at El Paso. Haskins was colour-blind and simply put the superior players on the floor to contend.

Haskins recruited the unsurpassed players, nada other mattered. Not even the rotten rehabilitation and loss coercion both Haskins and his players received from die-hard, ignorant, prejudiced Texas Western relay links and donors. They intone a dissimilar line in Texas today, especially at the University of Texas.

Glory Road in 2006 retold the fable of Don Haskins and Texas Western. Josh Lucas compete the function of Don Haskins, Derek Luke compete Bobby Joe Hill and John Voight vie Adolph Rupp. It is not one of the longest pictures of all time made, but the narrative of Texas Western is on par near other large victories in sports history, with the 1980 U. S. Hockey squad winning the Gold Medal in the Olympics. Contrary to the picture version, the honour unfit was not as big an concerned as was portrayed. Texas Western had an super team, as proved by its No. 3 commanding the concluding place that period. Haskins was not the primary coach to frisk African Americans, Texas Western had African American players on its roster past Haskins arrived.

Haskins was the eldest to set off an all-African American lineup in the NCAA label game, and it is likewise factual that Texas Western was the initial college in a Southern enumerate to unify its diversion teams. Good for Texas Western.

Glory Road had a honourable phone call of expectancy for African Americans. At least one manager had the mainstay to performance the incomparable. Do not focus for a sec that this was Don Haskins' one mo of glory, and that he was courageous but not an untouchable basketball game handler.

Since Glory Road was not as by a long chalk roughly speaking Don Haskins as several highly talented, greatly charitable and highly fearless Texas Western players, let it be prearranged that Don Haskins:

1) Played cardinal old age at Oklahoma A&M below Hall of Fame handler Hank Iba and was Team Captain.

2) Was bound for 4th location among the NCAA's maximum champion helpful coaches when he retired near 719 wins and 353 losings.

3) Had 33 in the lead seasons at UTEP in 38 eld of coaching job.

4) Led UTEP to no smaller number than 17 20-win-seasons, an NCAA gong in 1966, 7 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) championships, 4 WAC competition titles, and 21 postseason trips (14 to the NCAA playoffs and 7 NIT-National Invitational Tournament-appearances).

5) Changed institute court game indefinitely by protrusive an all-African American team resistant an all-white Kentucky troop in the NCAA competition and triumphant the headline.

6) Coached Hall of Famer Nate "Tiny" Archibald, NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, and Antonio Davis, and mentored coming coaches Nolan Richardson and Tim Floyd.

Glory Road is a pic for every basketball booster. It has a large message and represents a bad instant in the development of court game as we know and enjoy it nowadays.

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley