53 Years Ago Today

53 years ago today, in 1966, the underdog Texas Western Miners defeated the Kentucky Wildcats 72-65 for the NCAA men's basketball championship. What made this noteworthy is that it was the first time, on a nationally televised title game, an all-black starting 5 (Texas Western) defeated an all-white starting 5 (Kentucky).

Well done.


bob


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bobheckler wrote:53 years ago today, in 1966, the underdog Texas Western Miners defeated the Kentucky Wildcats 72-65 for the NCAA men's basketball championship. What made this noteworthy is that it was the first time, on a nationally televised title game, an all-black starting 5 (Texas Western) defeated an all-white starting 5 (Kentucky).

Well done.


bob


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Very dramatic game to watch - history in the making - A black starting 5 vs an all white Kentucky team considered by many to have been coached by a racist - Adolph Rupp.

swish

Wasn’t Pat Riley the best player on that Kentucky team? Who were the best players on Texas Western and did they have any future pros?

I watched that game on TV. The team was called UTEP at the time I believe. It really shattered a racist paradigm in college basketball. The UTEP coach was a saint.

Four years later Bear Bryant was trapped in that same racist paradigm. Even he could not recruit black football players to Bama because of its racist politics of the time. What did that cagey coach do? He scheduled a home game against USC which featured future Boston Patriots fullback Sam "Bam" Cunningham in its backfield. The Trojans rolled right over the Crimson Tide. It was a humiliating, crushing defeat for Alabama. Next year the Bear got his wish and was allowed to recruit black players. Bear wanted Bama to suffer that Pyrrhic defeat. The rest is football history.

https://www.al.com/entertainment/2013/11/historic_1970_alabama-usc_foot.html

worcester wrote:I watch that game on TV. The team was called UTEP at the time I believe. It really shattered a racist paradigm in college basketball. The UTEP coach was a saint.  

Four years later Bear Bryant was trapped in that same racist paradigm. Even he could not recruit black football players to Bama because of its racist politics of the time. What did that cagey coach do? He scheduled a home game against USC which featured future Boston Patriots fullback Sam "Bam" Cunningham in its backfield. The Tojans rolled right over the Crimson Tide. It was a humiliating, crushing defeat for Alabama. Next year the Bear got his wish and was allowed to recruit black players. Bear wanted Bama to suffer that Pyrrhic defeat. The rest is football history.

https://www.al.com/entertainment/2013/11/historic_1970_alabama-usc_foot.html

It's amazing how the black athlete has turned the sports world upside down since the 50's and 60's - dominating for sure.

swish

Now if they could only crack that one final, frigid racial barrier in sports - curling.

Worcester, here's a little backstory to your post on the Bear. The previous year Coach Bryant and Coach McKay were at a coaches clinic together. The Bear could see the writing on the wall and knew that Bama would not be able to compete with the West coast (Pac 8 and Midwest (Big 10) powers as well as Penn St. without the black athlete. The Bear was also good friends with legendary Grambling coach Eddie Robinson, who would often chide the Bear on all the talent he was missing out on playing at HBCU'S throughout the south due to segregation. Bear implored McKay to schedule a home and home between Bama and USC. Bear insisted that the first meeting be in Alabama. McKay initially balked at that request but when Bear told him the reason why, so that the Bama fans could see firsthand the abilities of the black players and that segregation on the field and in society would ultimately be detrimental to the south and leave those states as well as their universities athletic programs far behind the rest of the country. Coach McKay agreed. USC got the win, Coach Bryant opened eyes and minds in the deep south. RB Wilbur Jackson became the first black player at Bama, as well as a 2 time All American. And, to make things better, the Tide went to L.A. the following season and beat the Trojans. All in all, it was a win for everyone. Coach Bryant knew that if it was good enough for Alabama football then it was good enough for all southern universities.
As far as Kentucky basketball, the Baron wasn't as socially enlightened as the Bear. Kentucky obviously was to southern basketball what Bama was to football. While Bryant used his God like stature to affect positive change, Rupp essentially did the opposite. His first recruit was a good player with questionable character and a volatile personality, to say the least. Tom Payne was not the type to be a standard bearer or trailblazer, as his later actions proved. There were many who felt that Rupp knew this going in and that Payne would fail and he (Rupp) could then play the "see I told you so" card about the "uncivilized negro". As history has proven, Rupp was at best misguided, at worst, dead wrong.

A great story. I taught school in Mississippi in 1968 when black people were not allowed to do - anything!
Go to white schools or schools with textbooks newer than 1930.
Touch the hand of a white cashier. Money had to be put on the counter and not given directly to a white store clerk.
Eat where white people eat.
Swim at the Holiday Inn pool. One July that happened when my fellow teachers invited some students over for a swim. The next day the hotel drained the pool for the rest of the summer.
Drive in a car with a white person without being forced off the road into the ditch, resulting in a broken back.

Yes, all these are my fond memories of life in West Point, Mississippi, living with some of the finest, bravest people I ever met.

I also remember watching that game. Huge step forward for the black athletes who may never have gotten the chance at lots of schools (or at least not as quickly).

Without looking up the names of the UTEP guys, I seem to remember the name David Lattin for some reason.

Great memory wide clyde.

11 - Willie Cager,  6-5,  170, Sophomore New York, N.Y.  - How's that for a name for a basketball player!?!
14 - Bobby Joe Hill, 5-10,  170,  Junior, Detroit, Mich.
15 - David Palacio,  6-2 180 Sophomore, El Paso  
21 - Jerry Armstrong, 6-4, 180, Senior, Eagleville, Mo.
22 - Louis Baudoin, 6-7, 200, Junion, Albuquerque, N.M.
23 - Orsten Artis, 6-1, 175, Senior, Gary, Ind.
24 - Willie Worsley, 5-6, 165, Sophomore, New York, N.Y.
25 - Togo Railey, 6-0, 175, Junior,  El Paso
31 - Dick Myers, 6-4, 185, Junior, Peabody, Kan.
33 - Nevil Shed, 6-8, 185, Junior, New York, N.Y.
42  - David Lattin, 6-6, 240, Sophomore, Houston, Texas
44 - Harry Flournoy, 6-5, 190, Senior, Gary, Ind.

wide clyde

Lattin is correct.

here's the game

https://www.ncaa.com/video/basketball-men/2016-03-01/mens-basketball-classic-game1966-texas-western-kentucky

swish

In 1950 I watched the NIT FINAL - a game that really caught my eye as it was a game that had 3 black starters on the CCNY team - and it featured the only team to win both the ncaa and nit tournaments.

https://nypost.com/1999/09/12/1950-ccny-wins-nit-and-ncaa-tournaments/

swish

The NY Post author Leon Holman refers to "pick and roles." Should we not be talking about "pick and rolls?"

Pick and Roll for Basketball (Offensive Guide) - Basketball For Coaches
https://www.basketballforcoaches.com › Coaching
Single Drag Pick and Roll. A 'single drag pick and roll' is a ball-screen set in transition. This is often effective because the screener's defender who is meant to play help defense on the dribbler is caught out of position as they've sprinted back to defend the basket.

I got a call from an old girlfriend today who lives in Houston. I was reminded that decades ago she lived with the star player of the UTEP NCCA championship team who was so stuck in the past that every single night he watched a vhs tape of THE 1965 game. Such a small world.