On This Date in Sports March 19, 1966: Glory Road
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
Texas Western (later known as UTEP) wins the NCAA Tournaments, shocking Kentucky 72-65 in College Park, Maryland. Coached by Don Haskins, the Miners had five black starters, as they stunned blue blood Kentucky coached by Adolph Rupp, who was seeking its fifth NCAA Tournament Championship. Bobby Joe Hill led a balanced effort by Texas Western with 20 points, while David Lattin scored 16 points and Ortsen Artsen had 15 points. Pat Riley and Louie Dampier each had 19 points to lead the way for the Wildcats.
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In 1966, it was thought that a team with too many black starters would be undisciplined and could not win consistently. Don Haskins, the fifth-year coach at Texas Western in El Passo, did not care about the racial stereotypes and racist attitudes and focused on playing his best players. The Miners were coming off a disappointing season in 1965, in which they missed the NCAA Tournament at 16-9. Texas Western had made the tournament in 1963 and 1964, reaching the Sweet 16 in 1964.
After their disappointing 1965 season, Texas Western excelled with their new lineup, winning their first 11 games to earn a spot in the AP rankings. This included an impressive 86-68 win over #4 Iowa. The Miners would win their first 23 games before suffering a 74-72 loss to Seattle in the final game of the season. The loss would prove to be an important lesson heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Kentucky had won four National Championships under the guidance of Adolph Rupp. His 1966 team was ranked number one and expected to win again. The 1966 NCAA season was notable in that UCLA was hamstrung by the rules prohibiting freshmen from playing. Lew Alcindor had led the Bruins freshmen to a highly publicized with over the UCLA varsity, as the two-time defending champions missed the tournament.
The 1966 NCAA Basketball Tournament had 22 teams. Kentucky, the top seed in the Mideast, had a bye into the regional semifinals, where they beat Dayton 86-79. They would beat Michigan 84-77 to reach their sixth Final Four. Texas Western had a much tougher road as they needed to win a first-round game in the Midwest Region. The game was a breeze for the Miners, who beat Oklahoma City 89-74. The next two games would put Texas Western to the test. They rallied to beat Cincinnati 78-76 in overtime to reach the Regional Finals. The regional finals in Lubbock, Texas was filled with emotion as Moe Iba, assistant to Haskins, was facing his father's team. Again, the Miners prevailed, winning 81-80 in double overtime.
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Rounding out that year's Final Four was Duke and Utah each, making their third Final Four. Duke reached the semifinals with wins over St. Joseph's and Syracuse in the East Region. Utah reached the Final Four with wins over the University of the Pacific and Oregon State. The Utes were led by Jerry Chambers, who was named Most Outstanding Player for the NCAA Tournament. Chambers had 37 points in the semifinals but could not stop the Miners down their glory road, as Texas Western won 85-78. Kentucky meanwhile beat Duke 83-79 and was heavily favored to beat Texas Western.
The 1966 NCAA Tournament was not seen live as most channels showed it on tape delay on independent stations from the Hughes Sports Network. The game tipped late, as Duke beat Utah 79-77 in the third-place game. Tipping off a 10 pm, Don Haskins shortened his bench, going with a seven-man rotation, all of whom were African-American. Joining starters Bobby Joe Hill, Willie Worsley, Harry Flournoy, David Lattin, and Orsten Artis were joined by Willie Cager and Nevil Shed in leading the Miners to victory. The first half was close, as the Miners superior ball movement caught Kentucky off guard. After a 34-31 lead at the break, Texas Western continued to control the tempo as Kentucky never took the lead and went down 72-65.
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While the victory has been marked as a landmark victory, there was some clear resentment for Texas Western, as no ladder was brought out to cut down the nets, with players climbing on their teammate's shoulder to celebrate the time-honored tradition. Previous NCAA Champions were invited on to the Ed Sullivan Show, the Miners did not get that invite. The victory led the SEC, Kentucky's conference to finally desegregate in 1967.