Texas Western Miners: Reunited and It Feels So Good

There was no shortage of stories when the 1966 Miners returned to Memorial Gym for a live panel discussion. The words from their stories and the ensuing laughter echoed through the arena like cheers of the crowds who came to see the team play.

The Miners were together again. The live panel discussion, which will be used as part of a documentary set to air this winter, was moderated by broadcast legend Jack Ford.

David Lattin was a star again. He admitted to sleeping almost the entire day before the Kentucky game. He wasn’t nervous. He said the team knew it was better.

“We were cocky,” said Willie Worsley.

Perhaps. But they had a right to be.

Nevil Shed says he knew Kentucky had won four national titles. “They’re in for a big surprise,” he said, which was followed by a roar of laughter from the crowd.

The Miners say their focus was on winning the basketball game. It was not about making a statement, although it was obvious things had changed when an all black starting five took the court against an all white starting five.

The Kentucky players were classy, say the Miners. Although, the night before the game, the players say Don Haskins told them then-Kentucky head coach Adolph Rupp had said he would never have five black players on one of his teams.

“We’re not going to lose this game,” Lattin said.

Lattin is known for any early dunk which set the tone for the entire game. Initially, he says, Haskins did not want him to dunk, but later changed his mind.

Lattin saw Kentucky’s game against Duke in the semi finals. While he noticed neither side featured a black player, he also noticed Kentucky’s team lacked size. With that, he began to formulate his strategy as to how he would attack the Wildcats. The objective was to get the dunk early.

It wasn’t just the dunk which set the tone for the game. Lattin says it was everything which surrounded the dunk and who the dunk was on (Kentucky star Pat Riley).

The reaction was, not surprisingly, mixed after the Miners claimed the national title.

The Texas Western victory came at a time, in which, the nation considered black players inferior to whites. The southern white community, in particular, was stunned by the outcome. There was jubilation in the African American community, as there was with the Miners. After all, many considered the Miners to be “Street Fighters”, the racial undertone very apparent.

“I wonder what they think of us now,” Shed recalls saying to forward Willie Cager.

Shed pointed to his father in the stands after the victory. It was the first game his father saw him play with the Miners.

It was a testament to the work the Miners did all season. Finally, it seemed the grueling practices were worth it. And they were grueling.

Cager refered to Haskins’ practices as “tough, tough, and more tough.”

“At first I hated that man,” Shed said of Haskins.

He recalls Haskins telling him he knew Shed could handle his brutal tutelage.

There were few options. Most schools would not recruit black players. Willie Worsley recalls getting calls from coaches who, based on his name, did not know he was black. When they found out, he says it scared colleges off.

Willie Brown was Texas Western’s first black player. Nolan Richardson followed, his college career ending just before the Miners historic season. Assistant coach Moe Iba credits the two men with paving the way for black players to come to El Paso. They knew they would be accepted. It did not take long for the players to learn their coach did not care about race. He was concerned with transforming the Miners into a national power. All other concerns were secondary.

That, they say, is why the practices were so brutal.

Four hours a day. Seven days a week.

Jerry Armstrong still remembers the schedule. Practice began at two. Players had to be there an hour early to work on their individual skills. Once “The Bear” (Haskins) arrived, the team would briefly run layup drills before immediately moving to five on five, full court, practices… For the next four hours.

Louie Baudoin says the goal was to be in better condition than any team they would encounter. The Miners were expected to beat their opponents to the other end of the court after every basket. Baudoin recalls the system as being relatively simple basketball. Be in better shape. No switching on defense.

The players feelings toward their coach shifted after their tenure.

When Haskins was sick, Richardson visited him in the hospital. He asked Richardson if his players liked him. Richardson said yes. “Then, you aint gonna be worth a damn,” Richardson recalls Haskins saying.

Before the game began, white Kentucky fans were running through the stands with the Confederate flag. Lattin and Cager decided to put a stop to it. Cager, all of five foot six, dunked the basketball. That caught their attention.

The dunks set the tone. Bobby Joe Hill’s back to back steals, sealed the win.

The Miners remain the only men’s division one basketball team from Texas to win a national title.

Intentional or not, the statement had been made. Shed understands the full impact of the game today. Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson were legends, but they were individuals. They were exceptions. Texas Western was a team. It was a collection of players who squashed the prejudicial assumptions.

Richardson knew as time went on, the game would have a huge impact on the African-American community.

“When you don’t see people who look like you,” Richardson says, “You can’t look at someone and think, I can be something.”

They became role models that day. They became community leaders and examples of perseverance.

“We’re truly legends,” Shed says.

Indeed. They are truly legends. And for just a few short days, the legends are reunited.