El Pasoan Nolan Richardson to be inducted into Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame
He waited two decades, but recognition is finally coming to Nolan Richardson.
Born and raised in El Paso’s Segundo Barrio, Richardson overcame humble beginnings to rise as a star in Bowie High School’s basketball, baseball and football programs.
He went on to play for Texas Western College –now the University of Texas at El Paso– where he averaged 23 points per game in his junior season.
Richardson later became one of the top coaches in the nation, taking Arkansas to three Final Four NCAA tournaments, clenching the championship in 1994.
Dr. Maceo Dailey, who teaches African-American studies at UTEP, holds coach Richardson as a role model. Richardson was one of the first black coaches at a southern college.
“What we all admire about him is he is a sports icon and that he has a kind of mental tenacity, a focus, a capacity to organize individuals and lead them to the highest level in athletics, as he did,” he told ABC-7 in 2010.
Richardson’s career has been controversial.
In 2002, he accused the University of Arkansas of racism in a now infamous racial tirade.
“Well, I look at all of you people in this room. I see no one that looks like me, talks like me or acts like me,” said Richardson. “My great-grandfather came on the ship.. Not Nolan Richarson. I did not come on that ship.”
He was fired.
The bitter separation may have prevented Richardson from landing other top coaching jobs, and even from being recognized by the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
The coach is also known as a philanthropist. The Nolan Richardson Charity Golf Tournament raises money for 35 different charities in El Paso.
“Well, I was born and raised in El Paso, and I knew that if we were able to do anything that would be of any magnitude it could happen in El Paso,” Richardson told ABC-7 during the 2012 golf tournament.
Richardson will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Aug. 8.
Read the entire list of inductees here.
Other El Pasoans inducted into the Hall of Fame include coach Don Haskins, Nate Archibald and the 1966 NCAA Championship team from Texas Western College.
