Don Haskins, the legendary coach who took the first black starting team to the national college basketball championship in 1966, died this afternoon. He was 78.
As an alum of the University of Texas at El Paso, I am proud of the role my alma mater played in changing the face of collegiate athletics, and of my home town, El Paso, for leading the way as well, the first city to desegregate in the state of Texas.
I haven't seen it announced on any national channels yet, but the local paper has it up. Haskins's story was chronicled in the hit movie Glory Road starring Josh Lucas, and he even appeared in a cameo as a gas station attendant. I got to meet him once, on a golf course driving range with his son Steve, who is a professional golfer. He was as down to earth as anyone, a man who could have written his own ticket anywhere but chose to remain loyal to the town that put him on the map.
In a year when we are poised to put the first African-American in the White House, this story carries a similar importance. Coach once said he never meant to make history, he just started his five best guys. He later lamented that it sometimes wasn't worth it, with the torrent of hate mail he received, as well as scandalous treatment in a notoriously inaccurate article in Sports Illustrated, written by James Michener, that accused Haskins of using his players and that none of them amounted to anything in school. In fact, all his players got their educations and went on to great things in life. Events portrayed in Glory Road, particularly the treatment his players received on the road, were fabricated for the story line, but the backlash against the Texas Western Miners' championship run was real nonetheless.
We have lost a giant today.