Don Haskins
In that 1966 game, Haskins famously broke color barriers by starting an all-black lineup in their championship victory over Adolph Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats. The story was told in the Disney movie Glory Road.
Haskins, whose health had been failing over the past couple of years, coached for 38 years at Texas Western, which would eventually be renamed the University of Texas at El Paso (or UTEP).
Former coach Eddie Sutton had this to say about the impact of that 1966 team:
Sports
"When they won the national championship against the University of Kentucky, that changed college basketball," Sutton said. "At that time, there weren't many teams in the South or Southwest that had African-Americans playing. There was a change in the recruiting of the black athlete. It really changed after that. They've had a great impact on the game."
Haskins had just five losing seasons in his career at UTEP, 14 WAC championships, 14 NCAA Tournament appearances and 719 wins before retiring in 1999. He was elected to the Basketball Hall Of Fame in 1997, while the entire 1966 team was inducted exactly one year ago.
