RIP: Coach Don 'The Bear' Haskins

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Coach Don Haskins, 78; Advocate for Equality

By Joe Holley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 9, 2008; Page B06

Don Haskins, a hard-nosed basketball coach who made sports and civil rights history when, as coach of the Texas Western Miners, he led the first all-black starting lineup to the 1966 national championship, died Sept. 7 at his home in El Paso of congestive heart failure. He was 78.

In the championship game at Cole Field House in College Park, Texas Western defeated an all-white Kentucky Wildcats team, coached by the legendary Adolph Rupp and ranked No. 1 in the nation. The movie "Glory Road" (2006), with Josh Lucas as Mr. Haskins, told the Texas Western story. It was preceded by a book of the same title written by Mr. Haskins with Daniel Wetzel, and it sparked renewed interest in one of the great coaching careers in college basketball history.

Texas Western College -- renamed the University of Texas at El Paso in 1967 -- had a superb team few knew anything about. It came into the 1966 NCAA tournament ranked No. 3 in the country, with a 26-1 record.

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... more at the linked article

Having seen the film mentioned above (Glory Road), I was saddened by this news, though it wasn't unexpected. I remember some recent reports that Haskins was in poor health.

My own personal memories of Haskins come from his later days. Until I had seen Glory Road I really didn't know his place in history other than as a coach that seemed well respected and normally had his teams well prepared to play whomever they were suiting up against.

About the best I can say is that having seen Glory Road and knowing when the events that film was based on took place, or looking a little more recently at the nomination of Obama as the Democrat party candidate for President of the U.S.A., we've come a long way in this country, even if it seems we have a lot of distance left to cover in relations between the races.

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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks for writing this.  Don Haskins is our hometowno hero.  It was such sad news when we heard of his passing.  I just finished watching a memorial they made for him.  So many friends (players, coaches, colleagues, etc.) had wonderful words to say about him (Tim Floyd, Billy Gillepsie, Nolan Richardson, to name a few).  I was lucky enough to have attended some of the games he coached. I was so excited when "Glory Road" came out that we saw it the night it premiered.

We love this guy...he did so much to put us and our university on the map.  The NCAA Championship he and his team won was so historic and meaningful...it made us so proud.  The best part of him, for me, though, was not his success on the court, but the fact that he loved our city so much and the fact that he was so humble about his successes.  God bless him.

 

 

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks for writing this.
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Honestly, I wish it didn't need to be written for a good while longer, though 78 years on this planet isn't too shabby.  I respected the heck outta the guy as I don't think I ever heard even a hint of a coaching scandal or any bad things (well, other than that he wasn't a softie on his players, and was a tough, but fair coach) said about him.

I do highly recommend that everyone check out the film Glory Road.  I know it's gotten the Disney treatment and is not entirely based on the facts, but it's close enough to do a good job of getting the story out there.

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