1966 Texas Western Basketball National Champions

Don Haskins grew up in Enid, Oklahoma, where at fifteen he worked in a feed store beside an African American co-worker, Herman Carr; the town's schools were segregated, but the two played one-on-one after work. He then played for Henry Iba at Oklahoma A&M from 1949 to 1952, which he later called four years of hell he would not trade. When he came to Texas Western in 1961, he had never coached Black players. Nolan Richardson, on his first team here, later coached Arkansas to the 1994 national title.

What the plaque says

1966 Texas Western Basketball National Champions Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso) was the first institution of higher education in a southern state to integrate, with a dozen African American students enrolling in 1955. Charles Brown became the Miners' first Black basketball player in the 1956-57 season, followed by several others under head coaches George McCarty and Harold Davis. Coach Don Haskins arrived in 1961 for the first of 38 seasons and continued to recruit Black players. Though federal laws prohibited racial segregation in education, many southern schools resisted, particularly in athletics, through laws, policies and the refusal to play integrated teams. Texas Western transformed college sports in the 1965-66 season. Its fully integrated basketball squad compiled a 23-1 regular season record and joined the postseason NCAA tournament. Wins over Oklahoma City (89-74), Cincinnati (78-76, overtime) and Kansas (81-80, double overtime) earned the Miners a trip to the national semifinals at the University of Maryland. After defeating Utah 85-78, they faced four-time national champion Kentucky in the title game. In a historic first in a college basketball championship, all five starters for the miners were African American. Kentucky's entire roster was white. Coach Haskins said he was not trying to make a more profound statement about race but was simply playing his best players. The Miners led 34-31 at halftime and demonstrated a superior defense and disciplined half-court offense in a 72-65 victory at Cole Field House. It was the only time in the 20th century that a Texas team won the NCAA men's basketball title. The game was a watershed moment for the integration of college athletics, as southern universities began actively recruiting African American athletes. Texas Western inspired generations by achieving one of the most significant wins in both American sports and the Civil Rights Movement. (2019)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Magoffin Home State Historic Site — 1.9 mi
  A U-shaped adobe of the 1870s in central El Paso that joins Mexican building to an Anglo plan, closed for restoration through 2027 while its visitor center stays open.
• Chamizal National Memorial — 3.0 mi
  A park on land the Rio Grande once put in dispute, where a century-old border quarrel between the United States and Mexico was settled by treaty and a new concrete channel.
• Franklin Mountains State Park — 11 mi
  Almost 27,000 acres of desert mountains inside El Paso, with the oldest rocks in Texas, more than 100 miles of trail and campsites in the Tom Mays Unit.
• Ysleta Mission (Corpus Christi de la Ysleta del Sur) — 12 mi
  The Tigua mission church at Ysleta, rebuilt in 1908 around the walls, bell and Santo Entierro that came through fire, its interior painted with rain clouds and corn.

More markers nearby

• The University of Texas at El Paso — 0.5 mi
• Olga Kohlberg — 0.9 mi
• Sunset Heights — 1.0 mi
• Captain James W. Magoffin, Major Simeon Hart — 1.1 mi