by Ray Sanchez © 01.31.16
As you no doubt know, the surviving members of the 1966 TexasWestern College basketball team that beat Kentucky in 1966 for the NCAA championship will be at the 50th celebration of their accomplishment next Saturday, Feb. 6, when the current Miners play Western Kentucky.
Last week I told you how El Paso celebrated the night the Miners beat Kentucky.
Today I’ll tell you why they won.
I’ve had various queries from people around the country. Some wanted to know about the celebration, some about the James Michener book which demeaned the Miners’ accomplishment, still others about how the Miners stacked up against Kentucky’s players.
My response:
THE MICHENER book was simply wrong.
There was still so much discrimination in the country in the 1960s that many nasty, untrue articles about the Miners appeared in publications. The players were called ‘outlaws’ in some cases and one article even charged that the players’ wives were used as maids by El Pasoans. None of the players was married at the time!!!”
As for how the Miners compared to the Kentucky, players, they stacked up very well, thank you.
In fact, nine of the 12 Texas Western players graduated. That’s a .750 percentage. Only 10 of Kentucky’s 14 players graduated. That’s a .714 percentage. So Texas Western had a better graduation rate than Kentucky from that season.
But more than that all the Texas Western players went on to become good, solid citizens who contributed to society.
THE STEREOTYPE of a black from a big city is of a kid from the ghetto, usually from a broken home. That stereotype didn’t fit the black players on the 1966 Miners. All of them came from good, hard-working families who, while not wealthy, were certainly not at the poverty level.
In case you haven’t read my books, let me tell you what the black ’66 Miners did after they left school:
Bobby Joe Hill, whose father worked in a Dodge factory and whose mother insisted he go to college, went to work for El Paso Natural Gas.
David Lattin, whose father worked for an insurance company but died when David was seven and was raised by his mother, went into public relations after a stint in pro basketball.
Harry Flournoy, who came to Texas Western after his mother served coach Don Haskins a piece of apple pie which Haskins highly praised, became a sales representative.
Orsten Artis, whose father worked for U. S. Steel, was one of 12 children. Orsten became a detective in Gary, Indiana.
Neville Shed, whose father was a Pullman porter on the Pennsylvania Railroad, went on to become head of intramurals at University of Texas at San Antonio.
Willie Worsley, whose father worked in a print shop, went on to become deputy executive director of the Edwin Gould Academy for emotionally disturbed children in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y.
Willie Cager, whose father worked for both a plastics factory and the city’s transit system, went into teaching before undergoing heart surgery in 1975 and suffering a stroke in 1986. He made El Paso his home and gets around with a wheelchair.
THE NON-BLACK players, who contributed much to the ’66 Miners’ success throughout the season, were also from solid families. Jerry Armstrong became a principal at a middle school in Missouri, David Palacio held an executive position at Capitol Records in Los Angeles, Dick Myers went to work for Farah Manufacturing Company and stayed in El Paso, Louis Phillip Baudoin became chairman of visual arts at Albuquerque Academy and Albert Railey became an assistant principal at Port Neches, Texas, High School.
Some later changed careers but all remained active.
“IN SHORT, the 1966 Miners not only had physical ability, they had character. And the combination of those two traits is what makes champions.
Let’s all give these exceptional players an ovation they’ll never forget next Saturday.