"Glory Road"

A few days ago, an unlikely event happened at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. The team that featured an all-black starting five, and who defeated the #1 ranked, all-white team from Kentucky coached by racist, Adolph Rupp, 72-66, and won the national NCAA title, was enshrined - 41 years late!

This seminal event on March 19, 1966, which I saw on television, was and is the best and most significant game I've ever seen, and I'm sure Pat Reilly, coach of the Miami Heat, still remembers it because he was the all-American forward, playing for the losing team, Kentucky.

Not only did the Miners out-play the Wildcats, but they whupped them while demonstrating a basketball 101 course on man-to-man defense, superior offense, superior rebounding - all done while committing only one-forth the fouls that the Wildcats committed. To add insult to injury, little guard Bobby Joe Hill, demonstrated several times how to steal the ball in mid-dribble from the best and brightest all-American players like Louie Dampier and Pat Riley.

My biggest thrill was seeing the shock on the face of the red-necked racist coach, Adolph Rupp, as this all-black starting five, destroyed them on a nationally televised broadcast. The victory was particularly sweet because they had been maligned in the press for months leading up to the final game, as thugs from northen ghettos with criminal backgrounds, non-student athletes, undisciplined playground denizens, and every other dismissive, libelous and racist characterization possible. Rupp was also reported to be incensed at having to play against black players at this Maryland tournament venue.

Their shocking win went over like a lead balloon with most of America, and no one even bothered to bring a ladder out, so the players could climb up and cut the traditional nets down. The Ed Sullivan Show which traditional invited the yearly NCAA winner to appear, did not bother to issue an invitation this time. Their innovative and courageous 36-year old, white coach, Don Haskins, was blackballed by the basketball establishment for having the temerity to start five blacks against 'America's all-white team', and worse, to beat them! Although they received a heroes welcome from their school in El Paso, Texas, they got death threats and hate mail by the bucketfull from much of America, particularly from the south. The NCAA even sent an 'investigator' down to El Paso, to uncover wrongdoing by the school's athletic department!

And as profound as their historic and social impact was, more significantly, their win opened the doors to literally thousands and thousands of athletic scholarships for black kids to colleges that had traditionally denied them admission. Colleges could no longer afford to ignore the Black athlete and hope to continue to win the championships they coveted.

Belatedly, the team received some recognition in the late 90s with a book and a movie titled "Glory Road" that chronicled their historic achievement. Coach Haskins was even inducted into the hall of fame in 1997 with 719 career wins at the college level.

Enshrined in my heart and memory are some of the names of these players - Bobby Joe Hill, Nevil Shed, Jerry Armstrong, Willie Worsley, David "Big Daddy D" Lattin, Harry Flournoy,......and I'm sorry that their fabulous little point guard, Bobby Joe Hill, passed away before they received this recognition.

I never forgot them in the 41 years that have passed since their historic achievement, and I'm glad the Hall of Fame - finally remembered.