Don Haskins

The image shows Don Haskins on the basketball court. The date of the photograph is unclear, it might be from the 1990s. Don Haskins (1930-2008) coached the Miners from 1961 to 1999 when he retired. Nicknamed “The Bear”, he led the Miners to 719 wins, as well as a national title (1966), 14 NCAA Tournament appearances and seven Western Athletic Conference championships. He has tutored numerous players who have gone on to play in the NBA (e.g. Antonio Davis, Tim Hardaway, Jim Barnes). Haskins always said that color of skin was never an issue but he wanted to start his best players. While blacks couldn't play at most Southern and Southwestern schools in the mid-1960s, Haskins welcomed them at Texas Western, recruiting them from New York City, Detroit and Gary, Ind. The head coach was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997, and the Jim Thorpe Association Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. Haskins wrote history when he won the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament in 1966 with an all-black team. They defeated the favored Kentucky Wildcats, an all-white team and coached by the legendary Adolph Rupp. The win soon grew into a symbol for blacks' breakthrough into college sports. After the 1966 championship, college teams throughout the South began aggressively recruiting black athletes. All-white leagues like the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southwestern Conference and Southeastern Conference became integrated within the next two years.

Area: Central / University

Source: C.L. Sonnichsen Special Collections, University of Texas at El Paso Library. Collection Name: MS348 El Paso Herald Post records. Photo ID: MS348- 66basketball-Haskins,Don-haskins069.jpg.