I just wanted to win the game."Though credited with setting in motion the desegregation of college basketball teams in the South, he wrote in his book "I certainly did not expect to be some racial pioneer or change the world."ĭunking was banned in the NCAA from 1967 to 1976, not least due to the success of the Texas Western team and a UCLA player named Lew Alcindor (better known later as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) then entering the league. I just wanted to put my five best guys on the court. "I really didn't think about starting five black guys. Later asked about his decision to start five black players, Haskins downplayed the significance of his decision. Additionally "Glory Road" is the name of a street on the UTEP campus near the Sun Bowl which was renamed to commemorate the 1966 NCAA championship. It was reprinted five times in its first four months of release and was selected as an "Editor's Choice" by the New York Times Book Review.
Glory roadmovie movie#
Like the film it then focuses on the 1966 Texas Western men's basketball team and the aftermath of the championship, which is not in the movie version except for some closing lines on what became of the main characters. The book details Haskins' early life as a player (including a one-on-one game against a black friend that opened his eyes) and women's basketball coach. Glory Road was inspired by a true story, as described by Texas Western's head coach Don Haskins in his autobiography of the same title, a national bestseller released in 2005 by Hyperion Books. The film ends with the players exiting the plane that brought them back to El Paso to the greeting of a raucous crowd. In a close game, the Miners narrowly lead at half time, but finally manage to beat Kentucky 72–65 with some impressive steals, defensive stops and a fast-paced game in the second half. In the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, Texas Western faces mounting problems with forward and team captain Harry Flournoy (Mehcad Brooks) leaving the game with a foot injury after just a few minutes of play, and their center in foul trouble. The team reacts surprised, but even the best white players accept his decision as the right thing to do. On the eve of the decisive game, Haskins calls his whole team into the empty arena, telling them that he intends to start an all-black lineup in the game, and also only using the two other black players in the rotation. Rupp, with a well-organized and better experienced all-white Wildcats squad firmly believes that his opponent stands no chance. Going on to the NCAA finals played at College Park, Maryland, they face the top-ranked University of Kentucky under legendary coach Adolph Rupp (Jon Voight). Thus the Texas Western Miners finish the 1965-66 regular season with a 23–1 record, entering the 1966 NCAA tournament ranked third in the nation.
Increasingly frightened and feeling the burden on their shoulders, the team loses its last game of the regular season after the black players stop playing with passion.
This culminates in threats to his own family, the beating of a player while on the road and ultimately the ravage of his team's motel rooms by racists while they are at an away game. Yet the more victories his team achieves with its flamboyant style, including slam dunks and creative passes until this time rarely seen in college basketball, the more the racial hatred mounts.
Glory roadmovie free#
Haskins starts games with three black and two white players and, after initial victories against mediocre local teams, quickly discovers that he has to give his black players more free room on the court. Haskins puts his players through a very tough training program, threatening to cut anyone who doesn't work as hard as he demands, while trying to integrate his white and black players into a single team with a common goal. In the end, his Texas Western Miners team comprised seven black and five white athletes, a balance that raised eyebrows even at his own university. Some of the young men he and his assistants recruit, from places as far away as Indiana, Michigan and New York, possess a lot of talent, but are very raw when it comes to organized college basketball with its greater focus on defense and ball distribution. Newly appointed men's basketball head coach Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) from the Texas Western College in El Paso, not having many financial resources to recruit the most coveted high school athletes, decides to find the best players in the country regardless of race to form a team that can compete for a national championship.
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