Glory Road - Chris Cleveland, Don Haskins

A Glorious Road of Texas Multi-Culture.
Glory Road. [movie].

Directed by James Gartner, written by Chris Cleveland. Starring Josh Lucas. Walt Disney / Jerry Bruckheimer, 2006. PG, 106 minutes.

Glory Road: My Story of the 1966 NCAA Basketball Championship and How One Team Triumphed Against the Odds and Changed America Forever. By Coach Don Haskins and Dan Wetzel. Foreword by Bob Knight. NY: Hyperion Books, 2006. 254 pp. pbk. ISBN 1-4013-0791-4. http://www.hyperionbooks.com

While many people are absorbing the recent wave of professional and collegiate Texas athletic achievement (Texas Longhorns, Houston Astros, San Antonio Spurs, etc.), more persons should know that the City of El Paso is the home of a very significant advancement in athletic racial equality: the 1966 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship team from the University of Texas at El Paso - formerly known as Texas Western College.

Thanks to Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Productions, this event’s 40th anniversary year is greeted with the release of a movie January 13th based on the book. The book is more personal than the movie, as if you were visiting with Haskins as he told his life story and the event. The movie dramatically brings to light the rarely told heroic story of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. like dream team of seven blacks, one brown and four whites lead by Head Coach Don Haskins, an Oklahoman. This home state story of the Mighty Miners from the famous border town of El Paso, further affirms the hope we strive for in Texas regarding the race for victory in overcoming racial inequalities in all areas of life.

Watching how for the first time ever in the history of college basketball, an all black starting lineup outperformed an all white team for a national college championship, will inspire you to become a better person - athletically or not. In my opinion, ‘Glory Road’ is also a testament to how a movie does not have to be sensational in order to gain the blessing of being considered modern. If you are not able to visit a cinema to catch this recently released motion picture, then I encourage you to request that a copy of Glory Road the book be delivered to your doorstep. This autobiographical book of Head Coach Haskins consists of a more in depth exploration of the Head Coach’s whole life. Move over “Hoosiers.” Don’t miss out on the drama and history – participate in the ‘Glory Road’ experience today. A far better piece of Trans-Pecos Texana than last year’s “Kill Bill 2.”
Miners background websites:

The El Paso Times newspaper website has an interesting collection of links for further exploration at http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=NEWS05
UTEP Exhibit entitled “TWC – Miners – UTEP” on the 1966 Miners Championship at
http://ia.utep.edu/Default.aspx?alias=ia.utep.edu/gloryroad
Rev. by Morgan Howard, morganhoward03@aggienetwork.com .