IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 668 

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Texas Western’s 1966 NCAA Basketball 

Championship and recognizing the groundbreaking impact of the title 

game victory on diversity in sports and civil rights in America. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2006 

Mr. REYES (for himself, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr. BONILLA, Mr. COLE of 

Oklahoma, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. 

CULBERSON, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. EVANS, 

Mr. FORD, Mr. GONZALEZ, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. GRAVES, Mr. AL GREEN

of Texas, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HALL, Mr. 

HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HINOJOSA, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. 

JEFFERSON, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. KILPATRICK

of Michigan, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. MEEKS

of New York, Mr. MORAN of Kansas, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. 

RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SMITH of 

Texas, Mr. SNYDER, and Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education 

and the Workforce 

RESOLUTION 

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Texas Western’s 1966 

NCAA Basketball Championship and recognizing the 

groundbreaking impact of the title game victory on diversity in sports and civil rights in America. 

Whereas Don Haskins was a high school basketball star at 

Enid High School in Enid, Oklahoma, a college standout 

at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) under his men-
2 

•HRES 668 IH 

tor, Coach Hank Iba, and a successful Texas high school 

basketball coach, amassing a 157–41 win-loss record 

coaching Benjamin, Hedley, and Dumas High Schools; 

Whereas in 1961 Don Haskins became the coach of the 

men’s basketball team at Texas Western College, which 

was later renamed the University of Texas at El Paso; 

Whereas early in the 1965–1966 basketball season Don 

Haskins told Texas Western president Joseph Ray, ‘‘The 

way our boys line up now, my six best boys are black. 

If I leave two or three of them out because they’re black, 

they’ll know it. [And] the white boys will know it.’’; 

Whereas the 1966 Texas Western team of Bobby Joe Hill 

(Detroit, Michigan), Orsten Artis (Gary, Indiana), Togo 

Railey (El Paso, Texas), Willie Worsley (New York, New 

York), David Palacio (El Paso, Texas), Dick Myers (Peabody, Kansas), Harry Flournoy (Gary, Indiana), Louis 

Baudoin (Albuquerque, New Mexico), Nevil Shed (New 

York, New York), Jerry Armstrong (Eagleville, Missouri), Willie Cager (New York, New York), and David 

‘‘Big Daddy’’ Lattin (Houston, Texas) finished the basketball season 28–1; 

Whereas on March 19, 1966, Coach Don Haskins’ all-black 

starting line-up, the first such line-up to ever appear in 

a major championship contest, defeated the heavily-favored University of Kentucky to win the NCAA Basketball Championship, an event defined by many as the 

‘‘Brown v. Board of Education of athletics’’; 

Whereas the Miners’ victory accelerated the pace of racial integration in college athletics and contributed to the expansion of the civil rights movement into the realm of 

sports; 
3 

•HRES 668 IH 

Whereas when recounting his historic impact on diversity in 

college sports, Don Haskins said, ‘‘I just played my best 

guys, like any coach would do.’’; 

Whereas over the course of his career Don Haskins also 

coached the Miners to 33 winning seasons, seven Western 

Athletic Conference championships, four Western Athletic 

Conference tournament titles, and 21 post-season appearances, creating a proud tradition of college basketball 

success and community spirit in El Paso that persists to 

this day and winning entry into the Naismith Memorial 

Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997; and 

Whereas Walt Disney Pictures released on January 13, 2006, 

Glory Road, depicting the historic 1966 Championship 

season and paying tribute to the personal courage and 

conviction exhibited by Coach Haskins: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives cele2 brates the 40th anniversary of Texas Western’s 1966 

3 NCAA Basketball Championship and recognizes the 

4 groundbreaking impact of the title game victory on diver5 sity in sports and civil rights in America. 

Æ