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What: “Glory in Black and White: the Story of the 1966 NCAA Basketball Championshipâ€
Where: Ch. 2, Sunday, 1:30 p.m.
In 1966 Texas Western, featuring an all-black lineup, upset an all-white Kentucky team in the NCAA title game. The game changed college basketball forever.
This excellent 11/2-hour documentary was produced by Black Canyon Productions, which has produced such award-winning shows as HBO’s “Fists of Freedom†and the “When It Was a Game†series.
This show takes a look at the two teams, at Texas Western Coach Don Haskins and Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp, and at everything that led up to the game played at College Park, Md. The show also examines a time when racial integration was just beginning.
Texas Western guards Willie Worsley and Bobby Joe Hill, looking back, sum up the attitude of many at the time.
“Blacks couldn’t think under pressure,†says Worsley sarcastically.
Hill’s words about racist attitudes of that era are even harsher: “You’d never start five blacks. It’s a joke. It’s like putting five animals out there. Who’s going to run that show? You’ve got to put someone out there with brains.â€
Pat Riley, a star for the Kentucky team, says, “Years later you look back. Maybe they were playing for something a hell of a lot more significant. And if they were, then the right team won.â€
