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.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Texas and also the gentleman from Florida for allowing us the time to speak here on this very important event, not just for El Paso and not just for Texas but for our whole country, for a whole generation of players and those that have benefited from their accomplishments.

I rise today in strong support, Mr. Speaker, of H. Res. 668, a resolution that celebrates the 40th anniversary of Texas Western's 1966 NCAA basketball championship, recognizing the groundbreaking impact of that title game victory on diversity in sports and, of course, on the impact, as my colleagues have stated, of civil rights in America.

I am proud to have introduced this bill and honored to have the opportunity to speak in this Chamber today about the importance of what a basketball team and a coach achieved 40 years ago.

This afternoon I want to thank Leader Boehner and Chairman McKeon and Ranking Member Miller for their support in bringing this very important legislation to the floor.

On March 19, 1966, the Miners of Texas Western, which is now UTEP, led by Coach Don Haskins, defeated the University of Kentucky at Cole Field House in College Park, Maryland. This significant championship game gave the NCAA basketball championship at a crucial time to Texas Western College.

At a time when the bitter politics of racism dictated to many coaches around the country who got to play, Coach Haskins started five black players in the NCAA basketball championship game, the first time in America that this country had seen an all-black starting lineup in a major championship contest.

In 1966, as a strengthening civil rights movement met poisonous political dispute and violence, the Miners were clearly able to demonstrate to a Nation and the sports world the virtue of desegregation and equality.

As the athletic establishment abided by that unwritten rule that said, play two on the road, three if you are really behind, referring of course to black players, Coach Haskins looked past the color of the players' skin and concentrated on winning games and eventually the national championship.

Years later Coach Haskins would say, ``I just played my best guys like any coach would do.'' That simple principled courage changed the course of American athletics and provided an important advance in the struggle of civil rights in our Nation.

The Texas Western's championship was an event defined by many as the Brown v. Board of Education of athletics. Like many whose lives were constrained by their appearance and background, I found extraordinary significance in that 1966 game.

I was a Texas Western student during the fall semester of 1965 and had an opportunity to see these great players play. Shortly thereafter, I was drafted into the Army and eventually went on to fight in Vietnam. In March of 1966, I was still in El Paso, only stationed at Fort Bliss doing basic training. For those of us who were in the military at the time, the hypocrisy of America's racial policies were very clear. We saw a country that would not hesitate to send black and Hispanic soldiers to fight and die in foreign wars, but would not fight for us back at home.

Coach Haskins' and the Miners' victory helped reveal to a nation the absurdity of racism and the futility of segregation.

I returned from Vietnam and chose a career in public service and a career in which my successes followed from my abilities and my own hard work. Of course, I found that life does not abide by that perfect rule of a game like basketball, but I remain inspired today by Texas Western's win, and I know that I would not have had the opportunities I did have had it not been for the courage of people like Don Haskins and his Miners.

Today, a university, a city and a country are improved by the achievement of that 1966 team. Soon after that championship, Texas Western became the University of Texas at El Paso or, as we call it now, UTEP, and its basketball program continued to thrive under Coach Haskins until his retirement, as my colleagues have said, in 1999. Coach Haskins eventually led UTEP to 32 winning seasons, seven Western Athletic Conference championships, four Western Athletic Conference tournament titles, and 21 post-season appearances.

Last year, the Miners won 27 games, 16 at our own Don Haskins Center in El Paso, named after the great coach, and they also earned a spot in the NCAA tournament. This year, they are again near the top of their conference, a testament to the enduring tradition of college basketball success created by Don Haskins.

The university itself has been transformed from a small mining school into a hub of academic excellence and world-class research. El Paso, long proud of its Miners and its NCAA championship, has enjoyed the attention of a nation this year, as millions of Americans have fallen in love with the Miners through the recently released film ``Glory Road,'' which is currently being shown around the country.

It is especially important for us to honor the 1966 Miners today on the eve of their accomplishment, here shown in that championship game against Kentucky. We must revise our historical injustice, the injustice of a group of men being judged by who they were, not how they played.

At the time, the Texas Western Miners were denied an opportunity to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show, but just last week I want to commend President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush as they honored this team at the White House, shown here in this photograph with the President, the original members of that 1966 championship team.

So this afternoon I want to congratulate Coach Don Haskins, Bobby Joe Hill, Orsten Artis, Togo Railey, Willie Worsley, David Palacio, Dick Myers, Harry Flournoy, Louis Baudoin, Nevil Shed, Jerry Armstrong, Willie Cager, and David ``Big Daddy'' Lattin on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of their NCAA championship and for all of their successes in their lives. Today, we also remember, of course, Bobby Joe Hill who died and was unable to be in this photograph here in 2002.

So, Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 668.

Mr. Speaker, let me thank my dear friend from Texas, Congressman Hinojosa, and of course, allow me to add my very, very, very sincere congratulations and appreciations to my friend and Representative from El Paso, the Honorable Silvestre Reyes.

For those of you who are trying to get your eyes and your ears focused on this debate, let me just remind you of a celebrated movie by the name of ``Glory Road.'' Today, we have the opportunity to celebrate the real deal, the real thing, and that team was known as Texas Western, now known as the University of Texas at El Paso.

Just think of 40 years ago, 1966, or 2 years after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 1 year after the 1965 Voting Rights Act and 3 years after the tragedy of the four little girls in Birmingham. This was a tumultuous time in America's history, and so the idea of a coach, albeit the right idea, to place on the court of a basketball championship game five black boys, young men, to be able to play against the favored team, the University of Kentucky, was in itself a shocking, shocking occurrence.

But yet Don Haskins, a courageous or just a wise leader, decided to put his best foot forward, and out of that came the 1966 Texas Western team.

Might I congratulate all of the players: Bobby Joe Hill, Orsten Artis, Togo Railey, Willie Worsley, David Palacio, Dick Myers, Harry Flournoy, Louis Baudoin, Nevil Shed, Jerry Armstrong, Willie Cager, and right from the great city of Houston, now the fourth largest city in the Nation, David ``Big Daddy'' Lattin.

We are delighted to be able to join my colleagues from Texas to say that we are proud of that measure of civil rights history. We salute certainly the wisdom of Don Haskins, and remind America that sports and the playing field, whether they be courts, or tennis courts, whether they be the NFL playing field or whether they be the baseball field or the soccer field, we know that sports generate character and integrity, but it also develops teamsmanship. So the idea of the youngsters of America today playing on the playing fields of athletic America hopefully will create the new civil rights movement. And as a city that just experienced the All Star Game, I can tell you the whole game of basketball certainly represents diversity as we have our young men, and many of those who have come from foreign lands, but it also is an opportunity for young men and women to work together.

I want to congratulate the manager of this bill, Congressman Hinojosa, and congratulate Congressman Reyes, for their wisdom in saluting these young men, and I am delighted to have been an original cosponsor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the proposed bill, H. Res. 668, ``Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Texas Western's 1966 National Collegiate Athletic Association Basketball Championship victory.''

On March 19, 1966, Coach Don Haskins and his Texas Western College Miners advanced to the NCAA Championship game against the segregated, all-White University of Kentucky Wildcats. Coach Haskins made the decision to put in an all-Black starting lineup, something that had never been done before.

He made the announcement prior to the game and was thought to be a fool. It was the notion at the time that a team had to have at least one White player on the lineup to have a shot at winning a game, let alone the National Championship. Coach Haskins and his TW Miners shattered that school of thought with their triumphant win against the Wildcats.

The victory on the court was not only a victory for the Miners, but a victory for civil rights. When Coach Haskins made the decision to start an all-Black lineup, he did so not to make a statement about racial equality, but in his own words to ``play my five best players. Race didn't matter to me.''

The team's win was much more than simply a win on the basketball court signaling that a change had taken place in collegiate sports. The bold step taken by Don Haskins accelerated the pace that athletic teams were being integrated throughout the South.

The team's success did not come without a price. After the win Coach Haskins received over 40,000 hate mail letters, illustrating the climate of hostility towards African Americans in the South during that time.

The team's accomplishments both paralleled and contributed to the landmark events being made in the civil rights movement at the time. Basketball historian Neil Isaacs has called it the ``Brown v. Board of Education of college basketball . . . Since that time, no pretender to basketball eminence has ever drawn a color line in its recruiting.''

I am proud to say that one of the most influential players on the team, David Latin, hails from my district of Houston. The massive 6'7" Center, paved the way for the team, scoring 16 points in the title game. As a testament to Latin's skill, he advanced to the NBA as a first-round pick to play for the San Francisco Warriors.

The memory of the team and their magnificent 1966 NCAA Championship win has recently been captured in the Disney film ``Glory Road.'' The memory of Coach Haskins has been solidified by his induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for his remarkable achievements as a coach.

As a Member of Congress deeply concerned with advancing the causes of civil liberties and a co-sponsor of H. Con. Res. 59, a bill similar to the one before us, which recognized both the teams and players of African-American basketball teams for their achievement and contribution to basketball and to the Nation prior to the integration of the white professional leagues, I ask my colleagues to join with me in support of H. Res. 668.

Today we should rise and honor the memory of both the Texas Western College team and their coach, Don Haskins, who led them to a National Championship, and in doing so advanced the cause of civil rights and decreased segregation in athletics.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (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, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H. Res. 668.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

It gives me great pleasure to rise in support of House Resolution 668, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of Texas Western's 1966 NCAA basketball championship and recognize the groundbreaking impact of the title game victory on diversity in sports and civil rights in America.

Texas Western's victory occurred 40 years ago, 1966, during the midst of the civil rights movement to end discrimination against blacks. The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed institutional racial segregation. In Vietnam, blacks were fighting and dying alongside their fellow white soldiers. Blacks were not, however, playing basketball at many schools in the South, where de facto segregation still reigned.

For Don Haskins, coach of the Texas Western Miners men's basketball team, a person's race did not matter. To him ability on the basketball court mattered more than the color of the player's skin. To Coach Haskins, the only thing that really mattered was winning.

This was the philosophy Coach Haskins used on the night of March 19, 1966. That night the Texas Western Miners made history by defeating the number-one-ranked, all-white University of Kentucky Wildcats for the NCAA basketball championship, a game of historical significance because no other college team at the time had ever started five black players in a major championship contest. In fact, when Texas Western defeated Kentucky 72-65, a game still celebrated as one of the biggest college basketball upsets in NCAA history, there were no black basketball players in the Southeastern or Atlantic Coast Conferences.

This remarkable triumph helped shift the national perception of black athletes and helped bring about the widespread desegregation of college sports. In turn, the desegregation of college sports helped to spread greater equality throughout American society.

Mr. Speaker, the man behind Texas Western's success is Don Haskins. His 38-year reign at Texas Western, now the University of Texas El Paso, allowed him to become one of the winningest coaches in NCAA history. He amassed a 719-354 record, 32 winning seasons, seven Western Athletic Conference Championships, four Western Athletic Tournament titles, and 21 post-season appearances. In 1997, Coach Haskins was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He retired from coaching in 1999.

Coach Don Haskins is truly a living legend in college sports. He believed that as a coach he should recruit the best raw talent he could find no matter the player's race, background, or life story. If not for the colorblind dream of Coach Haskins to win basketball games with his team's most talented players, history may not have been made on the night of March 19, 1966.

I want to thank my colleague from Texas (Mr. Reyes) for introducing this legislation and bringing forth a lesser known, yet significant, piece of history in college athletics. I am happy to join my colleagues in celebrating the 40th anniversary of Texas Western's 1966 NCAA basketball championship. I ask my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I will continue to reserve the balance of my time at this point.

Mr. Speaker, I also yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to rise in support of H. Res. 668, a resolution to celebrate the 40th anniversary of

Texas Western's 1966 NCAA basketball championship.

I am proud to join my colleague and very good friend, the resolution's author, Congressman Silvestre Reyes from El Paso, in commemorating the 40th anniversary of this watershed event in our struggle for racial equality.

On March 19, 1966, Texas Western College's Coach Don Haskins led an all-black starting lineup to a 72-65 win over an all-white team from the basketball powerhouse, University of Kentucky. For Coach Haskins, he was simply putting his best players on the floor. For the Nation, he delivered the message that in competition, talent and ability mattered more than race. This is a lesson that we are still learning today.

The young men who took Texas Western College to a 28-1 championship season braved racism and hostile crowds to carry their team and their college to victory. I invite you to see this 1966 team photo in front of Memorial Gym, courtesy of the University of Texas El Paso. These champions were Bobby Joe Hill, Orsten Artis, Togo Railey, Willie Worsley, David Palacio, Dick Meyers, Harry Flournoy, Louis Baudoin, Nevil Shed, Jerry Armstrong, Willie Cager, and David Lattin.

It is fitting that on this 40th anniversary of the 1966 Miners breaking the color barrier in the NCAA championship game, that we reflect on how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. College enrollments are at an all-time high; and yet black, Hispanic, and low- income students are not enrolling and graduating at the rates we need for our Nation to put its best players on the floor.

Texas Western College is now the University of Texas El Paso. As an institution, it continues to lead the charge in developing our best talents without regard to race, ethnicity, or family income. The University of Texas El Paso is one of our Nation's leading Hispanic- serving institutions: 72 percent of its students are Hispanic. It is third in the Nation for producing Hispanic undergraduates, and is also rated the top engineering school for Hispanics. Since 1988, it has been led by a Latina, Dr. Diana Natalicio, a top administrator and a trailblazer by anyone's measure.

The University of Texas El Paso, in the spirit of the 1966 championship Miners, continues to break barriers and continues to refuse to let race, ethnicity, or family income trump talent and hard work.

I hope that all my colleagues will join me in celebrating this milestone in college athletics and racial equality.

Please join me in saluting the Miners on the 40th anniversary of their NCAA championship, and I urge you to vote for this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 6\1/2\ minutes to my friend and colleague from El Paso, Texas (Mr. Reyes), the author of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis).

(Mr. DAVIS of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to another good friend and colleague from the great State of Texas, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee of Houston.

Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank Congressman Silvestre Reyes for offering House Resolution 668, a resolution which celebrates this year's 40th anniversary of Texas Western's 1966 NCAA Basketball Championship.

The year of 1966 marked a number of ``firsts'' by African Americans. The Honorable Robert C. Weaver became the first African American Cabinet member with his appointment as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Edward Brooke became the first popularly elected African American to the United States Senate, and it also marked the first time a collegiate basketball team, the Texas Western Miners, sporting an all African American line-up won the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.

What made this victory important, and what we are commemorating here today, is not the fact that a team starting all African American student athletes beat a team of all White student athletes. We commemorate rather, the closing of one more chapter of segregation and bigotry to a new chapter where we judge an individual on the content of their character and qualifications and not on the color of their skin.

The Texas Western Miners, in their victory over the University of Kentucky Wildcats, opened up numerous opportunities for student athletes of all races and creeds to attend college, participate in sports, and become eligible for athletic scholarships. The fact that the impact that this victory did so much to change the perception of African-American athletes and to speed the desegregation of intercollegiate sports, has lead many people to label this historic event as the Brown v. Board of Education of athletics.

Finally, any tribute to the Minors would be incomplete without acknowledging their coach, Don Haskins. Coach Haskins is to be commended for his continued commitment to build on the foundation of integration that he inherited at Texas Western--the first college in a Southern state to integrate its athletic teams--and for his courage in facing collegiate basketball's racial issues directly.