March Madness has already sent Kentucky Wildcats’ fans home early after Kentucky’s loss to Saint Peter’s, 85-79 in overtime, on Saint Patrick’s Day.
Kentucky, a No. 2 seeded team, fell prey to Saint Peter’s, a No. 15 seeded team from New Jersey, in its first game of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.
On March 19, 1966, the Kentucky Wildcats, the No. 1 ranked team in America that was coached by Adolph Rupp, who had coached more NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball championship teams than any other NCAA Division I Men’s basketball coach, was poised to lead his team to yet another championship.
Only unheralded Texas Western College in El Paso, Texas, stood in the Wildcats’ way.
The game was played in College Park, Maryland. Texas Western College, later renamed Texas at El Paso (UTEP), upset the Wildcats, an all White team 72-65.
Don Haskins, the White coach of the Texas Western Miners, started an all Black team, benching one White starter to make a statement.
The Texas Western Miners made it clear early that Rupp’s highly favored Wildcats were in for a long night when David Lattin showed the inside power of the Miners with a tremendous dunk inside Kentucky’s defense.
Bobby Joe Hill turned thief for the Miners by making back-to-back steals, stripping the ball away from Kentucky’s guards for breakaway layups.
Other players contributing for the Miners were Nevil Shed, Harry Flourney, Willie Cager and Willie Worsley.
Kentucky was led by Pat Riley, who later achieved NBA fame as a player and coach, and Larry Conley, who later achieved fame as a sports announcer.
Kentucky also had three formidable guards in Louis Dampier, Tommy Kron and Bob Tallent.
Kentucky fans nicknamed the team, “Rupp’s Runts,” due to the team’s overall lack of tall players with the tallest, Riley, standing at only 6’5″.
In 1966, no Black player had ever played for the Wildcats, but during the past 56 years, well over 100 Black players have played for the Wildcats, including more than a dozen on Kentucky’s 2021-2022 team that finished the season with a 26-8 record.
Kentucky has won eight NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball championships, second only to UCLA that has won 11, including the 10 the Bruins won under the late Coach John Wooden, “The Wizard of Westwood.”
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