1966 Championship Game Against Texas Western
An important game in Rupp's career was the 1966 NCAA Championship Game against Texas Western, coached by Don Haskins. It featured Kentucky's all-white starting five versus Texas Western's all-black starting five. Occurring at the height of the Civil Rights Era, this appeared on the surface to pit the racist paradigm of the old South versus the integrated America of the Future. The game, which Texas Western won 72-65, dramatically signaled the end of the racially exclusive philosophies that were rapidly being replaced by more enlightened coaching approaches, as well as the overall approach of the SEC, ACC, and SWC conferences at large.
Read more about this topic: Adolph Rupp
Famous quotes containing the words game, texas and/or western:
“My first big mistake was made when, in a moment of weakness, I consented to learn the game; for a man who can frankly say “I do not play bridge” is allowed to go over in the corner and run the pianola by himself, while the poor neophyte, no matter how much he may protest that he isn’t “at all a good player, in fact I’m perfectly rotten,” is never believed, but dragged into a game where it is discovered, too late, that he spoke the truth.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“I not only rejoice, but congratulate my beloved country Texas is reannexed, and the safety, prosperity, and the greatest interest of the whole Union is secured by this ... great and important national act.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“O western orb sailing the heaven,
Now I know what you must have meant as a month since I walked,
As I walked in silence the transparent shadowy night,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)