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In the mid 1960s, Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) was hired by Texas Western College to coach the Division I men’s basketball team. The school (renamed the University of Texas at El Paso in 1967) had no African American players until Haskins and his assistant, Moe (Evan Jones), recruited seven young men who had played in inner city courts.
The team faced tremendous obstacles in the racially charged era when almost all college basketball teams were white. They were spat upon and received death threats. Haskins had to mold his men into a team and make them get passing grades to keep their scholarships.
The Texas Western Miners made it to the NCAA finals in 1966, with 27 wins and one loss. The team was up against the Kentucky Wildcats, also at 27-1, coached by the famous Adolph Rupp (Jon Voight).
The night before the game, perhaps smarting from being disrespected by the legendary Rupp at a press conference and influenced by the civil-rights movement, Haskins made the now historic decision to put only African Americans in the starting lineup. They played the entire game and won.
Glory Road is not your typical feel good sports movie. It looks back to a real moment in our country’s history, says producer Jerry Bruckheimer, when “sports did more for civil rights than any march.” Within three weeks of the historic win by the Miners, every college and university in the United States with a basketball team began recruiting African American players.
Some fans of Adolph Rupp feared the film would portray him as a racist, which isn’t true. If anything, Rupp was just not impressed by Haskins, who previously coached a girls’ high school basketball team. Both Rupp and Haskins wanted to win.
Glory Road is gritty, like the West Texas terrain surrounding El Paso and the civil unrest of the 1960s. According to the screenwriters, the film is 80 percent factual and 100-percent true. Be sure to stay for the credits to find out what happened to the team; you already know what happened to college and professional basketball. Inspiring film with humor, courage, determination and kindness.
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