A Legend Passes Away

Don “The Bear” Haskins passed away on Sunday at the age of 78 years old from battles with a number of illnesses from heart disease to diabetes to cancer.

Haskins was a legendary figure of college basketball and was best known for being the first coach at a major college (Texas Western) to start five African-American players in a championship game. In that game in 1966, Texas Western went on to beat Kentucky for the title and the historic run was featured in the movie “Glory Road.”

In between the basketball lines, Haskins was known as a coach in the truest sense of the word. He was more concerned with how talented a player was versus any ulterior motives. Former Arkansas coach and player under Haskins, Norman Richardson, had this to say regarding Haskins,

"

“It didn’t matter how tall you were, but can you play? Can you take coaching? He was that kind of guy. It’s going to be a big loss for his immediate family and all the guys that played for him and learned their coaching techniques from him. There’s no question that he had a tremendous influence on my life, as a person and as a coach. He will truly be missed by all of us.”

"

I will be honest that  I do not know  much about Coach Haskins and his basketball mind. I have obviously heard about him, but I was not around for majority of his college career to see his teams in action. After researching into his accomplishments and records, a number of stats have intrigued me and wanted to point them out to you:

• Guided UTEP to 14 NCAA appearances and 8 in 9 years from 1984-1992. This is UTEP we are talking about not UNC or UCLA.
• Won 719 games and only lost 354. A 67% winning percentage.
• Had a 38 year collegiate coaching career all at the same school. Not many coaches can ever say this.
• Inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1997.
• Notable players in the NBA he coached: Tim Hardaway, Antonio Davis, Jim Barnes. What is striking to me is that he went this many NCAA appearances and won so many games and his best player was Tim Hardaway? He must have gotten his teams to really play together.

Haskins was a great coach and a great man. His influence will be passed on by all of the coaches and players he influenced.