Sun Carnival Basketball Tournament in 1961 - Newspaper Article

The picture shows the newspaper article by the Herald Post which highlights the win of the Miners in the Sun Carnival Basketball Tournament on December 28-29, 1961. The four-team tournament featured teams of University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, Baylor, and the host Texas Western (now UTEP). Texas Western won the tournament against the University of New Mexico 73-53. In 1966 the team of head coach Don Haskins would make history by winning the 1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. For that game, Haskins lined up an all-black team, which defeated the favored Kentucky Wildcats (a team that was all-white) 72-65 in the historic championship game, played at Cole Field House in College Park, Maryland on March 19, 1966. No major-college team had ever started five black players in an NCAA championship game, which is why this game is considered one of the most important ones in the history of college basketball.

Area: Central / University

Source: C.L. Sonnichsen Special Collections, University of Texas at El Paso Library. Collection Name: MS348 El Paso Herald Post records. Photo ID: MS348- 66basketball-Haskins,Don-haskins001.jpg.