The players from the 1966 Texas Western College basketball team, featured in the film “Glory Road,” went on to various paths in life, with some continuing in basketball and others pursuing different careers.
After their historic NCAA championship win, where they became the first team with an all-black starting lineup to win the title, the players of the 1966 Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso) team faced both opportunities and challenges. The victory was a significant moment in the civil rights movement, breaking racial barriers in college sports.
Coach Don Haskins, who led the team to victory, continued to coach at Texas Western until 1999 and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997. He passed away in 2008.
The players themselves took various directions. Some, like Bobby Joe Hill, the team’s leading scorer during the championship game, stayed in El Paso and worked at non-sporting jobs. Hill worked at El Paso Natural Gas and was active in the community before his untimely death in 2002.
Others pursued professional basketball careers, though none had a significant impact in the NBA. Nevil Shed played for the Boston Celtics for a short time before becoming a motivational speaker and a community relations coordinator for the San Antonio Spurs. Willie Worsley went on to coach high school basketball in New York.
David Lattin, the starting center, had a brief NBA career and then worked in various fields, including real estate and business, and has been involved in community service. Harry Flournoy, the team captain, became a successful businessman and an inspirational speaker before his death in 2016.
The legacy of the team continued to be felt in the world of college basketball and beyond, as their story became a symbol of the fight against racial segregation and discrimination in sports. The film “Glory Road,” released in 2006, brought renewed attention to their achievements and the social issues they helped to address.