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DEL.ICIO.USToday’s Final Four memory
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First a disclosure: Never cared for Kentucky basketball. OK, I strongly disliked the Wildcats. When you’re born and raised in Indiana, the true home of hoops, that’s just the way it is.
So the 1966 Final Four was wonderful for a lot of reasons.
That’s when the Texas Western players became the Jackie Robinsons of the college game.
March Madness in Atlanta:
Check out the AJC’s Final Four pageThey shocked Kentucky for the national championship, and remember this about those Wildcats: They were coached by Adolph Rupp, not exactly a card-carrying member of the NAACP.
As a youth in South Bend, Ind., Kentucky losing to anybody was great stuff, but this was better. This was Texas Western becoming the first all-black starting team to beat an all-white team in the NCAA finals.
This was Arthur Ashe winning Wimbledon and Tiger Woods capturing the Masters before they even happened.
All was right with the world. Notre Dame, that little university in town, was preparing to take another national championship later that season in college football. Plus, before Texas Western came along, UCLA had won the two previous Final Fours, and the Bruins were on the verge of grabbing seven in a row after 1966.
You see, UCLA’s coach was John Wooden, and he was one of us as a native of Martinsville, Ind. He also spent 11 years in South Bend coaching at Central High School, where more than a few of my relatives were alums.
We were in hoops heaven — at least when the Fighting Irish weren’t blocking and tackling.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Final Four, Terence Moore's Final Four memory
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By BetterthanIU
March 27, 2007 9:46 PM | Link to this
We don’t like you either
By Sam
March 28, 2007 7:07 AM | Link to this
Oh my, a Final Four memory dripping of racial overtones, including a slap at Mr. Rupp. 1966? Time to move on.
By Swatguy
March 28, 2007 9:29 AM | Link to this
Terence you are cool with me. I have many final four memories but the one sticking out is 2002. The big thing was it was here in Atlanta and bigger was because of Jeff Newton and A.J. Moye. I have known and watched them play basketball since Adams Park to Mays High and Westlake High. For them to play in that championship was a tremendous thrill for me. It is and was however regrettable that the localmedia DiD Not embrace and celebrate their stories. Never the less, it was my most recent FF tourny.