Leadership - A discussion of traits, characteristics, and current news of leaders.

By mere coincidence I watched the movie Glory Road on Monday evening, MLK Day. The subject matter and timeline of the story provided a different lens to the racial issues of the mid-sixties and those that brought positive change to the situation.

Glory Road follows the path of Texas Western University (currently UTEP) basketball team in racially charged 1966 and is based on the true-story of Texas Western coach Don Haskins, who was the first coach to deploy on all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team in the NCAA national championships.

It is an inspiring story of courage and leadership. The movie has received mixed reviews and rated 6.1 on a scale of ten but still was the top box office draw.

More importantly than the how the story was portrayed by Hollywood is the story itself. Texas Western was a small school from West Texas with no basketball tradition, an unproven coach and an all-black starting team. It was an underdog all year long but overcame the unimaginable when it not only challenged but defeated the reigning elite all-white powers like Duke and Kentucky. The Miners accomplished the unimaginable under the discipline and tough-love leadership of Don Haskins. Haskins, a gruff former girls high-school coach who came to Texas Western in 1961 chose a path that was certainly innovative when he began recruiting black players from as far away as New York and Indiana. He just wanted to win. But his drive to win led to an historic season and eventual, albeit unlikely national championship.

In 1966, Haskins, a white coach at a southwestern school, had assembled an integrated team (seven blacks, four whites, one Latino) that was talented and disciplined enough to post a 27-1 record and win the national championship.

Through this one season, the Texas Western coaches and players rewrote the conventions and attitudes of college and professional basketball and changed the racial landscape forever. According to NBA coach Pat Riley, who starred on that Kentucky team, Haskins and his team wrote the "emancipation proclamation of 1966."

Credit goes to Haskins whose vision and passion to win overcame the stereotypes and social pressures of the day. There was no precedence for coaching a team of such racial mixture. No guidelines or experience in this situation for players or coach. The team came together and accomplished something historic for the love of a game. It’s impact on the fabric of the American culture can hardly be measured.