EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — As the first round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament tipped off Thursday, the day also carried special meaning in the Borderland as it marked the 60th anniversary of UTEP’s legendary 1966 national championship.
The team, known at the time as Texas Western, left a legacy that still echoes throughout sports today.
The Miners finished the 1966 regular season at 23-1 with their only loss coming in the regular season finale against Seattle and entered the NCAA tournament ranked No. 3.
The Miners stormed through the Midwest Region, taking down Cincinnati and Kansas in double overtime.
In the Final Four, they took down Utah 85-78, setting up a showdown with No. 1 Kentucky in the National Championship Game.
“Everyone thought that Adolph Rupp and Kentucky were going to win,” Togo Railey, a member of the ’66 Miners, said. “All the reporters and TV cameras were in their locker room, but we knew we could play with them.”
Texas Western would take down Kentucky 72-65 to win the first and only national championship in school history.
“We were not going to let anyone deter us from our goal,” Willie Worsley, who started the game for the Miners, said.
The team was led by Hall of Fame coach Don Haskins, who built a tough, disciplined, and battle-hardened group.
“You were in that gym every day for six hours a day,” Railey said. “You ask how we got so good? We didn’t do drills. We went 5-on-5 the whole practice.”
At a time when racial tensions were high, the Miner roster brought together black, white, and Hispanic players who forged a brotherhood that transcended sports.
“Coach Haskins treated us all the same,” Worsley said. “He treated us all bad and that made us equal. He treated us with respect, but with hard respect.”
“We never had any animosity because of skin color or anything else,” Railey added. “We were brothers, and we still are.”
WATCH:
Chas Messman reports on 60 years later: The 1966 National Champions (Credit: KDBC)
In the National Championship Game, Haskins made history by starting five black players: Bobby Joe Hill, David Lattin, Orsten Artis, Willie Worsley, and Harry Flournoy.
This became the first time an all-black starting lineup won a title. A moment and a victory that helped pave the way forward for integration in college athletics, particularly in the South.
Following the 1966 tournament, schools in the South started to aggressively recruit black athletes.
“I think integration would have come anyway, but us winning that game helped speed it up a little bit,” Worsley said. “It was thought that because of the color of our skin, we couldn’t handle pressure. It was thought that we were a bunch of athletes, not ball players, and that we hadn’t played anybody. But then, we beat the number one team and beat a team like Kansas.”
60 years later, the ’66 Miners have been immortalized in numerous Halls of Fame, the movie Glory Road, and in sports history.
However, when you ask the players what lasts the longest? It is the brotherhood that lives forever.
“I’m most proud of the brotherhood that we had and have all had for years,” Railey said. “It hurts. We are down to six of us players. Six of us passed away.”
In April, some of the players will be getting together in Waco, Texas, as the team gets inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
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