How Many Know That We Once Beat Don Haskins?

Posted by Dan Jensen

Some of you may not know who Don Haskins is.  He is retired now but coached many years at UTEP and when it was known as Texas Western, won a national championship with the first all black starting lineup.

I had always thought that he coached in high school at Seminole and began checking my dusty old record book to see if he was coaching there when we had a state tournament matchup.  Well, I found that he actually coached at Dumas, a team that we beat in 1961 to qualify for the state championship game against South San Antonio.  Haskins may be the best coach that our coach ever beat.

In the game, we jumped out to a six point first quarter lead but trailed by three at halftime and one at the end of three.  I don't recall the ebb and flow of the fourth quarter but it could have been a real "mawtapper" as Coach Bobby Proctor would say.

We prevailed, 50-49 as Paul Timmins and Norman Lunday each scored 19 points.  Juniors Bill Doty and Rick Jones scored 7 and 5 respectively.  Can you believe that the other starter, sophomore Curly Lenox, took only one shot the whole game and was scoreless?

So Don Haskins couldn't beat us in 1961.  But, he probably valued the 1966 national championship more anyway.

Comments

[Ed Davis]

Dan, where do you keep coming up with this stuff? Great reading and something that few, if any, of us knew. Guess Don liked it out in the vast wasteland of West Texas since he went from Dumas to El Paso. That story of his with Texas Western is a great one for sure. I think they have even made a movie of it. Thanks.

[Dan Jensen]

Well Ed, I'll tell you one thing. I sure don't get it from that worthless Ralph Parr.

He told me a while back that Coach had just had his 78th birthday. Peggy today e-mailed me and said he was 77 on Nov 3.

You can believe Ralph if you want to, I am believing Peggy even though I have a hard time believing that she gave me her age also. I did not promise not to tell but I'm not.

[Dan Jensen]

So that there is no misunderstanding, Ralph Parr is a friend although I have not seen him in years. We have exchanged a few e-mails. He lived right down First Street from me in League City.

I kid my friends from time to time. If you don't believe me, ask Sir Edward Davis.

[Dan Jensen]

I didn't know about Haskins, but did you know the press about Coach Carlisle has not always been good? Like the phantom shots that nobody remembers, none of my former teammates remembers that Coach got fairly well roasted in the newspaper, not once, but twice. Anybody remember what that was all about?

(I have posted this at the request of Pat Jensen, who for a while now has not been able to do so from his computer. He can read but not post. Anyone else having such a problem? Ed Davis is working on it, so e-mail him if you are.)

[Dan Jensen]

Last night, when I was having that plumb loverly telephone conversation with Lynn Davis, he said he had a trivia question for me.

He did not know that I had already addressed the Don Haskins issue just the day before in here.

I was around Lynn in his Little League and teenage baseball days but I have probably not seen nor talked with him for 40 years. What a grand thing this Carlisle Project and now the blog have been!

[Pat Jensen]

Since nobody jumped in about my Dec. 11 comments above, here's the story. It has to do with Coach cancelling two games in one year with Kirwin (Kirwin was a Catholic school in Galveston which I think no longer exists.) . I honestly don't remember the first game cancellation. It was apparently earlier in the year. At the time the second game was cancelled, we were only one game away from winning District. We fully expected to win that game, which we did, and begin preparing for Bi-District and beyond. It would have been foolish to risk injury in such a meaningless game against such weak competition, which Kirwin was. The writer of the column said the games were called off partly because we were tired, which was laughable. I'm really surprised nobody remembers this, because I still remember how humorously ridiculous the articles were at the time. "I think it would have been one of the best games of the season in the county,” the Kirwin coach said. And they were even planning a gala night. The band was even going to be there along with the biggest crowd of the season. Whoopee! For the record, Kirwin would probably have been the weakest team we played all year.

I've said all of this for a laugh, of course, but also to set the record straight about the true record of the '56 Wildcats. The two automatic Kirwin wins make the final record 35-1, not 33-1, with a winning streak of 34-0, not 32-0.

[Jim Pell]

Dan, Your memory is something to behold, really!

[Jim Pell]

Oops! I meant, Pat, your memory is something to behold, really. But, then, so is Dan's, I guess.

[Dan Jensen]

I had forgotten the Kirwin "incident" but do not remember two such cancelled games; probably because it was only the one.

If anything, a cancellation may be considered a forfeit by the Kirwin coach and we would not have gone to state undefeated.

Let the official record show that we were 32-0 when we tipped off with Phillips in that state tournament and I don't care what good memories are involved.

[Dan Jensen]

You folks need to check out the clipping in that section that Pat sent to Ed about the Kirwin cancellations.

Benny Holub has a column about it. I remember him as a good writer but he did a poor job on that one.

The possibility of injuries was one of the reasons Coach gave and Holub downplayed that factor in the game of basketball. He should have known that Garvis Hadley missed nine games that season and Pat Jensen three with severely sprained ankles.

[Dan Jensen]

While thinking about those sprained ankles, I wonder who replaced Pat at guard? I have no idea. William Frost substituted for Garvis at the high post.

Pat and Garvis were out at the same time for two of the games.

[Patrick Jensen]

Hadley's sprain was worse. Coach took him to Rice for treatment by Eddie Wojecki, one of the best known trainers of the time. Now that was high cotton - sitting in the Rice Owls whirlpool. Heck, we didn't have a whirlpool. Trainer either. Coach taped our ankles.

[Dan Jensen]

Who did you say replaced you at guard?

[Pat Jensen]

My recollection is that William Frost replaced me. As you say, he also replaced Hadley on occasion, but with both of us out, I'm just guessing that Garland Smith replaced Hadley at the high post. Maybe Frost and Smith will read this and clarify it, or perhaps Hadley remembers.

[Pat Jensen]

That 32-0 streak in '56 was not without some close calls. Old clippings indicate that Class B Big Sandy (who beat Class AAAA Milby that year) almost got us twice. We beat them by 3 in Webster then by 2 in their gym later. Class AAA Texas City almost got us in our own gym too in a 63-51 game. That's the game Hadley hurt his ankle early, and Paul Blanchard and myself both fouled out in the third quarter. We beat Texas City later in their gym by nine with a full conmplement of players. Like many no-hitters in baseball being accomplished with the help of a great defensive play or two, long winning streaks are usually accomoplished after several close wins.

[Dan Jensen]

I hope those clippings will make their way to this blog. They are great reading--if not too fuzzy in the reproduction process.

We also had a one point win over Lamar Consolidated when Garvis Hadley was out.

And, my old book shows that both you and Garvis missed the later, 62-53 win over Texas City.

[Dan Jensen]

Don Haskins died yesterday in El Paso. He was 78.

Did anyone see the 2006 movie Glory Road? It chronicled the national championship that his team won in 1966.

[Paul hackett]

dan,

has there ever been a better name for a basketball player than one of the kids on the '66 UTEP team named...WILLIE CAGER

[Dan Jensen]

And oldtimer like you would know "cager" is a term for a basketball player but the young pups of today would not.

[paul hackett]

i guess you are right. but it was a great name. what a terrific time that event launched in college basketball right in the middle of the UCLA run. I am sure remember the ucla - uh game in the dome..elvin hayes..the inception of the aba and the houston team with willie somerset..I remember when there used to be a bluebonnet baskletball tourney around the football game..at least I think it was attached...anyway..i saw ucla play in a year when they gail goodrich..walt hazard and i believe another pretty good player named fred slaughter...the aba allstar game in san antonio with the first ever slam dunk contest with doctor j and david thompson.