thedrifter
01-18-06, 05:37 AM
January 18, 2006
Glory Road leads to many lessons
By RANDY RORRER
THE ROAR
I didn't learn that I was
colorblind until I was taking a test for a Marines recruiter.
Picking a number out of a circle of colored dots? It's harder than the FCAT when you're colorblind. It's one of the few tests I've ever failed.
I guess I owe the condition to genetics.
I learned that I was colorblind when it came to sports long before then.
There was a story in the small West Virginia town I grew up in about a black family that had moved in one day and had been run out of town by the end of the week. Some of the townfolk seemed proud of it.
When I asked my father why, he couldn't offer a good explanation.
You see my father, who was also a sportswriter, often invited athletes (black and white) over to our humble home for cookouts.
My brothers, sisters and I marveled at the size of these athletes and how many hot dogs and hamburgers they could put away.
That they were black or white was insignificant to my father's five star-struck kids. They were all our heroes.
Dad often let us three boys tag along with him, when he went to cover sports.
I'm sure we were influenced by the fact he treated white and black players with equal respect.
It seemed natural to us -- another inherited trait.
We didn't judge players by the color of their skin, but by whether they could score touchdowns or shoot baskets.
That was in the mid-1960s, about the same time Don Haskins was making history at Texas Western (now UTEP) by winning the 1966 national basketball championship with an all-black starting lineup.
The story has been captured in the movie "Glory Road," that was released last week.
TRAILBLAZER
Little did I know then what a ground-breaking experiment Haskins was making in El Paso, Texas.
While other schools played few -- if any -- black players, Haskins was forced to build his budget-challenged program with black players nobody else was willing to recruit.
Glory Road paints a compelling picture of what the social climate was then and how a select group of black and white players came together to overcome hate and bigotry.
The movie glosses over some of the details of how Haskins constructed his program, but it moves along at a quick pace and delivers a goose-bump-inducing ending.
If you're a sports fan, you should see it. If you're a basketball fan, you need to see it. By the way, stick around for the commentary with the credits.
RARE MOMENT
Glory Road makes us remember a special group of men that forced a change in the way people perceived a sport.
Texas Western did for basketball what Jackie Robinson did for baseball.
Haskins' team proved black players could not only play, they could win. Other teams were forced to go after the best players (black or white) in order to compete.
Isn't it bizarre that anybody would approach it any differently?
Things have changed a lot since then, and hopefully they will continue to change to a point where nobody questions the ability of players to win or think based on the color of their skin.
It's time for us all to be colorblind.
randy.rorrer@news-jrnl.com
Ellie
Glory Road leads to many lessons
By RANDY RORRER
THE ROAR
I didn't learn that I was
colorblind until I was taking a test for a Marines recruiter.
Picking a number out of a circle of colored dots? It's harder than the FCAT when you're colorblind. It's one of the few tests I've ever failed.
I guess I owe the condition to genetics.
I learned that I was colorblind when it came to sports long before then.
There was a story in the small West Virginia town I grew up in about a black family that had moved in one day and had been run out of town by the end of the week. Some of the townfolk seemed proud of it.
When I asked my father why, he couldn't offer a good explanation.
You see my father, who was also a sportswriter, often invited athletes (black and white) over to our humble home for cookouts.
My brothers, sisters and I marveled at the size of these athletes and how many hot dogs and hamburgers they could put away.
That they were black or white was insignificant to my father's five star-struck kids. They were all our heroes.
Dad often let us three boys tag along with him, when he went to cover sports.
I'm sure we were influenced by the fact he treated white and black players with equal respect.
It seemed natural to us -- another inherited trait.
We didn't judge players by the color of their skin, but by whether they could score touchdowns or shoot baskets.
That was in the mid-1960s, about the same time Don Haskins was making history at Texas Western (now UTEP) by winning the 1966 national basketball championship with an all-black starting lineup.
The story has been captured in the movie "Glory Road," that was released last week.
TRAILBLAZER
Little did I know then what a ground-breaking experiment Haskins was making in El Paso, Texas.
While other schools played few -- if any -- black players, Haskins was forced to build his budget-challenged program with black players nobody else was willing to recruit.
Glory Road paints a compelling picture of what the social climate was then and how a select group of black and white players came together to overcome hate and bigotry.
The movie glosses over some of the details of how Haskins constructed his program, but it moves along at a quick pace and delivers a goose-bump-inducing ending.
If you're a sports fan, you should see it. If you're a basketball fan, you need to see it. By the way, stick around for the commentary with the credits.
RARE MOMENT
Glory Road makes us remember a special group of men that forced a change in the way people perceived a sport.
Texas Western did for basketball what Jackie Robinson did for baseball.
Haskins' team proved black players could not only play, they could win. Other teams were forced to go after the best players (black or white) in order to compete.
Isn't it bizarre that anybody would approach it any differently?
Things have changed a lot since then, and hopefully they will continue to change to a point where nobody questions the ability of players to win or think based on the color of their skin.
It's time for us all to be colorblind.
randy.rorrer@news-jrnl.com
Ellie