Elder Bush's invite yields awareness( Glory Road article)

[Jimcs50]

Jan. 13, 2006, 10:52PM
Elder Bush's invite yields awareness


By JOHN P. LOPEZ
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Rice basketball coach Willis Wilson thought about his older brother, Tony, who left the family's home in Maryland to play basketball at Kentucky State in the early 1970s.

On a road trip to Pikeville, Ky., crosses were burned and guns were shot into the air outside the hotel where Tony Wilson and his teammates stayed. The power and telephone lines were cut.

"These kids don't know about things like that," Willis Wilson said, pointing toward the youngsters in theater seats nearby. "They really can't relate."

Houston coach Tom Penders thought about a trip he took as a University of Connecticut point guard in 1967. Penders' Huskies team was among the first to integrate.

"We came down to play SMU and TCU," Penders said, "and then we found out we couldn't go out together after the game. We couldn't eat at the same place. That's something you don't forget."


A racially troubled past
Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo stood in front of the overflowing theater on Houston's near west side, looked at the array of faces staring back at him and nodded approvingly: "This is American history. You have to learn this history."


Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair remembered being called "White Shadow" when he coached the first all-black girls team to a state championship at Dallas South Oak Cliff in 1977.

Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson, who coached at Baylor during the racially charged 1960s, looked around the theater in awe. The memories flooding over Dawson were clear by the look on his face.

"This is unbelievable," he said. "This is important."

That's the word former President Bush used, too. Important.


On path to 'Glory Road'
On a whim, Bush wondered about watching the movie Glory Road with young college athletes who never experienced segregation. He wanted to share with them, and coaches and friends who lived through the turbulent 1960s, the victories won when an all-black starting lineup paved the way to Texas Western winning the national championship.


"I enjoy the enthusiasm of young athletes," Bush said. "I thought they would enjoy being together as a team to experience this.

"I was fortunate to play sports (at Yale) and even in my presidency there were lessons I used. The things you confront in sports teach you about succeeding and handling it the right way. And sports teaches you how to react when you take one on the chin."

Bush wasn't sure his idea would take flight. Just seven days earlier, he walked into his staff's office holding a full-page ad from the New York Times that promoted the movie, which is the story of Texas Western's (now UTEP) 1966 NCAA basketball championship team.

A consummate sports fan and avid historian of important moments in sports, Bush remembered a conversation he had last summer with a Disney Pictures executive about Glory Road.

"Wouldn't it be nice to invite a couple of teams to watch this?" Bush told his staff.

Neither Bush nor anyone on his staff imagined the response.

Invitations to Texas A&M and Rice teams were eagerly accepted. In the span of a week, the event went from a small gathering at a 100-seat theater to six men's and women's college teams and notable local sports figures sharing a nostalgic, inspiring Thursday night in an overflowing 300-seat theater.


Learning from the past
Bush staff members were stunned how enthusiastic the coaches, all of whom are in the midst of their conference seasons, were about attending. Men's and women's teams arrived in charter buses from Texas A&M, Rice, UH, Prairie View A&M, Houston Baptist and Texas Southern. Comets coach Van Chancellor, former Astros manager Larry Dierker, Rockets Jon Barry, Ryan Bowen and Mutombo attended, as did former Rocket Clyde Drexler.


Blair had to pe ion the NCAA for an exemption from rules that restrict teams from traveling more than 30 miles off campus for a non-game related event. Penders postponed Thursday's usual practice until after the movie, which ended at nearly 10 p.m.

Why?

"So many kids today have no idea what happened at that time," Penders said. "They should see what went on before them."

Before the movie, Bush posed for pictures with each team and spoke to the audience about the significance of Texas Western's accomplishment.

The athletes seemed transfixed when Bush introduced David Lattin, who starred on the 1966 le team, and Lattin told them: "I wanted to play basketball at the University of Houston. But I couldn't because of the color of my skin."


A night to remember
During the movie, athletes laughed at and gasped at the ignorance and racism shown the Texas Western team and coach Don Haskins. The audience was captivated, to say the least, some never before realizing the impact the Miners' starting five black players against an all-white Kentucky team had on basketball.


When Lattin was depicted blocking a shot in the national championship victory over Kentucky, Mutombo extended his hand toward the screen and wagged his forefinger.

Some 40 years ago, it was never just a game. On this night, with the former president sharing a theater with athletes who needed to understand the road paved for them, it was not just a movie.

"I'm ready to play right now," Texas A&M freshman La Toya Micheaux said as she left the theater and headed toward the bus bound for College Station. "This was motivation to do more. I really didn't know anything about what happened (at Texas Western). This was the first I really learned about what happened. This is one night none of us should forget."

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"I enjoy the enthusiasm of young athletes," Bush said. "I thought they would enjoy being together as a team to experience this.

"I was fortunate to play sports (at Yale) and even in my presidency there were lessons I used. The things you confront in sports teach you about succeeding and handling it the right way. And sports teaches you how to react when you take one on the chin."

Well said and done, Mr. Bush.

I saw the film yesterday and thought it was excellent. The story was inspiring and the team antics were hilarious!

@ Mutombo.