TEXAS, USA — On Sunday, the basketball world celebrated the 57th anniversary of the Texas Western Miners 1966 National Championship team. Led by coach Don Haskins, Texas Western became the first team to start five Black players and win an NCAA National Championship.
The Miners, now the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP), defeated the Kentucky Wildcats 72-65 in an achievement that blazed the trail for so many in both basketball and social justice. The story of the Miners was later portrayed in the 2006 Disney film “Glory Road.”
However, this year’s anniversary held more emotions than previous ones. Willie Cager, who started for Texas Western in the 1966 title game, died at the age of 81 in El Paso.
Cager is the sixth member of the 1966 Texas Western team to pass away, along with Bobby Joe Hill, Harry Flournoy, Orsten Artis, Jerry Armstrong and head coach Don Haskins.
“It was God’s work of maybe igniting the importance of that game there,” said Nevil Shed, Cager’s teammate on the 1966 Miners and a San Antonio resident. “We always said, 'We live and die for glory,' and for it to happen on March 19th, it’s something else to think about in the book of history."
Cager and Shed were particularly close, having both been recruited from New York City by Haskins to play for the Miners.
“Cager and I were really close,” says Shed. “His family, I’d go over to his house and eat meals and he’d come over to mine. He was like my big brother.”
Shed particularly laughs at how Cager used to challenge him one-on-one.
“I said, ‘Man, you crazy, Willie!’ because I was the center,” laughs Shed. “He played pretty much any position out there. He’ll tell you that!”
Cager made residence in El Paso in his adult life, and he was a regular at UTEP Miner basketball games for decades after his own playing career ended.
“I’d call him every now and then, and he’d call me back. Whenever I traveled to El Paso, that’s where I’d stay with him. And people loved him.”
“That was one thing that he was an advocate about: taking care of the youth as well as El Paso, which was his home. “
Shed too is an advocate for youth here in San Antonio. He has worked with the San Antonio Spurs for almost 30 years as director of their youth basketball camp.
When kids ask about his past, Shed’s life story is a walking example for the next generation.
“Kids will walk up to us and give us a hug,” he says about his team’s lasting impact. “Those unconditional love hugs. And that’s great.”
“We were achieving something that so necessary today," he added. "It’s not just your color; it’s your character. It’s that fellowship of being together, cohesiveness. We all had our own way of showing the love.”
Even though another of the team has passed along in life, the spirit of the Texas Western 1966 Miners grows with each year.
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