Glory Road
Those of you who read this on a regular basis know that I like sports. I don't like playing them, I'm not athletic enough, but I do like to watch.
This also extends to sports movies. Although I am also not a big movie fan, unlike the rest of the family, I do enjoy movies about sporting teams and events. I have my favourites "Bull Durham" and "Hoosiers". To this line up I've have recently added "Secretariat" and "The Blind Side". My goal is to find a movie for each sport I like to watch. I have football,baseball,basketball and horse racing movies. All I need is a hockey movie and my collection will be complete.
Last week my tech, Santiago, suggested another one for me to watch. Santiago and I have spent many a shift talking about football and basketball. He's very patient with me as I don't really watch basketball that much. He prefers to follow the pro teams, while I tend towards the college teams.
The movie is "Glory Road". It a movie about the 1966 basketball team of Texas Western College. They won the NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball tournament that year. What makes this remarkable is they they played against the University of Kentucky, a team that was no stranger to tournament plays and wins. The Miners (TWC) were an underdog team and were never expected to advance that far. The other remarkable thing is that the Texas starting lineup were all African American. That had never been done before. Some teams did start two or three African American players, but not the entire line up.
At the beginning of the movie, Coach Don Haskins, newly hired by Texas Western, is looking for good players to recruit. With limited funds and in a small school not known for winning championships he finds it difficult. He starts to recruit African American players from Detroit and New York offering them a chance at an education that maybe they would not have received.
The movie follows the team as they learn to play together and as Coach Haskins molds them into a team. Of course it is not a smooth road. The team faces a few incidents of racism, letters sent to Coach Haskins, popcorn and other things thrown at the team as they take the court for a game and the hotel room of the African American players trashed with racial slurs written on the walls. The team loses one game after one of the incidents when they fail to play as a team. Eventually though they pull together and the team wins the championship.
I can relate in some respects to the players on the team. I was bullied throughout my grade, junior high and high school years. One thing I learned is that you can't let them get to you. If you do, then they win. As they said in the movie "They can't take anything from you if you don't give it to them." This is very important. This is the kind of thinking that will get you someplace rather than plotting revenge or spending the rest of your life hating the people that put you down.
The other thing I liked is how the coach fired up his team. They all knew that no one thought they were any good. The prevailing attitude at that time was that African American players were not capable of handling leadership roles and could not tolerate the stresses of tournament play. Coach Haskins attitude was the team should prove the nay sayers wrong. They should go out there and play well and make a statement. This was a great motivator. This is also useful for everyday life. Don't let anyone tell you what you are and are not capable of. I have always believed that I could do anything I wanted as long as I was willing to do the required work. I believe that is true for everybody. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is very hard and may seem impossible. Determination and persistence are key.
I plan to get this movie for my collection. It is one I can watch several times and probably see new things each time. If you haven't seen it, you should. It is well worth it.
This also extends to sports movies. Although I am also not a big movie fan, unlike the rest of the family, I do enjoy movies about sporting teams and events. I have my favourites "Bull Durham" and "Hoosiers". To this line up I've have recently added "Secretariat" and "The Blind Side". My goal is to find a movie for each sport I like to watch. I have football,baseball,basketball and horse racing movies. All I need is a hockey movie and my collection will be complete.
Last week my tech, Santiago, suggested another one for me to watch. Santiago and I have spent many a shift talking about football and basketball. He's very patient with me as I don't really watch basketball that much. He prefers to follow the pro teams, while I tend towards the college teams.
The movie is "Glory Road". It a movie about the 1966 basketball team of Texas Western College. They won the NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball tournament that year. What makes this remarkable is they they played against the University of Kentucky, a team that was no stranger to tournament plays and wins. The Miners (TWC) were an underdog team and were never expected to advance that far. The other remarkable thing is that the Texas starting lineup were all African American. That had never been done before. Some teams did start two or three African American players, but not the entire line up.
At the beginning of the movie, Coach Don Haskins, newly hired by Texas Western, is looking for good players to recruit. With limited funds and in a small school not known for winning championships he finds it difficult. He starts to recruit African American players from Detroit and New York offering them a chance at an education that maybe they would not have received.
The movie follows the team as they learn to play together and as Coach Haskins molds them into a team. Of course it is not a smooth road. The team faces a few incidents of racism, letters sent to Coach Haskins, popcorn and other things thrown at the team as they take the court for a game and the hotel room of the African American players trashed with racial slurs written on the walls. The team loses one game after one of the incidents when they fail to play as a team. Eventually though they pull together and the team wins the championship.
I can relate in some respects to the players on the team. I was bullied throughout my grade, junior high and high school years. One thing I learned is that you can't let them get to you. If you do, then they win. As they said in the movie "They can't take anything from you if you don't give it to them." This is very important. This is the kind of thinking that will get you someplace rather than plotting revenge or spending the rest of your life hating the people that put you down.
The other thing I liked is how the coach fired up his team. They all knew that no one thought they were any good. The prevailing attitude at that time was that African American players were not capable of handling leadership roles and could not tolerate the stresses of tournament play. Coach Haskins attitude was the team should prove the nay sayers wrong. They should go out there and play well and make a statement. This was a great motivator. This is also useful for everyday life. Don't let anyone tell you what you are and are not capable of. I have always believed that I could do anything I wanted as long as I was willing to do the required work. I believe that is true for everybody. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is very hard and may seem impossible. Determination and persistence are key.
I plan to get this movie for my collection. It is one I can watch several times and probably see new things each time. If you haven't seen it, you should. It is well worth it.
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