Director: James Gartner.
Starring: Josh Lucas, Derek Luke, Austin Nichols
Glory Road is an American film directed by James Gartner, released on January 13, 2006. The film is based on a true story dealing with the events leading to the 1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, in which the late Don Haskins (Josh Lucas), head coach of the Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso) led a team with an all-black starting lineup, a first in NCAA history.
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Newly appointed men's basketball head coach Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) from the Texas Western College in El Paso, not having many financial resources to recruit the most coveted high school athletes, decides to find the best players in the country regardless of race to form a team that can compete for a national championship. Some of the young men he and his assistants recruit, from places as far away as Indiana, Michigan and New York, possess a lot of talent, but are very raw when it comes to organized college basketball with its greater focus on defense and ball distribution. In the end, his Texas Western Miners team comprised seven black and five white athletes, a balance that raised eyebrows even at his own university. Haskins puts his players through a very tough training program, threatening to cut anyone who doesn't work as hard as he demands, while trying to integrate his white and black players into a single team with a common goal.
Haskins starts games with three black and two white players and, after initial victories against mediocre local teams, quickly discovers that he has to give his black players more free room on the court. Yet the more victories his team achieves with its flamboyant style, including slam dunks and creative passes until this time rarely seen in college basketball, the more the racial hatred mounts. This culminates in threats to his own family, the beating of a player while on the road and ultimately the ravage of his team's motel rooms by racists while they are at an away game. Increasingly frightened and feeling the burden on their shoulders, the team loses its last game of the regular season after the black players stop playing with passion. Thus the Texas Western Miners finish the 1965-66 regular season with a 23–1 record, entering the 1966 NCAA tournament ranked third in the nation.
Going on to the NCAA finals played at College Park, Maryland, they face the top-ranked University of Kentucky under legendary coach Adolph Rupp (Jon Voight). Rupp, with a well-organized and better experienced all-white Wildcats squad firmly believes that his opponent stands no chance. On the eve of the decisive game, Haskins calls his whole team into the empty arena, telling them that he intends to start an all-black lineup in the game, and also only using the two other black players in the rotation. The team reacts surprised, but even the best white players accept his decision as the right thing to do.
In the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, Texas Western faces mounting problems with forward and team captain Harry Flournoy (Mehcad Brooks) leaving the game with a foot injury after just a few minutes of play, and their center in foul trouble. In a close game, the Miners narrowly lead at half time, but finally manage to beat Kentucky 72–65 with some impressive steals, defensive stops and a fast-paced game in the second half. The film ends with the players exiting the plane that brought them back to El Paso to the greeting of a raucous crowd.
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