The undefeated Miners of Texas Western gave the home crowd thrills aplenty on Feb. 14, 1966 by slipping past Arizona State 69-67 for their 19th consecutive victory.
The miracle maker in El Paso was a former two-time all-state basketball star from Oklahoma. Don Haskins played college ball for Hank Iba at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) and like many disciples of the living legend chose coaching for a career.
Haskins got his start in the Texas Panhandle with high school teams at Benjamin (1955-56), Hedley (1956-60) and Dumas (1960-61). He won 79 percent of the time, an impressive record but hardly an automatic springboard to the college level.
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