Coach Don Haskins Change

571 Words3 Pages
Change can be both positive and negative. Sometimes when change is forced it can cause obstacles that are difficult to overcome. Throughout history racism and segregation caused events that today are still vividly remembered. Even in today's time its still throughout society. One person made a dangerous decision and that person was Coach Don Haskins. He believed in change and recruited seven african americans to play for The El Paso Texas Miners. He wanted to break the segregation barrier. His actions led to racial discrimination on the court and physical discrimination, hate notes to the coach, and the winning of the national championship. Some people feel they are most comfortable being surrounded by their own race or ethnicity When The Miners were brought to all white areas people were not happy. When the players were being announced the fans would only cheer and clap for the white players. This discrimination affected the confidence of the black players. Another example was when the players were walking out to the court the fans were booing and throwing things at them. The abuse and the hate was slowly getting to them. “Hey, hold your heads up. Hold your heads up” said by…show more content…
When the coach began traveling with the Miners his family was receiving hate notes. Coach Dan Haskins realized that he had to protect himself,his family and his team members. When they went to a restaurant one of the team players was beat mercifully and the coach did what he could to protect him. The players vowed to stick together, even the white players. The racism that black people faced only brought the white players and black players together. Don Haskins said “ Your dignity's inside you. Nobody can take something away from you, you don't give them”. This quote inspired the seven black players to prosper and be on winning streak. If they didn't have coach Haskins and teamwork they wouldn't have the
Show More
Related

  • Glory Road Film Analysis

    1893 Words  | 8 Pages

    All the hard work and dedication in working together was undone. Another issue that led to the loss of trust among the team was Orsten Artis being assaulted in a restroom when the team stopped to eat. Coach Don Haskins took a chance by mixing whites and blacks on his team, and made it work early with success, but it almost all goes to waste because of the racial issues that the team faced. Texas Western was displaying how democracy was supposed to work involving

    Read More

More about Coach Don Haskins Change

Open Document