Condolences for an American hero: Don Haskins helped change our nation for the better

The Associated Press reports this evening that the man who changed the face of major college basketball and sports for the better has died.

Former Texas Western Coach Don Haskins showed the nation the shame and shortcomings in its bigotry toward denying African-Americans from participating in NCAA Division I Basketball or whatever major college sport their talents and heart could take them.

Haskins' unheralded and disrespected Texas Western team beat perennial power the University of Kentucky -- and Adolph Rupp's mandatory all-white team -- for the 1966 NCAA Basketball Championship. Texas Western, whose starting lineup just happened to be African-American, stunned the sports world by defeating the Wildcats and famous players Louie Dampier and Pat Riley.

AP reports: ''The word unique does not begin to describe Don Haskins,'' former Texas Tech coach Bob Knight said. ''There is no one who has ever coached that I respected and admired more than Don Haskins. I've had no better friend that I enjoyed more than Don Haskins.

''The myth that surrounds Don Haskins in the movie 'Glory Road' and what he did for black players is better said that he cared like that for all his players. To me that tells me more about the man than anything,'' Knight said. ''There was never anyone like him before and there will never be one like him again.''

Each day brings the death of one of these pioneers who brought down barriers -- be these obstacles in sports or just real life -- that now would be unthinkable. Yes, in 1966, African-Americans played basketball in other parts of the country -- except in most major colleges in the South. That's because colleges were controlled by good ol' boy Boards of Regents that maintained Jim Crow.

Can you imagine NCAA Division I Basketball without a Michael Jordan at the University of North Carolina -- taking the game to a higher, more exciting level? Yet that is what could have happened without Don Haskins.

So say a prayer that Coach Haskins' soul will now rest in peace in heaven because of the courageous good he did on earth.