The 2005 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament will reach its apex in St. Louis as the city prepares to host the Final Four at the Edward Jones Dome. African-American athletes and coaches have played a tremendous role on making the Final Four into one of the top sporting events in the world today.
In honor of Black History Month, here is a chronological look back at 10 events in Final Four history where black people came to the forefront.
1956: The San Francisco Dons completed a 55-game winning streak by winning its second consecutive NCAA title. Led by future Boston Celtics teammates Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, the Dons dominated the college basketball scene for two years. The Dons defeated LaSalle in the 1955 title game, then came back to defeat Iowa for the 1956 title. Before joining the Celtics, Russell and Jones led the United States to a gold medal in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. What followed was the greatest dynasty in the history of the NBA. The Celtics won 11 world titles in the next 13 years with Russell and Jones as the stalwarts. Russell goes down in history as one of the top winners in the history of team sports.
1966: Texas Western made history by becoming the first team with an all-black starting five to win the NCAA title. Led by coach Don “The Bear” Haskins, the Miners stunned undefeated and No. 1 Kentucky 72-65 at Cole Field House in College Park, Md. The Wildcats, which featured an all-white starting five that included future ABA star Louie Dampier and future Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley. At the helm for Kentucky was legendary coach and renowned racist Adolph Rupp. The game took place during the apex of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Point guard Bobby Joe Hill set the tone with two consecutive steals for baskets, and the Miners were on their way. Hill was joined by Nevil Shed, Dave “Big Daddy” Latin, Orsten Artis and Willie Worsley in the starting line-up. San Francisco, Cincinnati and Loyola of Chicago had won NCAA titles before with black players in the starting lineup, but Texas Western was the first with all five.
1967-69: This three-year period belonged to a graceful 7’2″ center named Lew Alcindor, who led UCLA to three consecutive national championships while being named the National Player of the Year three times. When the NCAA outlawed the slam dunk in an attempt to limit the advantage of great black athletes, Alcindor developed his famous “Sky Hook” which became the most unstoppable offensive shot in the history of the game. Nobody before or since has come close to duplicating Alcindor’s go-to shot.
1979: Michigan State defeated Indiana State for the title in the game that permanently put the Final Four in the spotlight. It was also the first meeting of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in their storied rivalry that carried over into the NBA. The Spartans streaked to the title, led by the wonderful point guard skills of the 6’9″ Johnson and his high-flying 6’7″ teammate Gregory “Special K” Kelser. After bringing the Final Four into the national consciousness, Magic and Larry went on to save a sagging National Basketball Association in the 1980s.
1980: The University of Louisville traveled a few miles down the road to Indianapolis to claim their first national title against UCLA. The famed “Doctors of Dunk” were led by All-American guard Darrell Griffith and his legendary 48-inch vertical leap. The Cardinals took “above the rim” basketball to another level as Denny Crum led the “The Ville” to the first of its two national championships. Another thing that came out of Louisville’s title run was the invention of the “High Five” celebration, which was started by the late Derek Smith, a talented 6’6″ forward from Hogansville, Ga.
1982: Georgetown’s John Thompson became the first black head coach in history to lead his team to the Final Four as the Hoyas became a national power. Georgetown met North Carolina in the national championship game in front of more than 60,000 in the Superdome in New Orleans. While Thompson made history as a pioneer, we also saw the beginning of the legend of one Michael Jordan, who was a mere freshman at the time. It was Jordan’s 17-foot jumper from the left wing in the closing seconds that gave the Tar Heels a 63-62 victory for Dean Smith’s first national title as a head coach. Thompson and his Hoyas would realize their championship dreams two years later when Georgetown defeated Houston in the Seattle Kingdome.
1992: The University of Michigan’s famed “Fab Five” became the rage of college basketball in becoming the first all-freshman starting five to advance to the Final Four. The group of Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Ray King and Jimmy King brought flair to the college game with their flamboyant style and baggy shorts. They also showed true mettle as they defeated Big 10 Conference rivals Ohio State and Illinois’ Flying Illini to get to the title game, where they were defeated by the defending champion Dookies.
1994: The Arkansas Razorbacks won the national title led by head coach Nolan Richardson, who became the second black coach to lead his team to a championship. Richardson’s Hogs overwhelmed the competition with his “40 Minutes of Hell” pressure defense and great players such as Corliss Williamson and Scotty Thurman. Richardson also became the only coach in history to win a NCAA title, a National Junior College Athletic Association title and a National Invitational Tournament title.
1998: Nearly 30 years after the retirement of Adolph Rupp, who refused to recruit black players to the University of Kentucky for decades, athletic director C.M. Newton made the bold move or hiring Orlando “Tubby” Smith from Georgia as the school’s first black head coach. All Smith did was lead the Wildcats to the ’98 national title in dramatic fashion. The ‘Cats rallied from a 17-point deficit in the last nine minutes to shock Duke in the South Regional finals in Tampa. Next came come-from-behind victories against Stanford and Utah in the Final Four as the UK faithful celebrated another national title.
