© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Texas Western's Streak Is Over

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

It has been a long time since a men's team from the state of Texas has won a college basketball championship - 1966, to be exact. That changed last night.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: Coach Drew and Baylor complete college basketball's greatest rebound and rebuild with a championship.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Baylor University took down Gonzaga 86-70 in the national title game. But not all basketball fans in Texas are happy about it. This is writer Roberto Jose Andrade Franco.

ROBERTO JOSE ANDRADE FRANCO: I was disappointed, I guess. You know, it's the one thing that El Paso has over Texas - that championship. And it'd been 55 years. Right before I went to sleep, my wife asked if I needed a hug or something. I guess I was showing that I was much more disappointed than I thought.

CHANG: He's talking about Texas Western's 1966 national championship, the first men's college team to feature an all-Black starting lineup. Disney even made a movie about it called "Glory Road."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GLORY ROAD")

AL SHEARER: (As Nevil Shed) Coach, the more we win, the harder it is for us out there.

JOSH LUCAS: (As Coach Don Haskins) What do you suggest we do, Shed - Lose? Give them what they want?

SHAPIRO: Texas Western is now known as the University of Texas at El Paso, and Andrade Franco says that historic team is a point of pride for his city. The '66 team is inescapable in El Paso - murals around the school, people wearing the orange-and-white throwback jerseys, chrome pickaxes on the backs of cars.

ANDRADE FRANCO: You almost have the relationship of being an alumni even if you never went to that school - right? - because it's just there. You see people's - I mean, I know family members who never went to college, and they have that little chrome pick on the back of their trucks.

CHANG: The streak may be over, but that 1966 Texas Western team will forever be a part of El Paso culture for Roberto Andrade Franco.

ANDRADE FRANCO: It doesn't diminish what they did. It's still 55 years. They're still the first Texas men's team to do it. But, you know, being the only one would have been better.

CHANG: For the record, we're only speaking about the men's game. Four women's teams from Texas have won a national championship in college basketball. In fact, Baylor's women's program has three of them.

(SOUNDBITE OF J-WALK'S "FRENCH LETTER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Fund the Facts

You just read trusted, local journalism that’s free for everyone, thanks to donors like you.

If that matters to you, now is the time to give. Join the 50,000+ members powering honest reporting and a more connected — and civil! — Connecticut.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Fund the Facts

You just read trusted, local journalism that’s free for everyone, thanks to donors like you.

If that matters to you, now is the time to give. Join the 50,000+ members powering honest reporting and a more connected — and civil! — Connecticut.