The curtain opens and a young Haskins is barking orders to his young players in Memorial Gym. They focus on defense. And defense. And defense. They begin to think this game does not even have a ball. Just move your feet, stay between your man and the basket. It is not for the timid.
The year is 1966 and Lyndon Johnson is in the White House and Vietnam is hovering there, striking fear into the young, and race relations are raw. This is Haskins' fifth Miner team and he knows he has put together something special. Don and Mary spent six years in little Texas towns – Benjamin, Hedley and Dumas – before reaching El Paso and Texas Western College.