UTEP basketball legend Willie Cager, a member of the historic, ground-breaking 1966 Texas Western national championship team and a lifelong backer of Miner athletics, has died.
The 81-year-old passed Sunday on the 57th anniversary of UTEP's national championship victory against Kentucky when the Miners became the first team with an all-Black starting lineup to win the NCAA championship. His death comes 13 months after the passing of another Miner legend, Jim Forbes.
Cager started in that game and scored eight points, including making 6-of-7 free throws to help the Miners clinch the national title.