Bobby Joe Hill, 59; Led Texas Western Team to Basketball Title in ’66

Bobby Joe Hill, 59, the leading scorer for the Texas Western team that won the 1966 national championship and changed the landscape of college basketball, died Sunday in El Paso of an apparent heart attack.

Coach Don Haskins started Hill and four other black players in that NCAA championship game against top-ranked Kentucky. Texas Western College, now known as the University of Texas at El Paso, beat Kentucky, which started five white players, 72-65. The victory was credited with opening the doors of universities across the nation to black athletes.

“I am deeply, deeply saddened by the death of Bobby Joe Hill,” Haskins said Monday. “Bobby Joe was the greatest leader, the greatest competitor I have ever had.”

Haskins said he wasn’t trying to make a social statement with his lineup; he was simply starting his best players.

The move, however, raised the ire of some who sent Haskins hate mail and even death threats during the racially charged era.

Hill, a native of Michigan, worked for El Paso Natural Gas for many years before retiring in El Paso.