The #14 jersey worn by Bobby Joe Hill, the catalyst of Texas Western College’s drive to the 1966 national championship, will be retired at halftime of Wednesday’s UTEP-Tulsa men’s basketball game.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. in the Don Haskins Center.
Hill averaged a team-leading 15.0 points during Texas Western College’s now UTEP history making 1965-66 season. The Miners finished 28-1 and upset heavily favored Kentucky to capture the NCAA championship. Legendary Don Haskins became the first coach to start five African-American players in the national title game. UTEP remains the only school in the state of Texas to win a national championship in men’s basketball.
Hill’s two steals of Kentucky’s Tommy Kron and Louis Dampier on back-to-back possessions in the first half, and ensuing layups, are widely viewed as the turning point of the ’66 title game. He scored 20 points against the Wildcats.
The story of the 1966 national championship team was recently documented in the Disney motion picture Glory Road.
A native of Detroit, Mich., Hill played in 63 games for Texas Western College over three seasons. He earned All-American honors by the Helms Foundation and Converse Yearbook in 1966.
After college, Hill remained in El Paso and worked for 30 years for the El Paso Natural Gas Company, retiring in 1996 as executive senior buyer. He passed away on December 8, 2002.
UTEP also retired jerseys worn by Jim Barnes in 1964 and Nate Archibald in 1984. Barnes wore #45 for the Miners from 1962-64, and Archibald wore #14 from 1967-70.
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