Willie Cager of Texas Western national championship team dies on anniversary of historic win
UTEP basketball legend Willie Cager, a member of the historic, ground-breaking Texas Western national championship team and a lifelong backer of Miner athletics, has died.
The 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. Texas Western would later become the University of Texas at El Paso.
"My dad always stayed positive in his life," said his son, year-old Kareem Cager. "He went through a lot in his life, he had two double bypass surgeries and two strokes. He meant the world to me and to our family. His support was always there and he was kind to people. He wanted to make a difference in El Paso."
Archives:Memories, laughter mark 50 years of Texas Western championship
Kareem Cager has spent the past three yea
Who is Willie Long?
Willie Long is an American former professional basketball player.
Long starred at South Side High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he earnedIndiana Mr. Basketballhonors in afteraveraging points per game during the. He led the Archers to the State Finals, losing in the afternoon semi-final game to traditionalIndianapowerLafayette Jeff. As a junior, he led the Archers to an IHSAARegional title.
He attended the University of New Mexico, where he scored 1, careerpoints and led the WesternAthleticConference in scoring as a senior. Playing for long-time collegecoach Bob King, he led the Lobos to a WACtitle in He was the leadingscorer for the Lobos in and He ranks at #9 in scoring and #4 in rebounding on the Lobo career lists. He was selected All-WAC in and and a Helms All-American in
Long was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the NBA Draft, but he never played in the NBA. He instead spent three seasons in the American Basketball Association as a member of The Floridians and the Denver Rockets. In games over his professional career, he averaged points and rebounds per game.
- Born
- Mar 1,
Fort Wayne - Nationality
- Profession
- Educ
'He loved El Paso': Friends, family celebrate life of UTEP legend Willie Cager
Full of love, spirit, confidence, and forever a part of sports history. That was the theme Friday night at the Don Haskins Center in a celebration of life for an adopted son of El Paso, Willie Cager.
Cager, who grew up in the Bronx, New York, helped put UTEP (Texas Western in ) and El Paso on the map March 19, , when he and his Miners teammates won the NCAA basketball national championship, , against Kentucky.
The team was the first national champion in NCAA history to feature an all-Black starting lineup.
Last month on the 57th anniversary of the national title win, Cager died at the age of 81, leaving behind a beautiful legacy.
Cager lived the rest of his life in El Paso and regularly attended Miner men's and women's basketball games at Memorial Gym and then in the Haskins Center when it opened in
He played 77 games for UTEP from and dedicated his life to helping children in El Paso, starting the Willie Cager Foundation and running the Yselta Independent School District's after-school basketball program.
Willie Cager's life celebrated at Don Haskins Center
Friends, family and ex-teammate
The Texas Western Miners ()
The championship game for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball tournament came down to a test between a small southwestern institution, El Paso’s Texas Western College Miners, and an accomplished four-time NCAA tournament winner, the University of Kentucky Wildcats. This game, however, proved to be more than just a challenge by the Miners, a multi-racial team that had joined the NCAA just three years earlier, and an all-white opponent, the Wildcats, widely considered the strongest basketball team in the nation. This game, according to many sports observers, forever changed major college basketball. The Miners&#; unexpected victory demonstrated that African American players had the skill to control the game as well as a white team, and ultimately better than the best white team.
The Miners consisted of seven African Americans: Bobby Joe Hill, Orsten Artis, Willie Worsley, Willie Cager, Nevil Shed, Harry Flournoy, and David Lattin; four Anglo Americans: Jerry Armstrong, Louis Baudoin, Dick Meyers, and Togo Railey; and one Mexican American, Dave Palacio. The opposing team contained all Anglo Americans, which was not surprising
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