Haskins Memorial Service Details, Speakers Announced
Sept. 9, 2008
The University of Texas at El Paso and the Haskins family have announced plans for a memorial service honoring the late Coach Don Haskins, as well as the line up of speakers for the service.
The service is open to the public and tips off at 6:35 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 11, at the Don Haskins Center. All doors to the arena will open at 5 p.m. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis up to the capacity of the arena, about 12,000. Please note that no cameras will be permitted.
Parking will be available in parking lot R-5, known as the Rudolph Lot, accessible from Sun Bowl Drive and N. Mesa Street; and P-9 (north Sun Bowl lot). Disabled parking is available in lots P11 and P13, accessible from Glory Road and Oregon Street.
Memorial Speakers
Dr. Jim Bowden, Irv Brown, Tim Floyd, Billy Gillispie, Nolan Richardson and Nevil Shed headline the list of speakers for the Don Haskins Memorial Service.
Other scheduled speakers include UTEP President Dr. Diana Natalicio, Jeff Limberg and Jon Teicher.
Following the invocation by Reverend John E. Schwarting of Trinity First United Methodist Church, Limberg will provide a brief chronology of coach Haskins’ life. Limberg, who currently works for Entravision Communications, was a longtime weekend sports anchor at KTSM-TV and is the sideline reporter for Miner football games on KOFX 92.3 FM.
Jon Teicher, the longtime play-by-play voice of the Miners, will read a statement from Josh Lucas, who portrayed Haskins in the 2006 Disney motion picture “Glory Road.”
About the speakers:
Dr. Jim “Jimbo” Bowden grew up in El Paso and was a standout basketball player on Eastwood High School’s 1976 state championship team. He also played at UTEP under Haskins from 1976 to 1980. He is currently an El Paso dentist. His father, Jim Bowden Sr., has previously served as UTEP’s athletic director.
Irv Brown is a former NCAA basketball referee who officiated six Final Fours. He also served as the head baseball coach at the University of Colorado from 1971-78. He is the third-winningest coach of all time at UC, and was also was an assistant football coach and fundraiser. He was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. Brown has been doing sports talk since 1980 and is currently affiliated with the Denver all-sports radio station The Fan 104.3 FM. He has previous experience working as an analyst for ESPN and with the NBA’s Denver Nuggets.
Tim Floyd is currently in his fourth season as head coach at the University of Southern California and his 21st season as a head coach at the collegiate or NBA level. He has posted a 306-167 record in 15 seasons as a collegiate head coach, as his teams have made seven NCAA Tournament and three NIT appearances. Floyd previously was the head coach at Idaho, New Orleans and Iowa State before joining the professional ranks as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Hornets. He served nine seasons (1978-86) as an assistant and top recruiter at UTEP under Haskins. He was reunited with Haskins as a basketball advisor for the 2006 motion picture “Glory Road.”
Billy Gillispie was the head coach at UTEP from 2002-04 before coaching at Texas A&M (2004-07) and now Kentucky. He led the Miners to a 24-8 mark in his final season in El Paso (2003-04), an 18-game improvement from the previous year that tied the NCAA record. Gillispie’s ’03-’04 Miners captured the Western Athletic Conference regular season title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Gillispie’s teams have made NCAA Tournament appearances in four of the last five seasons, including the 2007-08 Wildcats who finished 18-13 and 12-4 in the Southeastern Conference’s East Division.
Dr. Diana Natalicio was named UTEP’s president in 1988. Her sustained commitment to provide all residents of the Paso del Norte region access to outstanding higher education opportunities has made UTEP a national success story. During Natalicio’s tenure as president, UTEP’s enrollment has grown to more than 20,000 students, and its annual budget has tripled to more than $280 million. UTEP was recently designated as a research/doctoral-intensive university, recognized nationally for both the excellence and breadth of its academic and research programs.
Nolan Richardson is the only head coach to win a Junior College national championship, the National Invitation Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. He posted a 509-207 record as the head coach at Tulsa (1981-85) and Arkansas (1986-2002). Richardson led the Razorbacks to the Final Four three times and the national championship in 1994. He was named National Coach of the Year in 1994. Born in El Paso, Richardson played at Texas Western College (now UTEP) from 1960-63, including for two seasons (1961-63) under Haskins. More recently, he has served as head coach of the Mexican National Team.
Nevil Shed was a member of the Texas Western College 1966 national championship team. He averaged 10.6 points and 7.9 rebounds that year as the Miners finished 28-1 and beat heavily favored Kentucky, 72-65, to claim the NCAA title. Shed was nicknamed “The Shadow” because of his tenacious defense. He was an assistant coach at UTEP during the 1980-81 season before working at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Shed has also coordinated the San Antonio Spurs basketball camps for kids ages 9-17.
Contributions
Contributions in memory of Coach Haskins may be made to the following funds:
Coach Don Haskins Endowment
Mail gifts to:
The University of Texas at El Paso
Office of Institutional Advancement
1100 N. Stanton, Suite 201
El Paso, TX 79902
Please make checks payable to: The University of Texas at El Paso and note the appropriate fund on the subject line
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Established by the Haskins family
The University of Texas at El Paso
For information: 747-8562 The Mark Haskins Memorial Endowed Fund Established by Nolan Richardson in memory of Don and Mary Haskins' son, who passed away in 1994
The University of Texas at El Paso
For information: 747-8562 The Don Haskins Sports Fund
Established by Steve and Carmen Haskins
Administered by the El Paso Community Foundation
For information: 915-533-4020
All flags on campus will be flown at half-mast through the end of the day Thursday in honor of Haskins.
For information about Haskins, visit www.utep.edu/gloryroad. |
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