Don Haskins Quotations

I remember some black leaders said I was an exploiter.

I remember a lot of name calling. If I didn't turn around, they didn't get to turn around. Whatever was said was said to deaf ears.

I see five black guys on the first-team All-SWC team.

I walk now and try to take care of myself, but I wished I had done some things a lot earlier. People need to take care of themselves and they need to start it at an early age.

I'm glad they got it done. I'm happy for the players; I'm happy for the fans, even the ones who weren't around at the time.

The worst time of my life was the next two weeks that we won the championship and thousands of hate letters started coming in. And it really didn't dawn on me what this was all about until that time.

I played for the best coach who ever lived, Henry Iba. I wasn't intimidated by Adolph Rupp.

I really did not think a thing about playing five black players to start the game; they were our best players and deserved to start. But if I knew all the misery it was going to cause me in the weeks following the game, I'd have thought long and hard about it. The players from Kentucky were gracious about it, but many of their fans and people from other parts of the country did not want to see it.

It's not about talent, it's about heart. It's about who can go out there and play the hardest. They're not going to give us anything, so you've got to go out there and you've got to take it.

I spent 18 months, off and on, with the script writer. I might as well have not spent one second with him.