Clem Haskins was born on this day in 1943, in Campbellsville, Kentucky. In 1963 Haskins – along with Dwight Smith – became the first black athletes to play at Western Kentucky. Haskins, the son of sharecroppers, had also been the first black to attend Taylor High School in Campbellsville.
At WKU, Haskins and the Hilltoppers won consecutive Ohio Valley Conference championships, and Haskins was the OVC Player of the Year as a junior. He could have repeated as a senior but broke his wrist in an early February game.
After a nine-year NBA career, Haskins became an assistant coach back at Western Kentucky. Three years later he became the head coach, and in his six seasons the Hilltoppers advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice. He was then hired to turn around a flailing Minnesota program.
Haskins had the Gophers back into the NCAA Tournament by year three, and he eventually led them to the 1997 Final Four, and was named the national Coach of the Year.
But then, on the day before the 1999 NCAA Tournament (timing for which they were widely criticized), the St. Paul Pioneer Press published a piece that would be the end of Haskins. It turned out that a school administrator had written more than 400 pieces of coursework for 18 Minnesota basketball players over a four-year period. Four players were immediately suspended and the Gophers were bounced from the tournament. Haskins was bought out of his contract for $1.5 million and he's never coached again.
During a later investigation it was discovered that Haskins paid the administrator $3,000 to write papers for the players. The NCAA placed Minnesota on four-years probation and stripped them of all postseason wins, including their run to the Final Four. The Big Ten went further and vacated every regular season game for six years.
Bobby Anet was born today in Astoria, Oregon, in 1917. Anet played guard for the Oregon Ducks team which won the inaugural NCAA Tournament. He also helped the NCAA suffer their one and only financial loss for the Tournament when he dove for a loose ball and broke the championship game trophy.
The 5-8 Anet was named that season as a 2nd Team All American. He later had his jersey retired and was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
Other birthdays include: John Rennicke 1929 (Drake), Chris Harris 1933 (Dayton), Craig Ehlo 1961 (Washington State), Ennis Whatley 1962 (Alabama), Steve Wojciechowski 1976 (Duke), and Patrick Mills 1988 (St. Mary's)
