Glory Days Sparknotes

Glory Days is an inspirational story about basketball coach and Hall of Fame member Don Haskins. After coaching women's high school basketball, Haskins moves south to Texas to coach the men's Division I team at Texas Western. Despite having little funding, Haskins tries to recruit the seven best players he can in order to make the most outstanding team. For his first season, he recruits seven African American men. Since others did not agree with Haksins' actions, Haskins was met with some animosity and threats. Threats on his family and on funding for the team.
As a coach , Haskins put his players through rigorous training every day. He pushed many players to become frustrated with his demands, but despite his tough standards, they did not quit; his standards only made the team stronger and unified.
Many people in the United States did not consider Texas Western to be a potential threat for the NCAA tournament, but Texas Western proved them wrong with their undefeated record for the first part of the season. Despite being subjects of vandalism and assault, Texas Western's drive was only hindered in their only loss of the last regular season game.

After defeating many teams to qualify for the championship game of the NCAA tournament, Texas Western was to face Kentucky.

Kentucky was the anticipated winner of the tournament by many in the United States. In spite of Texas Western's success, Coach Rupp, the coach of Kentucky, remained unfazed. The final game proved to be a success for Texas Western and Haskins as they won the NCAA tournament with only the seven African American players. Rupp learned at this game that one must be open to change. Eventually Rupp did change before he stepped down in 1972 when he recruited the first African American player in Kentucky's

history.
This game was a defining moment in African American sports. Everyone learned that change was necessary and that it was coming. Texas Western proved to America that African Americans can play basketball at an elite level and handle all of the associated stress that many people doubted they could. This game prompted many other African American athletes in sports the ability to compete in the next level.
I thought this film was very inspiring. The African American athletes on Texas Western fought through prejudice, discrimination, and hate simply because of their color. After the scare tactics and assaults by whites, it would have been extremely easy for the athletes to quit and not subject themselves to it. This determination proved to be the factor that led to their success and portrayed one of the themes of the movie: if one works hard and does not give up, he/she will achieve success. Another theme that is present is to not be boastful. If Rupp had respected Texas Western's success and potential threat, Rupp may have learned more about their techniques and potentially could have beaten them in the championship game. Another example of this is the player that Haskins attempted to recruit but told Haskins that he wanted to be on a winning team. That player had too much of an ego to at least be kind in his decline to play for him. I liked how they added the scene in the tournament of Texas Western beating this player and portraying his frustration.
Another scene of the movie that I particularly liked was the scene of African American Kentucky students watching the championship game together and their excitement when Texas Western won. The African Americans on Texas Western proved to be inspirations for other African Americans who wanted change.