Houston Matters

The Game Of The Century: How UH Helped Integrate College Sports — And Won Doing It

In what was known as The Game of the Century, the University of Houston men’s basketball team upset UCLA in 1968. But, as writer Robert Jacobus tells us, the win was about more than just basketball.

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Elvin Hayes - Game Of The Century
Elvin Hayes of the University of Houston takes a shot in the so-called “Game of the Century” against UCLA in 1968 at the Astrodome. UH upset the No. 1 ranked Bruins 71-69.

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Houston Cougars in the 1960sSome called it the Game of the Century. On January 20, 1968, the University of Houston men's basketball team faced Goliath – the number one ranked UCLA Bruins, who'd won 47 straight games.

In what was the first-ever nationally televised regular season college basketball game, the Cougars pulled off the stunning upset 71-69 in front of 52,000 fans in the Astrodome.

But there was more to the story than just a basketball game, as author Robert Jacobus explains in his book Houston Cougars in the 1960s: Death Threats, the Veer Offense, and the Game of the Century.

He joins Houston Matters to talk about some of the stories in his book.

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Michael Hagerty

Michael Hagerty

Senior Producer, Houston Matters

Michael Hagerty is the senior producer for Houston Matters. He's spent more than 20 years in public radio and television and dabbled in minor league baseball, spending four seasons as the public address announcer for the Reno Aces, the Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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