spring 2013"Reprinted with permission from the Columbia Missourian.""Thornton Jenkins recalls memories of basketball history."Story by Andrew Wagaman ; Photos by Whitney Hayward, courtesy of University Archive

Wagaman, Andrew

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University of MissouriOFormer TigerRemembers HisGlory RoadThornton Jenkins recalls memories of basketballhistory.Story by Andrew WagamanReprinted with permission from the Columbia MissourianPublished April 12, 2013n March 19, 1966, Thornton Jenkinsmissed his 23rd wedding anniversary.Jenkins, BS Ed, M Ed ’48, was on a business trip ofsorts to College Park, Md., almost a thousand milesaway from his Columbia home and his wife, Mickie.Then an MU purchasing agent, he moonlighted as abasketball referee, and he’d been asked to officiate atthe NCAA men’s basketball Final Four, including thenational championship game between Kentucky andTexas Western.That night at Cole Field House, Texas Western coachDon Haskins decided to start five African-Americanplayers against Adolph Rupp’s entirely white Wildcatsteam, a first in NCAA championship history. TexasWestern won 72–65, and that final score came toThe Magazine of the Mizzou Alumni AssociationMIZZOUhttps://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2013/04/former-tiger-remembe... 5/10/21, 10:13 AMMissouri’s head coach Wilbur“Sparky” Stalcup diagrams a playfor assistant coach ThorntonJenkins, middle, and freshmancoach Paul Geyman. Jenkins wasan assistant coach from1957–63. He also played forMissouri from 1941–43 and1946–48, and served in the Armyduring World War II in between.He officiated the 1966 NCAAmen’s basketball championshipbetween Texas Western andKentucky, which was significantbecause Texas Western’s all‐black starting lineup beatKentucky’s all‐white startinglineup. The 2006 movie GloryRoad was based on the game.Photo courtesy of UniversityArchives.signify another victory in the ongoing civil rightsmovement as well as a turning point for the sport.Fifty years later, Disney made a movie about the gamecalled Glory Road.So, on that March 19, Jenkins gotto be part of something timeless.He has told the story many times inthe years since. During a recentconversation in his apartment atLenoir Woods senior livingcommunity, the 89-year-old mancalled the game a highlight of hisofficiating career.But if he ever romanticized thehistoric event or his part in it, hedoesn’t anymore.“It developed only by chance,”Jenkins said. “It wasn’t plannedthat way.”Mickie Jenkins had understoodwhat the game would personally mean to her husbandbefore Don Haskins ever decided on his startinglineup. Getting selected to officiate a nationalchampionship was a big deal, and it was his first. Shewas happy for him, and she did not resent his absenceon their anniversary. There would be others.And there were — they celebrated another 46 in theyears to come, and this March 19 would have beentheir 70th.https://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2013/04/former-tiger-remembe... 5/10/21, 10:13 AMMickie Jenkins died in November at age 88. Herframed picture atop a TV stand catches the eye inJenkins’ immaculate but anonymous apartment. Hemoved in just a month ago, alone.A former Missouri basketball player and assistantcoach who married his wife while they were students,Jenkins said his only daughter arranged his move toLenoir Woods before she returned to her home inBaltimore. He is very grateful.“All I had to do was walk in and start living,” he said.He is trying. The picture of his wife is located next tothe flat screen TV on which Jenkins has watched thisyear’s NCAA tournament. Asked about the why’s andhow’s of the past, he spoke more readily on whyKansas got knocked out early and how Wichita State,Syracuse and Michigan surprisingly made the FinalFour. He said he couldn’t remember such a clear-cutfavorite like top-seeded Louisville, who beat Michigan82–76 in the national championship Monday night.“I don’t think it’ll be much of competition, but whoknows?” he said last week. “That’s why they play.Teams that are not supposed to win do win.”Texas Western was not supposed to beat Kentucky —at least, not in Glory Road, which Thornton owns andenjoys. Disney, he said, “made a movie out of it” bydistorting the odds against the Miners. One obstacleplayed up in the movie, for example, is center DavidLattin’s foul trouble. While in reality Lattin did pickup four fouls, he still played 32 minutes, scored 16points and grabbed nine rebounds. And thoughhttps://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2013/04/former-tiger-remembe... 5/10/21, 10:13 AMThornton Jenkins sits in his livingroom chair at Lenoir WoodsSenior Living. Jenkins helped tohire Norm Stewart as thefreshman coach at Missouri andofficiated the famous 1966 TexasWestern‐Kentucky nationalchampionship game. Photo byWhitney Hayward.Kentucky was the top-seeded team, Texas Westernhad lost just one game all season and overpoweredKentucky with its size. You could have cued thecredits when the Miners took a 12–11 lead early on —they never trailed again.“It was a very uneventful game,” Jenkins said.“Kentucky just got beat. They didn’t have any big kids,and that was the difference in the game. [The Miners]were bigger, and they were stronger. They playedbetter.”Officiating was one way for Jenkins to continue hisrelationship with basketball even after his playingdays were over. He earned all-Big 6 Conferencehonors as a sophomore in 1942–43 before marryingMickie and joining the Army. When World War IIended, he returned to Missouri and played his finaltwo seasons, earning all-conference honors again andcaptaining the 1947–48 team.“I was an old-timer by then,”Jenkins said.After playing professionally for afew years, he went to work for hisfather-in-law’s car dealership nearCape Girardeau and beganofficiating in 1952. In 1955 hemoved back to Columbia with hiswife and daughter, Spring, BS Ed’67. His full-time work evolvedfrom assistant basketball coach(1957–1962) to purchasing agent and, then, directorof the university’s physical plant before he ultimatelyhttps://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2013/04/former-tiger-remembe... 5/10/21, 10:13 AMgot into real estate.But until 1971, officiating was the one constant thatconnected him to the basketball community, even if itmeant traveling frequently and spending time awayfrom his wife. The very next morning after officiatingthe Texas Western-Kentucky game, Jenkins flew toDenver and officiated the weeklong AAU nationaltournament. He also officiated at the 1968 Final Fourin Los Angeles.“Every chance I got, wherever they wanted to send me,that’s where I went,” he said. “It was not easy to stayaway that much, but that was part of my life, and I didit because I loved to do it. My wife tolerated it becauseshe was aware of that fact.”He misses her. It’s evident in the way a recentconversation kept returning to her before fading tosilence. Nice memories from long ago lead to morerecent, painful ones.A decade before the Texas Western-Kentucky game,while assisting Missouri basketball coach SparkyStalcup, he suggested bringing a recent graduate backas the freshman coach.“Sparky asked who we should hire, and I said, ‘Whatabout Norm Stewart?’ ” Jenkins said.“I figure Norm to be a close friend. We stay in touch.”Maybe three seconds pass before he continues. Hedoesn’t change the subject so much as simply follow amemory to its conclusion.https://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2013/04/former-tiger-remembe... 5/10/21, 10:13 AMPublished by MIZZOU magazine, 109 Reynolds Alumni Center, Columbia, MO 65211 | Phone:573-882-5916 | Email: mizzou@missouri.eduOpinions expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the official position of MU or theMizzou Alumni Association.© 2019 — Curators of the University of Missouri. All rights reserved. DMCA and othercopyright information.An equal opportunity/access/affirmative action/pro-disabled and veteran employer.Jenkins might be a bastion for fascinating historylessons like the 1966 national championship. But youcan’t help but notice it seems like trivia to him now.“I was married for 69 years,” he repeats. “My wifepassed away in November.”Topics: Alumni, History, Sports, Web ExclusivesTags: Basketballhttps://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2013/04/former-tiger-remembe... 5/10/21, 10:13 AM

Former Tiger Remembers His Glory Road

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Former Tiger Remembers His Glory Road

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