“GLORY ROAD”, IN MY OWN WORDS
BY NEVIL SHED

"He has an amazing way of encouraging players without getting derogatory, unlike many of today's coaches," says Shed. "He kicked me out of practice once because he thought I wasn't playing hard enough. Later that night he came by my dorm room and said, 'Shed, I'm going to have to send you home.' And he pulled out a plane ticket. Then he started packing my bags, and I went right behind him and unpacked every one of them. I kept saying 'Coach, I don't want to go home.'" After repeating that process for a while, Coach

Haskins asked Shed if he was going to rebound and hustle at all times. "Yes sir. I will," Shed replied, thinking about how disappointed his mother would be if her boy were sent home from school. Shed practiced so hard the next day that he broke his nose.

While recognizing my accomplishments, containing profound historical content, I am forever sharing with others my knowledge and instilling them with the importance of following through with their dreams and networking while never forgetting their culture.

At the time of the championship game, starting five black players, according to Nevil Shed, was no big deal to Haskins. "The focus was more on being an underdog, not on race." It did not occur to the players until years later that they had helped open doors for others. "I'm so proud to look back on that championship and realize that now anyone can play as long as they have the ability."

As a native New Yorker I was accustom to an East Coast run-and-gun style of play, I had to make some major adjustments under Haskins' methodical, dribbling and passing system.

"Somewhere along the line it would have happened, but in this case it happened at the right time, early during the struggles during the '60s, there were so many athletes out there wanting just to show they have the same talent as the white folks.''