Willie Cager of Texas Western 1966 national championship team dies on anniversary of historic win

UTEP basketball legend Willie Cager, a member of the historic, ground-breaking 1966 Texas Western national championship team and a lifelong backer of Miner athletics, has died.

The 81-year-old passed Sunday on the 57th anniversary of UTEP's national championship victory against Kentucky when the Miners became the first team with an all-Black starting lineup to win the NCAA championship. His death comes 13 months after the passing of another Miner legend, Jim Forbes.

Cager started in that game and scored eight points, including making 6-of-7 free throws to help the Miners clinch the national title. Texas Western would later become the University of Texas at El Paso.

"My dad always stayed positive in his life," said his son, 47-year-old Kareem Cager. "He went through a lot in his life, he had two double bypass surgeries and two strokes. He meant the world to me and to our family. His support was always there and he was kind to people. He wanted to make a difference in El Paso."

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Kareem Cager has spent the past three years as an assistant basketball coach at Parkland, first with the girls program and now with the boys program. This past season, Parkland won the District 2-5A title and reached the regional quarterfinals in Class 5A where it lost to Chapin. Both father and son cherished that moment, Kareem said. Father and son also watched UTEP’s last men’s home game this season on March 4 against Middle Tennessee.

"My dad was strong and he cherished the moments he had watching us play and he really enjoyed the games,” Kareem Cager said. “It was great having him at our games and following us through this season.”

A Bronx native, Willie Cager, lived the rest of his life in El Paso, raising three children and starting the charitable Willie Cager Foundation. He ran the Ysleta Independent School District’s after-school basketball program and ran for mayor in 2017.

1966 championship:UTEP's legacy of 'Glory'

In March of 2022, the Willie Cager Endowed Basketball Scholarship was announced by the Miner Athletic Club. The scholarship is funded by donor Don Scott to honor Cager.

He was also ubiquitous at UTEP women’s and men’s basketball games throughout his life and always happy to greet anyone who recognized him. After the UTEP men were eliminated by Oregon State in the championship game of the College Basketball Invitational in 2009 the entire Beaver team posed for photos with Cager.

More:Texas Western's 1966 season recap

Broadcaster Jon Teicher, the radio "Voice of the Miners" for more than 40 years, said in a tweet, "Quite saddened to learn of Willie Cager’s passing. A gentle man, he stopped at our broadcast location immediately after every Haskins Center home game this season, flashing a smile & his 1966 Texas Western National Championship ring. RIP Willie."

Cager part of Don Haskins' legendary 'Glory Road' team

Cager appeared in 77 contests for the Miners from 1964-68 and averaged 8.5 points and 5.3 rebounds under Hall of Fame coach Don Haskins.

Cager was part of a Texas Western team credited with helping break down racial barriers in southern university athletics when Haskins started five African-American players against all-white Kentucky in the '66 championship game. The champion Miners team earned its own spot in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Archives:9 facts about Don Haskins, known in El Paso as 'The Bear'

The championship led to the 2006 movie, "Glory Road," and that led to a trip to the White House and a red carpet walk at the ESPY Awards. In the movie, Willie "Scoops" Cager was portrayed by actor Damaine Radcliff.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Willie Cager of UTEP 1966 national championship team dies