https://sports.ha.com/itm/basketbal....465AM-1304642-171983!itemid-7195_136001!wlem
Jerry Armstrong was the biggest white player on the racially integrated team, both in physical stature and ability, a defensive specialist favored by Haskins as muscle to counter physical post play. But the team that stood between the Miners and a National Championship on March 16, 1966 was one built for speed, a heavily-favored Kentucky squad playfully nicknamed "Rupp's Runts" for the diminutive size of the players fielded by Hall of Fame coach Adolph Rupp. Haskins would later insist, as would the members of his team, that the decision to field an entirely African-American was due entirely to those players' ability to run with the Runts, with no thought whatsoever to the historical implications of the strategy.
Jerry Armstrong was the biggest white player on the racially integrated team, both in physical stature and ability, a defensive specialist favored by Haskins as muscle to counter physical post play. But the team that stood between the Miners and a National Championship on March 16, 1966 was one built for speed, a heavily-favored Kentucky squad playfully nicknamed "Rupp's Runts" for the diminutive size of the players fielded by Hall of Fame coach Adolph Rupp. Haskins would later insist, as would the members of his team, that the decision to field an entirely African-American was due entirely to those players' ability to run with the Runts, with no thought whatsoever to the historical implications of the strategy.
