El Paso, TX (My Sportsbook) - Hall of Fame basketball coach Don Haskins, who helped break racial barriers in the collegiate game, died Sunday at the age of 78.

The El Paso Times reports Haskins died of congestive heart failure.

In 1966, Haskins coached Texas Western to the NCAA championship over the University of Kentucky, which was guided by coaching great Adolph Rupp. The story though was that Haskins made history by starting five black players for the first time in a championship game against Kentucky's all-white squad.

The story of that game, and the magical season, was made into a film called "Glory Road", which was released in January 2006.

Known as "The Bear", Haskins coached Texas Western/UTEP for 38 seasons, compiling a 719-353 record before retiring in 1999. He suffered only five losing seasons, and retired with the fourth-best record in history. He won seven Western Athletic Conference championships, four WAC tournament titles, had 14 NCAA Tournament berths and made seven trips to the NIT.

Nate Archibald, Tim Hardaway, and Antonio Davis were some of the future NBA star players Haskins coached at UTEP. Haskins also served as an assistant coach under Hank Iba in the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

Haskins was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997.

Born on March 14, 1930 in Enid, Okla., Haskins played his college ball at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) from 1949-52, where he was a second team All-Conference selection as a senior. He led Oklahoma A&M to the NCAA semifinals in 1949 and 1951. His coaching career began at Benjamin High School in Benjamin, Texas in 1955.