Posted on 02/16/2006 11:11:04 AM PST by Millee
Officials at Texas A&M University-Commerce want Walt Disney Co. and the makers of ''Glory Road'' to apologize for inaccurately linking their school to some of the film's most racially charged scenes.
The movie chronicles the Texas Western Miners, who won the 1966 NCAA title with the first all-black starting lineup in a championship game.
It includes a ''completely false'' depiction of a game against East Texas State University, the name of Texas A&M-Commerce at the time, spokeswoman Lorraine Pace said Friday.
In the movie, East Texas fans are shown throwing drinks and popcorn and yelling racial slurs at Texas Western, now known as the University of Texas at El Paso, during a regular season game in Commerce, Texas. A scene after the game shows a vandalized hotel room, with racial slurs written on the walls in red.
It never happened, Pace said.
According to UTEP athletic department archives, the Miners played the Lions in El Paso on Dec. 9, 1965. The Miners won 73-51. The Miners won the game in the movie, but the margin was much closer.
''These events -- specifically depicted as taking place at ETSU and in the Commerce area -- are completely fabricated and go beyond the realms of literary license and decency,'' A&M-Commerce President Keith McFarland said in a statement.
Though the Jerry Bruckheimer film starring Josh Lucas opened last month, university officials waited to verify the facts of the game before seeking an apology, Pace said.
The university has asked Disney, Bruckheimer, director James Gartner and the screenplay writers to apologize.
Officials with Disney and Bruckheimer's film company weren't available for comment.
The Texas A&M-Commerce complaint isn't the first. Before the movie's nationwide release, supporters of former Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp complained that the movie unfairly cast Rupp as a racist.
The Miners, coached by Don Haskins, beat Rupp's all-white Kentucky team 72-65 in the championship game. The movie was adapted from Haskins' book.
When I saw the previews, I really wanted to see this movie, because the real-life story was a good one. But unfortunately, as with all things Hollywood, they had to ruin it.
Wasn't Rupp a racist who had to be dragged kicking and screaming to allowing blacks on the team?
I heard a reporter who covered the game interviewed on ESPN radio who said the movie played pretty loose with the facts.
university officials waited to verify the facts of the game before seeking an apology
It'd be nice if Jerry Bruckheimer held himself to similar standards... but when you're just out to inflame racial tension, shock is more important than accuracy.
Owl_Eagle(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
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