The UTEP Miners is the name given to the sports teams of the
University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...
(UTEP). They are informally referred to as the Miners, UTEP, or Texas–El Paso. UTEP was a member of the
Western Athletic Conference
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas.
Due to mos ...
from 1967 to 2005, when they joined
Rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...
,
Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
, and
SMU in leaving the WAC for
Conference USA. The UTEP Miners are best known as the first team in Texas to win an
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
Men's Basketball Championship (and only team in Texas to be national champions until Baylor’s victory in the 2021 tournament). UTEP's colors are
orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
and
blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
and the mascot is a miner named
Paydirt Pete.
Sports sponsored
Football
Playing their first game in 1914, the UTEP Miners football team currently competes in the
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...
. The team plays its games in the
Sun Bowl Stadium, and head coach
Mike Price retired from his 9th and final season at UTEP in 2012.
Traveling trophies
The winner of the UTEP vs.
New Mexico State University
New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's ...
football game receives a pair of traveling trophies: The Silver Spade and The Brass Spittoon. The first spade used for this purpose was an old prospector's shovel dug up from an abandoned mine in the
Organ Mountains
The Organ Mountains (also known as La Sierra de los Órganos) are a rugged mountain range in southern New Mexico in the Southwestern United States. Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks National Monument was declared a national monument on May 21, 2 ...
near
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Las Cruces (; "the crosses") is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern Ne ...
in 1947. This was the symbol of victory, and the spade was given to the winner of the football game between the Miners and Aggies each year.
The idea of the present Silver Spade was from UTEP student Don Henderson, the student association president and now a very successful
El Paso
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...
businessman and former mayor of the city. In 1955 Henderson secured the present spade and each year the score of the game is engraved on the blade.
Perhaps the idea behind the spade is the fact that at the time the prospector's spade was uncovered, both schools' major field of study had use for the tool, mining and metallurgy for the College of Mines and agriculture at then New Mexico A&M.
The Brass Spittoon, officially known as the Mayor's Cup, came into existence in 1982 when the mayors of the two cities; Jonathan Rogers of
El Paso
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...
, and David Steinberg of
Las Cruces decided to present another traveling trophy to the winner of the UTEP vs
New Mexico State University
New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's ...
game. This game is more commonly known as "
The Battle of I-10
The Battle of I-10 is the name given to the New Mexico State–UTEP football rivalry. It is a college rivalry game between New Mexico State University (NMSU) and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). It is called the Battle of I-10 because ...
".
UTEP was a member of the
Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association
The Border Conference, officially known as the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association, was an NCAA-affiliated college athletic conference founded in 1931 that disbanded following the 1961–62 season. Centered in the southwestern United State ...
, from 1941-1961. The football team won
a conference championship in 1956.
Men's basketball
1966 Texas Western basketball team
![Don Haskins Center UTEP Interior](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Don_Haskins_Center_UTEP_Interior.jpg)
As Texas Western, the Miners won the
1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1966 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 22 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national men's basketball champion of the NCAA University Division, now Division I. It began on March 7 a ...
. The 72–65 victory over
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
at The
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
's
Cole Field House
The Jones-Hill House is an indoor collegiate sports training complex located on of land on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park, a suburb north of Washington, D.C. Jones-Hill House is situated in the center of the campu ...
in
College Park, Maryland
College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and is approximately four miles (6.4 km) from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. The population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States Census. It is best known ...
is considered one of the most important games in the history of college basketball. It marked the first time that a team started 5
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
players in a
title game. Contrary to popular belief, this game was not an "upset" since Kentucky and Texas Western entered the game ranked #1 and #2 respectively, with each team having only one loss. At this time, Kentucky had no
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
players (though
Adolph Rupp
Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. He is ranked seventh in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching at the Univ ...
gave formal scholarship offers to black players as early as 1964, it was not until
Tom Payne in 1971 that a black player finally joined the Wildcats). The impact of the game was pivotal primarily because it occurred during the height of the
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
.
The title team has been chronicled throughout the American media, including the books ''Basketball's Biggest Upset'' by Ray Sanchez and ''When the Walls Came Tumbling Down'' by Frank Fitzpatrick, and the 2006
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
movie, ''
Glory Road
''Glory Road'' is a science fantasy novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialized in ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (July – September 1963) and published in hardcover the same year. It was nominated for ...
''.
The team was inducted into the
Basketball Hall of Fame.
Cross Country
The UTEP Miners' men's cross country team has won 7 national cross country championships, the most recent of which came in 1981 and including a four-year streak of national championships from 1978-1981. They have qualified for 18 national championships, finishing first 7 times, second twice, third twice, and fifth once. They were originally awarded the
1983 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship title, but it was later revoked amid allegations of slush fund payments to runners. The Miners' men's and women's cross country teams have been coached since 2003 by former professional athlete and Olympic 800 meter gold medalist
Paul Ereng
Paul Ereng (born 22 August 1966) is a former Kenyan athlete, and the surprise winner of the 800 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
Born in Kitale, Trans-Nzoia, Kenya, Paul Ereng attended Starehe Boys Centre and School in Nairobi, Kenya. He wa ...
. The men's team has had three individual national champions:
Suleiman Nyambui in
1980,
Matthews Motshwarateu in
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
, and
Zakarie Barie in
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...
. The Miners' women's cross country team earned a trip to the NCAA Division I Women's Cross Country Championships every year from 1987-2009, finishing as high as 5th in
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...
. The women's team has not had an individual champion.
Rifle
In June 2013, the Miners' rifle team became a charter member of the
Patriot Rifle Conference
The Patriot Rifle Conference (PRC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rifle-only conference. The PRC was established in 2013 for schools that sponsor rifle teams, but do not have rifle as a sponsored sport in their primary conf ...
.
NCAA Division I national championships
UTEP's sports programs have won a total of 21 NCAA Division I national championships. UTEP is currently tied for 10th overall among schools in Men's Sports Division I championships.
*
Men's basketball: 1 (1966)
*
Men's cross country: 7 (1969, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981)
*
Men's indoor track & field: 7 (1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982)
*
Men's outdoor track & field: 6 (1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982)
2008 Olympics
UTEP students and alumni participated in track and field events.
Venues
![UTEP Sun Bowl Stadium Aerial View Sept 6 2009](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/UTEP_Sun_Bowl_Stadium_Aerial_View_Sept_6_2009.jpg)
UTEP owns the two largest stadiums in El Paso:
*
Sun Bowl Stadium,
seating capacity
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
51,500, opened its doors in 1963 and is currently the home to the UTEP football team and to the annual
Sun Bowl game.
*
Don Haskins Center
The Don Haskins Center, formerly known as the Special Events Center, is the home of UTEP Miners men's and women's basketball. The venue is located in the heart of El Paso, Texas. In addition to hosting sporting events, the Don Haskins Center is al ...
,
seating capacity
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
12,000, was built in 1976 and is primarily used by the men's and women's basketball teams.
*
University Field (UTEP),
seating capacity
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
500, was built in 1991 and hosts the women's soccer team.
*
Kidd Field
Kidd Field is an athletic facility used primarily by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in El Paso, Texas. Constructed for its then-primary use as a football field in 1938, it was the site of the Sun Bowl until 1963 when Sun Bowl Stadium o ...
, former home to the Miners football team and current home of the track and field teams.
References
External links
*
{{Navboxes
, titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, UTEP Miners, color=white
, list =
{{Conference USA navbox
{{Patriot Rifle Conference navbox
{{Texas sports