Lattin was before Chaney, Hayes, Big E and McVea…we were not allowed to integrate until 1965…by the way, we also tried to recruit Bubba Smith and Gene Washington in '63-'64…
Donnie told me he thought we had the red light before the Board elected to hold off…lol
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Oh man, I haven’t thought about Jerry Bonney in awhile. I’ll always remember him guarding Artis Gilmore in the 2nd half in that one point win over Jacksonville (71?) We were running out of bigs and they had two. Good times.
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Lattin graduated in 1963 but quit the Black College he signed with.
He then played AAU Basketball until 1965. Then went to Texas Western.
We had black players signed in 1964. As I cited.You are incorrect about 1965. All 3 players I cited were freshmen in 1964. And UH began admitting Black students in 1962, followed by Black Athletes in 1964.
Thus why did we not sign Lattin in 1965?
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bigmccoog would say if he knew. A guess would be Donnie tried to recruit him in 1963 out of high school and was denied at that time. Why only members of the BOR at the time could answer that. The BOR per history approved the recruiting of Hayes, Chaney in 1964.
Also, for those who do not know. Texas Western is not UTEP. They are the only Texas school to win a national championship in Basketball.
One and the same.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1965%E2%80%9366_Texas_Western_Miners_men%27s_basketball_team
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Why not. All the school did was change names. UH had different name when first opened, SWTS is now TXST, SHSU was Sam Houston State Teachers College when Dan Rather went there 
, I could list several others.
We probably didn’t sigh Lattin in 1965 because we possibly didn’t need him as much anymore. Elvin was on campus, plus we had signed Melvin Bell, who before he was injured was the second coming of Elvin Hayes from what I’ve heard.
Not sure what your point is and forgive me if I missed the right year. Lattin, along with Bubba Smith were two athletes we recruited that would have broke the color line at UH in 1963…I knew Big Daddy played at Worthing but was not aware that he went to a black college…but then again a lot of black kids went to HBCU teams back in those days…remember Willis Reed.
Anyhow, Donnie shared that with me and I took him at his word…and yes I realize McVea, Hayes and Chaney were all brought to UH in 1964, with their varsity careers starting in 1965…
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Sorry, I don’t know how the “not” got in there. I meant that Texas Western is now UTEP. Did not check before replying. Duh!!
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Lattin plus Chaney, Hayes, Spain, Bell, etc. in 1967 would have been incredible.
You made my point!
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Ohhh. Glad I could help…hehe. Good foundation n upbringing is vital for these kids when they leave home as 17-18 year olds.
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You are correct. UH was trying to get David Lattin in, but couldn’t get things worked out.
This comes straight from the horse’s mouth (by which I mean Lattin).
No doubt in my mind, especially with a healthy Melvin Bell.
BTW I remember we recruited Karl Malone his senior year of high school but eventually he went to Louisiana Tech…How about a lineup with Hakeem, Micheaux, Drexler and Malone!
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Thanks Butch. I always liked Donnie a lot. I thought if he had taken over from Guy, things would have been better. There was a resentment by the fans when Foster took over. It seemed he did his best to alianate the fans doing things like shutting down the Cougar Cagers and post game parties. Foster had a good record but never made any kind of post season run.
I don’t know how Donnie would have done, but I think he would have done at least as well as Foster. The coach that followed Guy was going to have large shoes to fill. If we had replaced Foster with a coach ready for the big time – which wasn’t Brooks – we would probably not have wandered in the wilderness for so long. Foster didn’t leave AB with a completely bare cupboard.
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Fosters’ teams seems to do worse as the season went on and tightened up in the post season. I always felt he handcuffed our very athletic and talented teams he assembled.
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Assistant coach Harvey Pate had a full length fold up poster of Melvin Bell the year he recruited him. Harvey would show that poster off anytime anyone would come in and ask about how recruiting was going.
Guy Lewis once told me that had Melvin not injured his knee he would have been a top three pick in the NBA draft. BTW Melvin’s brother Carlos played running back for the Cougars back in the day…he was a 6-5 running back and a bull to bring down.
Bell’s youngest brother, Roy I think, was one of the top rated running backs in the country his senior year but ended up at OU…where I don’t think he played all that much…
I remember Carlos Bell. Played BB and FB.
I forget the name but I think only one other Coog has ever done that, about 15-20 years ago I believe.
Leonard Mitchell
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Riley Odoms was probably the most talented of the bunch, then big Leonard Mitchell along with Otis Grant. Off the top of my old head those are the ones that I remember…
Mitchell was an all district player at Houston Washington before coming to UH while Odoms was All state in football, hoops, baseball and track…quite an athlete…
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