Former UTEP player Myers talks about 1966 title team
Former UTEP hoops player Dick Myers talks about 1966 title team.
Felix Chavez – El Paso Times
Dick Myers, a reserve player on the 1966 Texas Western national championship basketball team, has died at 81.Myers played in 14 games during the championship season, averaging 0.9 points.After graduating from UTEP, he worked for Farah Manufacturing and later Coach Leather Inc.Myers consistently supported UTEP athletics and the El Paso community.
Dick Myers, a reserve on Texas Western’s 1966 national championship basketball team, has died at the age of 81. UTEP announced the news on social media.
Myers was a 6-foot-4 guard from Kansas, who initially enrolled at Hutchinson Junior College before being recruited by Don Haskins in 1965 and taking the number 40.
He played in 14 games during the Miners’ 1966 championship season and averaged 0.9 points. He was inducted with all his teammates into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2007 and was honored by UTEP as a Distinguished Alumni last year.
After graduating from UTEP in 1967, he spent 20 years in El Paso working for Farah Manufacturing. He retired in 2007 as the Vice President/Planning and Logistics for Coach Leather Inc. in New York City.
He and his wife, Elsie Dodge Myers, had three children and later lived in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where he still kept in touch with UTEP.
“Dick would always go see UTEP play when the Miners played in Florida,” said Steve Yellen, a former UTEP player in the late 1970s and early ’80s who is now the color analyst for UTEP radio broadcast. “He was an amazing person.
“He always helped support the Basketball in the Barrio weekend that is held here in El Paso. He sent a check for 33 years in a row for that event. He did it without fanfare and that speaks to his character.”
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.