Character Analysis: Glory Road

¨Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.¨ - Arnold Schwarzenegger. Surrender, Strength, Winning, and Struggle: Words that are not only associated with the quote above, but words that are synonymous with the motion picture Glory Road. Don Haskins, head coach of the Texas Western Basketball Team, recruits a majority of African-American student-athletes to his new division I group. Made up of mostly colored young men, Haskins experiences backlash from the local, basketball, and national communities for the choices he’s made. The conflict within Haskins is determining whether these young men are worth the trouble of taking them to the
Helping his team reach victory through personal and emotional support, he often put his own issues at home second to the problems with his team. Receiving death threats, hate mail, and acknowledging sometimes statewide hatred, a lot was on his mind throughout the duration of the season. As the season progressed with their winning streak, Texas Western was placed on the map as a top contender for the championship, meaning they would also receive a lot of media coverage and attention. Unfortunately for Coach Haskins, this attention caused an exponential growth in the disgust for him and his team. Fortunately, though, Haskins only goal was to win, and although his and his family’s lives could’ve been in danger, he stood his ground and continued his warpath to
Despite not being the first definition in the search results, this description most appropriately fits the theme of Glory Road. Texas Western’s community was not used to colored folk down where they were from, which wasn’t a bad thing, but they weren’t 100% on board with the idea of playing basketball with young black men. Coming together in unity through common goals and similar interests, they grew to genuinely care for each other and call each other brothers instead of acquaintances. Not being the most uniform team, they each brought something to the court that the team crucially needed, and learning to work together required great patience and acceptance. When they finally did though, the waiting paid off. Their training and bonding gave them not only the physical strength, but the mental and emotional strength to fight on, regardless of all the negativity in the environment surrounding