The story’s not as well-known today as it once was.

With the exception of hardcore basketball junkies and long-memoried Western Kentucky fans, there are not a lot of folks who remember the Hilltoppers’ role in the 1966 NCAA Tournament.

That tournament, now made famous by the movie &#8220Glory Road,” had the all-black starting five for Texas Western upsetting the all-white Kentucky team.

Because of the racial implications, that championship game gained legendary status.

But it might not have happened at all if Western Kentucky had not been the victim of one of the worst calls in college basketball history.

The Hilltoppers, who finished the 1965-66 season with a 25-3 record, were one game away from a matchup with the Kentucky Wildcats. All they needed to do was defeat a Cazzie Russell-led Michigan squad in the second round.

It nearly happened.

WKU led 79-78 with 10 seconds left. Sophomore starter Greg Smith was preparing for a jump ball against Russell.

What happened next changed the course of Hilltopper history.

The referee threw the ball up over Russell’s head.

&#8220(Russell) didn’t even jump – he just looked up at the ball,” then-WKU coach John Oldham recalled. &#8220That forced Greg to go after the tip and he was leaning on Cazzie … then Steven Honzo, the official from New York, called Greg for leaning into Cazzie and he made both his free throws.”

The Toppers had one more chance to erase the bad call, but a long jump shot from Clem Haskins missed the mark and Michigan advanced to face Kentucky.

That play has stuck in the minds of the participants ever since.

&#8220I can remember it like yesterday,” Haskins said. &#8220That’s one of those things that you never forget.”

If the call wasn’t made, both Oldham and Haskins think it would have been WKU – not UK – representing the state of Kentucky in the championship game.

&#8220That was a great ballclub,” Oldham said. &#8220That was a team that should have went all the way. We had the talent to play with anybody in the country.”

&#8220Without a doubt, if it hadn’t been for that jump ball we would have been in the national championship game – and had a chance to win it,” Haskins said.

If it had been WKU taking on Texas Western, the social implications would have been somewhat different.

Instead of going up against an all-white UK team, Texas Western would have faced a Hilltopper team that had three black starters – Haskins and brothers Dwight and Greg Smith.

It’s impossible to say if the impact would have been greater with more minority players on the court or less because there was not the stark contrast between the two squads.

But Haskins is convinced it would have been a good thing had Western Kentucky made it to the finals.

&#8220I think it would have been more (of a story), because we happened to have three minority ballplayers starting and we had four on our team with another guy by the name of Jackie Butler,” Haskins said. &#8220That would have been an interesting game and an interesting matchup.”

That’s all just speculation.

We’ll never know what happened because of one bad call that robbed Western Kentucky of a chance at basketball history.

-OJ Stapleton is the sports editor of the Daily News. Contact him at 783-3239 or ojstapleton@bgdailynews.com.