Orsten Artis broke his shoulder a month ago when he slipped on the carpet in his kitchen and fell.
Before that, he lost five toes to diabetes after contracting a staph infection..
He is on dialysis. Almost every day, he said, he visits a doctor for something.
Life is a struggle.
Mention Harry Flournoy, though, and Artis’ memory is clear, strong and wistful.
The two were like brothers. He was Flournoy’s best man at his first wedding. They did everything together in college, on and off the basketball court.
Flournoy, 73, visited Artis in the fall of 2015 at his Merrillville apartment.
It was just like old times for the former teammates at Texas Western.
“Harry was the same old jokester,” Artis said. “We laughed. We stayed together 24 hours a day.”
Laughing and joking with Harry.
Those are Flournoy’s last memories of his best friend.
The two made history playing for Texas Western (now Texas-El Paso) on the first NCAA national championship men’s basketball team with an all-black starting lineup. The Miners beat Kentucky, which had an all-white lineup, for the 1966 title. Flournoy, a 6-foot-5 forward, was a co-captain with Artis, the starting point guard.
The coach of that team, Don Haskins, wrote “Glory Roads,” an autobiography about that season that was made into a movie.
Flournoy died on Nov. 26 in Atlanta. Kidney failure was the cause, according to the New York Times.
Artis was gutted when he found out, partly because he wasn’t well enough to attend the funeral.
When a friend called to deliver the news, Artis was speechless: “I couldn’t say nothing. I was heartbroken.”
The friendship between the two was based on their Gary roots. It didn’t unfold the way you might think, though..
Flournoy graduated from Emerson in 1962 and Artis from Froebel that year.
Artis was a star, averaging 22 points for a team that finished 24-3 his senior season. But Emerson wasn’t very good and Artis said he didn’t really know Flournoy then.
Artis had a slew of scholarship offers. Indiana State and Pepperdine, along with Texas Western, were the leaders.
Artis ended up at Western because he was a man of his word.
Haskins visited and challenged Artis to a free-throw shooting contest at Froebel. If Artis lost, he’d have to go to Western.
Artis, a good free-throw shooter, thought he’d win. He made 9 of 10, but Haskins made all 10.
“I had to keep my promise,” Artis said.
Artis didn’t even know Flournoy was going to Western until they arrived in the fall of 1962 and were roommates.
Their final year, the Miners finished 28-1. Their only loss was by two points to Seattle in the last game of the regular season.
Their toughest game in the tournament was an 81-80 double-overtime win over Kansas in the Midwest Regional Final.
Flournoy, who was the Miners’ top rebounder, hurt his knee six minutes into the championship and missed most of the game. Artis finished with 15 points and eight rebounds as Western beat Kentucky 72-65.
“I thought we were done,” Artis said. “You know, Harry was the top jumper on the team. I thought we lost the game.
“We just put it together. Everybody was afraid of Kentucky. We just said, ‘Let’s play the way we played the whole year.'”
There is no minimizing the significance of the win.
The Herald-Leader of Lexington, Ky., wrote that the game would be a “dramatic wake-up call for universities across the South that if they wanted to win anymore, they would have to accept black players.”
Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp had vowed never to recruit a black player.
Flournoy said Haskins was ruthless that year because he knew he had something.
“We’d practice for three or four hours,” Flournoy said. “We’d go back to the dorms and be so tired we couldn’t even eat. We’d just lay down and sleep. It was great being the first black team to win the NCAA Tournament and beat Kentucky. That was something.”
In March, Artis got to see his buddy one more time at the Final Four. They traveled to Houston for the 50th anniversary celebration of their championship.
Flying from Atlanta, Flournoy saw Artis at O’Hare and he yelled out at the terminal.
Artis was confused. Flournoy was in a wheel chair.
Artis wasn’t sure who it was. Then, he recognized him.
Flournoy had suffered a stroke, according to Artis.
Artis said Flournoy was happy even though he was still recovering.
“His voice was strong,” he said. “We had such a good time on that plane ride. It was like he was his old self. He was such a good guy.”
Twitter @MikeHuttonPT
