Game of Change

In the early 1960s, college basketball had an unwritten rule that teams should only play two or three black players at a time.[3] Loyola, however, started four black players throughout their 1962–63 season.[1] Head coach George Ireland decided to defy the norms because he was "tired of losing", according to John Egan, the lone white starter on the 1963 team.[4] According to Ireland, this made him unpopular in the basketball world; he once said that other coaches "used to stand up at banquets and say, 'George Ireland isn't with us tonight because he's in Africa — recruiting.'"[5]

Loyola's 1962–63 season went very well on the court, and they concluded the regular season with a 24–2 record. They consistently remained in the top five rankings throughout their campaign, and ultimately finished at No. 3 in the AP Poll and No. 4 in the Coaches Poll.[6] However, they regularly faced harsh discrimination. In a road match at Houston on February 23, members of the crowd shouted racial slurs and threw popcorn and ice.[4]

On February 18, Loyola was awarded one of eleven at-large bids for the tournament.[7] In the first round game on March 11, the Ramblers defeated Tennessee Tech 111–42, the largest margin of victory in tournament history as of 2020. This led them to face Mississippi State, who'd had a first round bye, in the Mideast regional semifinal on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.[1]

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, head coach Babe McCarthy led the Mississippi State Bulldogs to much success in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Starting with the 1958–59 season, they won the SEC title four times in five years.[8] The Bulldogs' 1962–63 season was no exception, as they won the SEC title outright with a win over Ole Miss on March 2,[8] and never fell below a No. 11 ranking in either poll for the duration of the season. They finished the season at #6 in the AP Poll and #7 in the Coaches Poll.[6] They finished the regular season with a 21–5 overall record and a 12–2 record in conference play.[9]

However, the all-white Mississippi State team had limited itself to only competing against other all-white teams. They remained confined to the South for all their regular season games, and had declined NCAA tournament invitations in previous seasons to avoid facing integrated teams.[1] At that time, there existed an "unwritten law" within the state that no Mississippi team would ever play against a team with black players.[10] However, as the civil rights movement was gaining traction around the country, this rule began to face scrutiny and opposition. On February 26, 1963, Mississippi State's student senate voted unanimously to recommend that the Bulldogs accept the tournament invitation, and the following day, they gathered 2,000 student signatures on a resolution to the same effect.[11]

Mississippi State president Dean W. Colvard's statement announcing his intent to send the Bulldogs to the tournament

The decision ultimately fell upon Dean W. Colvard, president of Mississippi State University. On March 2, 1963, Colvard issued a statement announcing that he would be sending the team to the tournament "unless hindered by competent authority."[12]

Colvard's decision sparked widespread debate within the state of Mississippi. Several Mississippi legislators, including State Sen. Billy Mitts, State Rep. Russell Fox, and State Rep. Walter Hester, expressed their disapproval of the decision. In a statement, Hester wrote, "This action follows the Meredith incident as an admission that Miss. State has capitulated and is willing for the Negroes to move into that school en masse,"[13] referring to James Meredith's enrollment as the first black student at University of Mississippi after a 1962 riot. State Sen. Sonny Montgomery, on the other hand, indicated his support for Colvard's decision.[13] Sending the team to the tournament was also favored by the players themselves, who unanimously indicated their desire to play when interviewed by The Clarion-Ledger,[14] as well as by the general public, with a locally conducted poll reporting 85% approval.[8]

On March 5, the state college board announced they would be holding a special session to review Colvard's decision. The meeting was convened by trustee M. M. Roberts of Hattiesburg, whom Sports Illustrated describes as a "tenacious lawyer and proud racist".[8] When the board met several days later in Jackson, Mississippi, protesters and petitioners on both sides of the debate were present outside the building. The board voted 8–3 in support of the tournament decision, and 9–2 in a vote expressing confidence in Colvard's leadership.[8]

Nevertheless, participation in the game was still opposed by many in the state, including Gov. Ross R. Barnett.[1] On March 13, State Sen. Billy Mitts obtained a temporary injunction from a Mississippi Chancery Court that, if served, would have prevented the team from leaving the state.[15] That night, the injunction was reportedly received by the Oktibbeha County deputy sheriff.[16] Fearing being stopped by authorities if he were named in the injunction, coach Babe McCarthy left the state early, driving himself north to Nashville to be joined by the rest of the team later.[10]

On the morning of March 14, the day before the game was to be played, the team sent trainer Dutch Luchsinger and five reserve players to Starkville airport at 8 a.m. as decoys. Had they been served an injunction while trying to board, the rest of the team would have taken a private plane to Nashville and flown commercially to Michigan. However, due to a weather delay in Atlanta, the plane was late to arrive in Starkville. The deputy sheriff reportedly came to the airport with an injunction to serve, but did not find the plane or the team. The reserve squad did not encounter the deputy sheriff when they arrived, and thus returned to campus to reunite with the rest of the team. Thirty minutes later, they received word that the plane was en route, and the entire team headed to the airport together. The deputy sheriff was not present when they arrived, and their plane successfully took off at 9:44 a.m.[16] They stopped over in Nashville to pick up McCarthy before proceeding to Michigan, where the game would be held the next day.[10]