Game of Change

The Game of Change was a college basketball game played between the Loyola Ramblers and the Mississippi State Bulldogs on March 15, 1963, during the second round of the 1963 NCAA University Division Basketball Tournament, at Jenison Fieldhouse in East Lansing, Michigan. Taking place in the midst of the American civil rights movement, the game between the integrated Loyola team and the all-white Mississippi State team is remembered as a milestone in the desegregation of college basketball.

1963 NCAA Tournament
Mideast Regional Semifinal
Captains Jerry Harkness and Joe Dan Gold shake hands before tip-off.
Mississippi State Bulldogs Loyola Ramblers
(21–5) (25–2)
51 61
Head coach:
Babe McCarthy		 Head coach:
George Ireland
12 Total
Mississippi State 1932 51
Loyola 2635 61
DateMarch 15, 1963
ArenaJenison Fieldhouse
LocationEast Lansing, Michigan
Referee(s)Philip Fox, John Stevens
Attendance12,143

In an era when teams typically played no more than two black players at a time, Loyola had four black starters. Persevering through hate mail and racial slurs hurled by segregationists, Loyola finished the 1962–63 regular season with a dominant 24–2 record. Mississippi State came into the postseason with their fourth Southeastern Conference (SEC) title in five years; however, due to an unwritten law that Mississippi teams would never play against black players, they had never before participated in the NCAA tournament. When university president Dean W. Colvard announced that he would send the team to the tournament, several state officials objected and attempted to restrain the team in the state. Employing a plan involving decoy players, the Bulldogs avoided being served an injunction as they took a charter plane to Michigan the day before the game.

Loyola advanced to the second round after beating Tennessee Tech by 69 points, the largest margin of victory in tournament history, while Mississippi State had a first round bye. The game was preceded by a handshake between Jerry Harkness, a black Loyola player, and Joe Dan Gold, a white Mississippi State player. Loyola won the game by the score of 61–51 and ultimately won the entire NCAA tournament with a victory over Cincinnati in the championship game.

Background

Loyola-Chicago
Loyola coach George Ireland presents Jerry Harkness with an All-American award.

In the early 1960s, college basketball had an unwritten rule that teams should only play two or three black players at a time.[1] For the first decade of his career, Loyola head coach George Ireland had obeyed this rule. In the Ramblers' 1961–62 season, Ireland's starting lineup had three black players (Jerry Harkness, Vic Rouse, and Les Hunter) and two white players (Jack Egan and Mike Gavin). As the season progressed, however, sophomore Ron Miller developed into a talented guard, and Rouse says several players felt that Miller should have been starting over Gavin. Miller said he was told explicitly by Ireland that he couldn't play him because of the limit of three black players.[2]:154 After falling to Dayton in the semifinal of the 1962 National Invitation Tournament, however, Ireland was "tired of losing", according to Egan.[3] The following night, he violated the unwritten rule for the first time by starting Harkness, Rouse, Hunter, Miller, and Egan in the NIT consolation game.[2]:155

Loyola performed well with this lineup, and Ireland would go on to use the same five throughout the 1962–63 season.[2]:156 According to Ireland, this stance on black players 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.'"[4] This animosity persisted throughout the season, and the Loyola players regularly faced discrimination on the road. The Ramblers had planned to stay at Xavier University of Louisiana while traveling to a game against Loyola of New Orleans on January 5; however, this plan fell through at the last minute, and the black and white players were forced to find separate lodgings. Chicago news outlets reported on Ireland's outrage at the situation, although some of his players later suggested he played up the controversy.[2]:149–51 Another incident took place on February 23, when crowd members at a Houston road game shouted racial slurs and threw popcorn and ice.[3]

Despite these troubles, the Ramblers performed well on the court, and they concluded the regular season with a 24–2 record. They 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.[5] On February 18, Loyola was awarded one of eleven at-large bids for the NCAA tournament.[6] In the tournament's 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.[7]

Mississippi State
Head coach Babe McCarthy, captain Joe Dan Gold, and assistant coach Jerry Simmons

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 No. 6 in the AP Poll and No. 7 in the Coaches Poll.[5] 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.[7] 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]

Dean W. Colvard, president of Mississippi State

The decision ultimately fell upon Dean W. Colvard, president of Mississippi State University. Colvard was being bombarded with calls, telegrams, and letters from people across the state. Most who contacted him were in favor of playing; of the 389 letters in Mississippi State's archives, 333 were in favor of going to the tournament.[12] On March 2, 1963, Colvard issued a statement announcing that he would be sending the team to the tournament "unless hindered by competent authority."[13]

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," 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.[14] 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,[15] as well as by the general public, with a locally conducted poll reporting 85% approval.[8]

Mississippi's state college board voted 8–3 in support of sending the Bulldogs to the tournament.

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.[7] On the afternoon of March 13, State Sens. Billy Mitts and B. W. Lawson obtained an injunction from the Chancery Court of Hinds County forbidding the team from playing in the game.[2]:211[16] That night, the injunction was reportedly received by the Oktibbeha County deputy sheriff, Dot Johnson.[17] Fearing being stopped by authorities, coach Babe McCarthy left the state early, driving 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 stopped by authorities while trying to board, the rest of the team would have taken a private plane to Nashville and flown commercially to Michigan. The Clarion-Ledger reported that Deputy Sheriff Johnson went to the airport to serve the injunction, but left after learning that the plane had not yet arrived due to delays in Atlanta.[17] Other accounts suggest alternate reasons why Johnson failed, such as that he arrived too late because he stopped to finish his coffee first; one historian sums up the legend of Dot Johnson as "a deputy sheriff who tried to do his duty, but not too hard".[2]:213

Regardless of why, it is clear that 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. Facing no further obstruction, their plane took off at 9:44 a.m.[17] They stopped over in Nashville to pick up McCarthy before proceeding to the game site in East Lansing, Michigan.[10] Later in the day, a justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi dissolved the injunction for lacking legal basis.[2]:214

Game summary
Loyola captain Jerry Harkness about to make a layup over opposing guard Stan Brinker

On game night, Jenison Fieldhouse was packed with a reported crowd of 12,143 in the 12,500-capacity gym.[18] The Loyola–Mississippi State matchup was the second half of a doubleheader, following a 7:30 p.m. game between Illinois and Bowling Green.[19] The game was preceded with a handshake between Jerry Harkness, a black Loyola player, and Joe Dan Gold, a white Mississippi State player.[20] In a 2013 interview, Harkness told NPR of the moment: "The flashbulbs just went off unbelievably, and at that time, boy, I knew that this was more than just a game. This was history being made."[1]

Despite the circumstances, the game itself was played without incident. The underdog Mississippi State team started out with a 0–7 lead, holding Loyola scoreless for several minutes.[18] Ron Miller ended the shutout, scoring Loyola's first basket at 14:11. His teammate Jerry Harkness shortly followed it with two three-point plays to bring the game to a 12–12 tie.[21] By halftime, Loyola led Mississippi State 26–19.[22]

With Vic Rouse and Les Hunter dominating in field goals and rebounds, Loyola stretched their lead to 39–29 with 13:15 left in the second half. However, Mississippi State's offense picked up the slack and narrowed the score to 41–38 with 10:55 remaining. Mississippi State remained competitive in the game until forward Leland Mitchell, their leading scorer and rebounder, fouled out with 6:47 left. Loyola's lead swelled to 57–42, and the Bulldogs were never able to recover.[21] The Ramblers won with a final score of 61–51.[22]

After the game, Loyola coach George Ireland praised Mississippi State as "the most deliberate offense we ran into all year". Bulldogs coach Babe McCarthy attributed Loyola's win to strength in rebounding, and said he thought his team would have had to play "a near perfect game" to beat the Ramblers.[23]

Box score
Friday, March 15
9:30 p.m. EDT[19]
Mississippi State 51, Loyola-Chicago 61
Scoring by half: 19–26, 32–35
Pts: L. Mitchell – 14
Rebs: L. Mitchell – 11		 Pts: J. Harkness – 20
Rebs: V. Rouse – 19
Jenison Fieldhouse – East Lansing, Michigan
Attendance: 12,143
Referees: Philip Fox, John Stevens[21]
Loyola forward Vic Rouse shoots over Mississippi State's Aubrey Nichols.


Legend
No. Jersey number Pos Position FGM Field goals made
FGA Field goals attempted FTM Free throws made FTA Free throws attempted
Reb Rebounds PF Personal fouls Pts Points
Mississippi State Bulldogs
No. Player Pos FGM FGA FTM FTA Reb PF Pts
44 Leland Mitchell F 6102511514
33 Joe Dan Gold F 39573311
42 Doug Hutton G 59021010
53 Stan Brinker G 3635749
41 Red Stroud G 31511327
43 Aubrey Nichols G 0000000
Team totals 20491120251451
Statistics from Sports-Reference.com,[24] rosters from game program[25]
Loyola Ramblers
No. Player Pos FGM FGA FTM FTA Reb PF Pts
15 Jerry Harkness F 711679120
40 Vic Rouse F 8240019416
41 Les Hunter C 3136710312
42 Ron Miller G 59114111
11 John Egan G 1901152
23 Chuck Wood G/F 0000130
Team totals 24661316441761
Statistics from Sports-Reference.com,[24] rosters from game program[25]

Aftermath
The Ramblers show off their championship trophy as they arrive home at O'Hare International Airport.

After defeating Mississippi State, Loyola advanced to the title game with relative ease. On March 16, they defeated Illinois 79–64 in the regional final, and on March 22, they defeated Duke 94–75 in the national semifinal.[26] In the championship game, the Ramblers went to overtime against Cincinnati before ultimately winning by a score of 60–58. It was the first national championship in Loyola-Chicago history, and as of 2020, it remains the only national championship for the state of Illinois.[7]

The day after the Loyola game, Mississippi State faced Bowling Green in a consolation game. They won 65–60, and returned to Starkville as the third place team from the Mideast region. Upon landing at the airport in Mississippi, they were greeted by a crowd of 700 fans. In 1965, Mississippi State became an integrated campus when Richard Holmes became the first black student to enroll.[8]

Legacy
President Obama meets with members of the 1962–63 Loyola team for their 50th anniversary.

The 50th anniversary of the Game of Change was marked with a number of commemorative events. On December 15, 2012, Mississippi State visited Loyola for the teams' first meeting since the 1963 tournament. With surviving players from both of the historic teams present, Loyola won by a score of 59–51.[27][28] On July 10–11, 2013, members of the 1962–63 Loyola team reunited for a two-day trip to Washington, D.C. On the first day, they toured the Capitol Building and met privately with Senator Dick Durbin and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi,[29] and on July 11, they met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.[30] On November 24, 2013, the 1962–63 Loyola team was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, the first time an entire team was inducted collectively.[29][31] The team was also inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame on September 18, 2013.[32]

The overall significance of the Game of Change to the civil rights movement has been debated. The 1962–63 Loyola Ramblers are often overlooked, or overshadowed by the 1965–66 Texas Western Miners, who won the 1966 NCAA Championship with an all-black starting lineup over an all-white Kentucky team.[33][34] In a 2018 opinion piece for The Washington Post, Kevin Blackistone argues that the game did not actually bring about much change. Blackistone points to significant setbacks that the movement faced in Mississippi after the game, such as the murder of Vernon Dahmer and the shooting of James Meredith at the March Against Fear, and suggests that the modern narrative of the game is more of an urban legend than a truthful retelling.[35] In a response letter to the editor, journalist Charles Paikert contends that, although the game did not cause sudden major change to ongoing racial tensions in the South, it did show that white athletes and students rejected the unwritten rule against interracial sports competitions. He further writes that the national publicity garnered by Loyola's championship run was a "big deal" in 1963.[36]

References
  1. Corley, Cheryl (March 15, 2013). "Game Of Change: Pivotal Matchup Helped End Segregated Hoops". NPR.org. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  2. Lenehan, Michael (2013). Ramblers: Loyola Chicago 1963—The Team That Changed the Color of College Basketball. Agate Publishing. ISBN 1572841400.
  3. Gregory, Sean (March 30, 2018). "How Loyola Chicago's Basketball Team Shattered a Racial Barrier". Time. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  4. Goldstein, Richard (September 20, 2001). "George Ireland, 88, Title-Winning Coach at Loyola, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  5. "1962–63 College Basketball Polls". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  6. "5 Fives Accept Bids to N.C.A.A. Tourney". The New York Times. New York. February 19, 1963. p. 16. ProQuest 116595735. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  7. Mather, Victor (March 29, 2018). "When Loyola-Chicago Broke a Racial Barrier 55 Years Ago". The New York Times. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  8. Wolff, Alexander (March 10, 2003). "Ghosts of Mississippi". Sports Illustrated. 98 (10). Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  9. "2019–20 Mississippi State Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Mississippi State University Athletics. November 4, 2019. p. 256. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  10. "Miss. State Five Flees Injunction". The New York Times. East Lansing, Michigan. United Press International. March 15, 1963. p. 16. ProQuest 116645293. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  11. "MSU Student Senate Votes to Go NCAA". The Clarion-Ledger. Jackson, Mississippi. March 3, 1963. p. 4-C. Retrieved June 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. Henderson, Russell J. (1997). "The 1963 Mississippi State University Basketball Controversy and the Repeal of the Unwritten Law: "Something more than the game will be lost"". The Journal of Southern History. 63 (4): 836. doi:10.2307/2211721. ISSN 0022-4642. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
  13. Colvard, D. W. (March 2, 1963). "Statement by D. W. Colvard, President of Mississippi State University, Relative to Participation in NCAA Championship Competition" (Press release). Retrieved June 10, 2020 – via Mississippi State University Libraries.
  14. "MSU Entry Brings Additional Criticism". The Clarion-Ledger. March 5, 1963. p. 1. Retrieved June 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. Fulton, Robert (March 9, 1963). "High 'N Inside: To The Man, State's Cage Squad Wants Trip To NCAA". The Clarion-Ledger. p. 7. Retrieved June 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Bulldogs Head for Tournament". Enterprise-Journal. Associated Press. March 14, 1963. p. 9. Retrieved June 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. Fulton, Robert (March 15, 1963). "Bulldog Cagers Arrive For NCAA Play Friday". The Clarion-Ledger. p. 25. Retrieved June 10, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. Liska, Jerry (March 16, 1963). "Mississippi State Falls Before Chicago Loyola". The Decatur Daily. East Lansing, Michigan. Associated Press. p. 6. Retrieved May 29, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. Hoerner, Bob (March 15, 1963). "Mississippi State's Cloak-and-Dagger Trip Completes Field Here". Lansing State Journal. p. 25. Retrieved August 18, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. O'Neil, Dana (December 13, 2012). "A game that should not be forgotten". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  21. Damer, Roy (March 16, 1963). "Loyola, Illinois Win; Meet Tonight!". Chicago Tribune. sec. 3, p. 1. Retrieved June 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. Hallas, Clark (March 16, 1963). "Loyola of Chicago Cagers Triumph in Region Playoff". Shamokin News-Dispatch. United Press International. p. 6. Retrieved May 29, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. "If Ireland Had His Druthers, It'd Be Ohio". Chicago Tribune. March 16, 1963. sec. 3, p. 2. Retrieved June 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. "Mississippi State vs. Loyola (IL) Box Score, March 15, 1963". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  25. Mideast Regional Basketball Tournament Official Program (Game program), NCAA, March 15, 1963 – via Mississippi State University Libraries
  26. "Loyola Men's Basketball 2018–19 Media Guide" (PDF). Loyola University Chicago Athletics. 2018. p. 39. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  27. Sumrak, Seanna Mullen. "Game of Change: The Matchup That Transformed College Basketball". Loyola University Chicago. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  28. "Mississippi State vs. Loyola (IL) Box Score, December 15, 2012". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  29. "Loyola 1963 Basketball Team To Visit With President Obama". Loyola University Chicago Athletics. July 11, 2013. Archived from the original on June 16, 2020. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  30. Jarrett, Valerie (July 11, 2013). "The Game of Change Comes to the White House". The White House. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  31. "1963 Loyola University Team: Class of 2013". The College Basketball Experience. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  32. "Loyola 1963 Men's Basketball Team To Enter Chicagoland Sports Hall Of Fame". Loyola University Chicago Athletics. June 7, 2013. Archived from the original on June 17, 2020. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  33. Moser, Whet (July 15, 2013). "Why the Pathbreaking 1963 Loyola Ramblers Met President Obama". Chicago. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  34. Lopresti, Mike (March 13, 2013). "Loyola-Chicago's groundbreaking title overlooked today". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  35. Blackistone, Kevin (March 22, 2018). "What did the Game of Change really change? Not much, despite what you might hear". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  36. Paikert, Charles (April 6, 2018). "The 'Game of Change' mattered". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 16, 2020.

Further reading
  • Lenehan, Michael (2013). Ramblers: Loyola Chicago 1963—The Team That Changed the Color of College Basketball. Agate Publishing. ISBN 1572847212.
  • Veazey, Kyle (2012). Champions for Change: How the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Their Bold Coach Defied Segregation. The History Press. ISBN 1614237220.
  • Freedman, Lew (2014). Becoming Iron Men: The Story of the 1963 Loyola Ramblers. Texas Tech University Press. ISBN 0896728773.
  • Peterson, Jason A. (2016). Full Court Press: Mississippi State University, the Press, and the Battle to Integrate College Basketball. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1496808231.
  • Mitchell, Fred (2019). The History of Loyola Basketball: More Than a Shot and a Prayer. Post Hill Press. ISBN 1642930652.
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