Horizon League Links

Butler
Detroit
Illinois-Chicago
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Wright State
Youngstown State
Horizon Connection

Forty Years Ago Today

11/30/02
by John C. Thomas
The 1963 Loyola national basketball championship changed the way college basketball was played forever. Prior to Loyola's championship run, the gentlemen's agreement between college basketball coaches dictated that home teams could play as many as three African-Americans at home and two on the road.

Beginning in 1961, Loyola Head Coach George Ireland began playing as many as four black starters at home and on the road in flagrant violation of the "gentleman's agreement." In 1962-63, Ireland played four black starters in every game. In a game at Oklahoma City against Wyoming, Ireland replaced fouled-out starter John Egan with Pablo Robertson, marking the first time a major Division I college team fielded five black players.

Rather than being a racial pioneer, George Ireland should be remembered as a man that wanted to win at any cost, and a man that would defend his players to the end. It just so happened that he decided to choose most of his players from among the multitude of African-American players that couldn't otherwise find a spot with major colleges because of "gentleman's agreement" quotas that limited basketball scholarship participation on the basis of race-the fact that only two or three scholarships could be given to African-Americans on most major college basketball teams.

As it turned out, the five starting players on the 1962-63 Loyola national championship team earned a total of 11 college degrees, which is certainly a record for academic achievement by a championship team, and a good bet for a record by any team in tournament history. All five players graduated. John Egan earned a law degree. Ron Miller earned an MBA. And W. Victor Rouse earned three masters degrees and a doctorate.

A lot of attention has been focused on the 1966 Texas Western team that won the championship with five African-American starters. While the importance of that accomplishment can't be diminished, it never would have happened without the courageous actions of the Loyola team-a group that endured harassment, prejudice, racism, hate-mail, death threats, and other indignities while accumulating one of the most admirable academic records of any college basketball team in history.

Here's what happened on this date 40 years ago:

September 30, 1962 James Meredith, an African-American Air Force veteran, tries to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Two people die and hundreds are injured in two days of rioting in Oxford, Mississippi.
October 15, 1962 Basketball practice begins at Loyola.
October 21, 1962 President Kennedy announces on national television that the United States has discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba.
November 27, 1962 The AP Preseason college basketball poll is released. Loyola is ranked fourth, behind Kentucky, Duke, and Cincinnati.
November 30, 1962 The Pow Wow Weekend festivities kick off the basketball season on the Loyola Lake Shore campus.
December 1, 1962 #4 Loyola vs. Christian Brothers
December 3, 1962 #4 Loyola vs. North Dakota
December 10, 1962 #4 Loyola vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee
December 15, 1962 #4 Loyola vs. South Dakota
December 17, 1962 #4 Loyola vs. Western Michigan
December 19, 1962 #4 Loyola vs. Indiana
December 22, 1962 #4 Loyola vs. #10 Seattle
December 27, 1962 #3 Loyola vs. Arkansas
December 28, 1962 #3 Loyola vs. Memphis State
December 29, 1962 #3 Loyola vs. Wyoming
December 31, 1962 #3 Loyola vs. Dayton
January 3, 1963 #2 Loyola vs. Marshall
January 5, 1963 #2 Loyola vs. Loyola New Orleans
January 8, 1963 #2 Loyola vs. Marquette
January 10, 1963 #2 Loyola vs. Western Michigan
January 19, 1963 #2 Loyola vs. Kent State
January 21, 1963 #2 Loyola vs. Ohio
January 26, 1963 #2 Loyola vs. Santa Clara
January 31, 1963 #2 Loyola vs. Washington(MO)
February 2, 1963 #2 Loyola vs. Iowa
February 4, 1963 Reserves Robertson and Smith Flunk Out
February 12, 1963 #2 Loyola vs. Marquette
February 16, 1963 #2 Loyola vs. Bowling Green
February 18, 1963 #2 Loyola vs. St. John's
February 23, 1963 #3 Loyola vs. Houston
February 27, 1963 #3 Loyola vs. Ohio
March 2, 1963 #3 Loyola vs. # 8 Wichita State
March 11, 1963 #5 Loyola vs. Tennessee Tech (NCAA Round 1)
March 15, 1963 #5 Loyola vs. #6 Mississippi State (NCAA Round 2)
March 16, 1963 #3 Loyola vs. #8 Illinois (NCAA Round 3)
March 22, 1963 #3 Loyola vs. #2 Duke (NCAA Round 4)
March 23, 1963 #3 Loyola vs. #1 Cincinnatti (NCAA Final)
March 23-25, 1963 Celebrations of the National Championship
June 12, 1963 NAACP activist Medgar Evers is assasinated in his driveway in Jackson, Mississippi.
Early Summer, 1963 Americans are shocked by news footage from Birmingham, AL that shows African-Americans being sprayed with fire hoses and attacked by police dogs.
August 28, 1963 A quarter of a million people show up for the March on Washington, highlighted by Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech.