[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11302-11303]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ``GAME OF CHANGE''

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I am pleased to join the distinguished 
Senator from Illinois, Mr. Kirk, in submitting a resolution celebrating 
the 50th anniversary of Loyola University of Chicago's historic season 
as National Collegiate Athletics Association men's basketball 
champions. The season is also remembered for the historic matchup with 
Mississippi State University in the NCAA Tournament, which helped end 
racial segregation in college athletics.
  The Mississippi State and Loyola teams, along with their coaches and 
school administrators, led with courage and sportsmanship and a love of 
the game of basketball. That contest a half century ago helped to move 
my State and our Nation forward in addressing the inequalities of our 
society.
  I appreciate the legacy and inspiring example of these teams, and am 
pleased to cosponsor the resolution introduced today by Senators Kirk, 
Durbin, and Wicker.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a copy of the 
Clarion Ledger newspaper article from March 18, 2013, titled, ``As 
March Madness nears, so does 50th anniversary of MSU's `Game of 
Change'.''

  As March Madness Nears, So Does 50th Anniversary of MSU's ``Game of 
                                Change''

                          (By Jerry Mitchell)

       Loyola captain Jerry Harkness shakes hands with MSU captain 
     Joe Dan Gold before the historic 1963 game.
       As March Madness nears, so does the 50th anniversary of the 
     ``Game of Change,'' where the all-white Mississippi State 
     University basketball team dodged a judge's injunction and 
     the governor's wrath to play the integrated Loyola University 
     of Chicago.
       Those across the nation know more about Texas Western's 
     1966 defeat of Kentucky, becoming the first champion with 
     five African-American starters (depicted in the 2006 film, 
     Glory Road).
       While that game, once and for all, settled the question of 
     race on the court, MSU's game against Loyola also played a 
     critical role. The blog, The '60s at 50, quotes from the 
     March 25 edition of Sports Illustrated:
       ``Literally out of hiding to play Loyola the night before 
     had come Mississippi State, the team that saddened the hearts 
     of segregationists everywhere by agreeing--eagerly--to 
     participate in a tournament open to Negroes. On the eve of 
     his team's departure from Starkville, Coach Babe McCarthy got 
     word that a sheriff was out with a court order that could 
     keep the team in Mississippi. Like Little Eva skipping across 
     the ice ahead of the bloodhounds, McCarthy skipped into 
     Tennessee. University President Dr. D.W. Colvard vanished, 
     too. Early Thursday morning an assistant coach verified that 
     the coast was clear at the airport, hustled the team into a 
     plane and away it flew on a modern underground railroad in 
     reverse.''
       McCarthy had faced a series of frustrations as MSU's 
     basketball coach. His teams had dominated nationally, winning 
     the SEC championship in 1959, 1961 and 1962--only to watch 
     Kentucky represent the league in the postseason because 
     Mississippi authorities prevented them from playing any 
     integrated teams.
       Former Clarion-Ledger sportswriter Kyle Veazey (currently 
     with The Commercial Appeal) has penned a new book on the 
     subject,

[[Page 11303]]

     Champions for Change: How the Mississippi State Bulldogs and 
     Their Bold Coach Defied Segregation.
       He was stunned to find out no one had written the story and 
     decided to write it himself.
       When the question of playing an integrated team arose in 
     1959, MSU's president at the time, Ben Hilbun, received mail 
     3-to-1 in favor of keeping the team at home.
       Four years later, the mail ran 3-to-1 in favor of playing, 
     Veazey said. ``Sports helped personalize the integration 
     issue when it was so often being characterized by polarizing 
     figures.''
       He suspects the 1959 and 1962 teams could have won the 
     national championship if permitted to go.
       In the 1962-1963 season, the Loyola team, with four 
     African-American starters, faced its own difficulties, 
     encountering vitriol and jeering from some fans during games 
     in the South.
       Before leaving for the big game in March 1963, Loyola 
     players received hate mail from the Ku Klux Klan, according 
     to ESPN.
       Photographers snapped the legendary picture of Loyola 
     captain Jerry Harkness and MSU captain Joe Dan Gold shaking 
     hands at half court. (Harkness told USA TODAY he decided to 
     play basketball his senior year after a visitor to the Harlem 
     gym urged him to play. That visitor? Baseball legend Jackie 
     Robinson.)
       Loyola defeated MSU 61-51 on the way to winning the 
     national championship in a game watched in person by a 
     little-known boxer named Cassius Clay.
       Throngs of MSU fans surrounded their team arriving at the 
     airport, and a survey afterward found that Mississippians 
     overwhelming favored letting MSU play the game.
       Sports began to change hearts in a way that laws couldn't, 
     Veazey said. ``It was an example of Mississippi doing 
     something right when it was doing so many other things wrong. 
     It showed Mississippians that progress could happen, that men 
     like Babe McCarthy and (MSU President) Dean Colvard could be 
     courageous--and successful.''

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