Loyola of Chicago 1963 Championship Was More Than Just About Basketball. It Was About Racial Justice
<snip>In 1963 the Loyola Ramblers won it all, beating Cincinnati for the national championship in an overtime thriller. But the backstory of the Ramblers’ 1963 tournament win is even more meaningful.
After years of exclusion, African-American athletes by the early 1960s were playing college basketball. But even in the north, there were still unwritten rules about exactly how prominent a role they’d be allowed on the court. One such rule allowed coaches to play just two or three black players at a time.
Around this time, Loyola University had enjoyed years of moderate success on the basketball court. But coach George Ireland wanted to start winning big. In 1960, he decided to take a bold step and began heavily recruiting the best basketball players available, regardless of race. His team, with four African-American starters, faced brutal racism, especially when traveling in the south. But by 1963, the Ramblers were one of the best teams in the country. In the NCAA Tournament that year, the Ramblers would face a match-up with Mississippi State that would change the face of college basketball.<snip>
https://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2018/03/28/loyola-ramblers-1963-ncaa-win-also-story-racial-justice
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