One Night in March

[ Music ] Bailey Howell: I think in America we need to be able to go just as far as our talent and our commitment will take us in whatever it is, no matter if it's science or literature or athletics or what.

I think we need to provide our young people with the opportunities to see how far they can really go, what they can accomplish, how good they can get at whatever thing it is they enjoy; and we were denied that.

That was a big time major mistake I think on the part of the politicians of Mississippi, and it was a very bitter disappointment.

[ Music ] Narrator: This is a story of a basketball game that captured the national imagination and influenced a state and sport for years to come.

This is the story of an unwritten rule that fostered prejudice and segregation.

This is a story of how a university president, his head basketball coach, and their players risked their safety and their future by defying that rule, a governor, and legislature in 1963 Mississippi.

This story took place one night in March.

[ Music ] Mississippi, January 1963.

The violence of the enrollment of James Meredith at Ole Miss the previous fall still reverberated throughout the state.

Segregation was the law of the land.

But on the campus of Mississippi State University attention was focused on the basketball court.

The Bulldogs, following their SEC championship runs in 1961 and 1962, started the '62-'63 season 8-2.

Wins on the hardwood were expected for Coach Babe McCarthy's powerhouse program.

State would begin the defense of their crown in open conference play with a trip to Auburn.

That would be the first step towards a historic season for the Bulldogs.

[music] Mississippi State captured their first SEC title in 1959.

The team was anchored by senior all-American center Bailey Howell and posted a final record of 24-1, including a win over Adolph Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats in Starkville.

But that team was prohibited from playing in the NCAA tournament at season's end to decide the national championship.

Bailey Howell: At Mississippi State we were ranked in the top, I think five in the -- five teams in the nation that last year.

We were the best team in the Southeast for sure.

Narrator: An unwritten rule barred the white-only universities in the state from playing against integrated teams.

By virtue of their SEC titles in '59, '61, and '62, Mississippi State received invitations to play in the NCAA tournament each year; and each time the invitation was declined.

Red Stroud: We won the SEC our sophomore year and couldn't go and -- you know, and we forgot about it; went on home; went about our own business.

Same thing our junior year.

That's just the way we were raised, you know, not to -- not to rebel, you know, against authority.

Aubrey Nichols: All of us always felt like we were good enough to play with the guys that were winning national championships during those years.

Leland Mitchell: But we -- we didn't think we were going to have -- were going to get to go to the national tournament, and we didn't dwell on it and didn't -- you know it was -- it was just something we accepted.

[ Music ] Narrator: The '63 team finished 22-6, with a 12-2 mark in the SEC that year.

Along the way they defeated Kentucky, LSU, and Ole Miss, and No.

7 ranked Georgia Tech in Starkville.

State defeated No.

10 ranked Auburn on the road.

The bulldogs dropped just two conference games that season, on the road in Alabama and Florida.

After defeating Tulane on February 25, the Bulldogs had clinched no less than a tie for their third straight SEC championship and earned the right to represent the conference in the NCAA tournament.

That year the NCAA tournament issued just 25 invitations to conference champions and highly-ranked independent teams.

But because of the unwritten rule, it seemed that the team had nowhere to go from there.

Joe Dan Gold: We thought we were going to be the best team in the SEC in '62-'63; and basically, we just played, I think, to win the SEC without any NCAA expectations.

Aubrey Nichols: As you play the games, as you win them, as you win your conference, then you begin to wonder, why can't we go to that next level.

Stan Brinker: '61-'62, we never talked about going to NCAA.

'62-'63, we did.

We really, really wanted to play that year.

Narrator: Georgia Tech, then an SEC member, had placed second to MSU and expected to travel to the National Championship of college basketball.

Assuming that State would spurn the NCAAs again, Georgia Tech prepared to represent the conference in the tournament.

It looked like a repeat of the 1959, '61, and '62 seasons when State sat at home, declining its earned invitation to the national tournament, while league runner-up Kentucky went in their place.

Stan Brinker: We were all pretty -- pretty disgruntled of -- simply because we didn't get to go.

Kentucky got to go again, you know, in our place.

It was like we won it, they get to go.

It was the pits.

[ Music ] Narrator: Unknown to the players, the leadership of the Mississippi State had decided to take a stand and defy the racist rule that had held them back for so long.

Fifteen minutes before the last conference game at Ole Miss on March 2, Mississippi State University president Dean W. Colvard announced that, "Unless hindered by competent authority, I shall send our basketball team to NCAA competition."

The Bulldogs went on to defeat their in-state rival that night and secure another SEC crown.

The university had until March 5 to officially accept the bid.

The historic event was set into motion.

Aubrey Nichols: I remember a meeting, a team meeting when Dr. Colvard addressed us; and we had already been told by Coach McCarthy what the situation was and some of the difficulties that were expected.

I think hearing it from Dr. Colvard simply emphasized what Coach McCarthy had already told us.

William Winter: So he was walking into a hornet's nest when he decided to do that.

And knew, of course, that it was a tough decision for him; but he also knew that it was the right decision for him and the right decision for Mississippi State and the right decision for the State of Mississippi.

Doug Hutton: He really took a stand for us, you know.

He said we felt that we deserved it.

He felt we were the -- you know, the kind of team that would represent the university well in all; and that he was going to do everything that he could do as president of the school to see that we got to go.

Jackie Wofford: He was kind of a man ahead of his time.

I mean, this -- this was indicative of everything that he did.

He was willing to, as you say, put it all on the line in terms of the legislature.

Coach McCarthy, he felt it was important for the university, for the growth of that university that we take another step; and that step was to play black athletes if we were afforded the opportunity.

Kyle Veazey: If you look at what Dean Colvard wrote in his diary and his papers, he knew that the unwritten law suffered its fatal blow when James Meredith got into Ole Miss.

Because the whole reason for the unwritten law was what?

It was if you keep the athletic competition segregated, therefore, you'll keep the school segregated, crazy as that sounds in this day and age.

So when James Meredith did that, what were they protecting?

Dean Colvard found his in.

Narrator: On March 4, the State College Board announced it would hold a special meeting to consider Dr. Colvard's decision to send the team to the tournament.

Mississippi governor Ross Barnett waited until the debate saying he opposed State's participation when it became apparent that the men would face black players.

Ross Barnett: Personally, I feel it is not for the best interest of Mississippi State University or the State of Mississippi or either of the races.

Narrator: But while officials opposed the team playing against black players, the public supported the action.

Messages of support flooded Colvard's office from alumni and citizens across the state.

Joe Dan Gold: I had a professor, an English professor who I had as a freshmen.

He stopped me on campus one day; and he said, "Joe Dan," said "don't worry about -- tell the boys not to worry about whether you will get to use public money or not."

He said, "We have enough private pledges that if Coach McCarthy and Dr. Colvard want to go to the tournament, then you'll be able to go."

Narrator: Dr. Colvard quietly secured donations from local banks to circumvent the anticipated legal objection to using state funds for the trip.

Local businesses in Starkville declared their support for the team in newspaper ads.

Students petitioned and marched in support of the NCAA outing.

Doug Hutton: But I would have to say that 99 percent of our student body now was fully behind sending us to the tournament, and they let Dr. Colvard know that.

Narrator: On March 9, the College Board voted 8-3 to allow the 6th rank Bulldogs to participate in the tournament.

They passed a vote of confidence in Dr. Colvard by a margin of 9-2.

Just when it looked like things would go smoothly, two state senators decide to put an end to State's season; and the unwritten rule came out in the open.

William Winter: On the afternoon of the showdown, Robert Walker, minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Starkville, who was a good friend of mine, Bob called me in my office and told me what was going on at the college and that they were concerned about what Governor Barnett was going to do.

He asked me if I had any connections that would enable me to find out behind the scenes what the plans were in the governor's office.

So I called around, and I found to my dismay that the governor and those advising him were intent on doing whatever they could to forestall the departure of the Mississippi State team to East Lansing, Michigan.

Narrator: State Senator Billy Mitts and former Senator B. W. Lawson filed a request in Chance Recordon Union [phonetic], some 75 miles southwest of the campus for an injunction, prohibiting the team from leaving the state.

The judge granted the injunction.

A last-minute hurdle was thrown into the fray.

While State College Board and MSU officials hoped to dissolve the injunction, Dr. Colvard, Athletic Director Wade Walker, and Coach Babe McCarthy decided to leave town late the night of March 13.

Colvard drove east to Alabama.

McCarthy and Walker headed north, first to Memphis, then on to Nashville to avoid any encounters with law enforcement.

Joe Dan Gold: I do remember the president and vice president leaving and Coach McCarthy and Coach Walker, Wade Walker, the AD, getting out of town.

Doug Hutton: Because we thought the injunction would probably be made out against one of them.

Narrator: Meanwhile the plan was hatched to ensure that the team could leave Starkville without incident the morning of March 14.

Jackie Wofford: It was in Leland's room where we sat and talked and planned and said what are we going to do, what if, so I think at some point early that evening all the guys began to say, hey, let's get our bags packed.

And I'm not so sure that the guys would not have gone had they not been able to get there.

I don't know that Leland or Joe Dan might have actually been the coach there.

If they had been prevented, I think the Mississippi State basketball team was going.

Leland Mitchell: It was decided that the team would split up into two teams, actually, the first six players, first team and the sixth man would stay behind; and the other players would go to the airport first.

Red Stroud: We snuck out early one morning.

Our trainer, Dutch Lutzsinger [phonetic], took part of the team over to the airport.

Jackie Wofford: A certain group of us -- I'll say we -- and I was in that group that we was going to go first.

We were honestly expecting to be arrested.

That's really what we thought would happen.

Aubrey Nichols: The alternate was to fly out of a little private airport out of Starkville, between Mayhew and Starkville.

Doug Hutton: And then when they got out there, they called the rest of us; and we hustled out there and got on the plane.

Man: The plane was out there waiting for us.

I sort of had hope that we were going to be able to get on there and go at that time.

Aubrey Nichols: And even the point in time when we took off from the airport, the big yell, it was like we were cheerleaders because we were excited about being able to get off the ground.

Stan Brinker: When wheels up, that was a happy time, yes.

Because we always had that feeling that, you know, we're just not going to make it.

You know, aren't going to make it.

But we did.

Cool.

Narrator: Later that afternoon after the team had left, the Mississippi Supreme Court suspended the court order.

The Bulldogs were legally cleared to play in the tournament.

The team plane stopped in Nashville to get McCarthy and Walker and proceeded on to East Lansing, Michigan, the site of their opening round game.

The uncertainty of the court order, the political intrigue of the previous two weeks, combined with the state's racial reputation led to wild speculation about whether the team from Mississippi would make it to the game.

Doug Hutton: As we were getting off the plane, there were photographers everywhere and reporters; and they begin to tell us of the different stories that we heard that you were arrested and the whole team was put in jail before you took off; that after you got in flight, that you were sent back home.

Aubrey Nichols: As we arrived there was contingent of people waiting at the airport for us, local people who were cheering us on and were very pleased we had made the move we had.

Stan Brinker: There was a good -- there was a good crowd.

It was a totally unexpected for me, I didn't expect anybody to be there.

Aubrey Nichols: Comment was made several times that we feel like we're playing on our home court.

When we hit the court for the first ballgame against Loyola, as I recall, the Mississippi State fight song was the only fight song that was played by the local band there as the teams hit the court.

[ Music ] Narrator: State would face Loyola of Chicago in the tournament.

The Ramblers had endured their own drama en route to the tournament.

The team started four black players, in an era where minority participation in major college basketball was scarce.

They experienced a variety of racial incidents on their way to a regular season record of 24 wins and 2 losses.

Loyola dispatched their first round foe, Tennessee Tech, 111-42.

They would meet State in the second round.

Jackie Wofford: As we talked to some of the Loyola guys, they didn't know if we had arrived, who they would have played; and in terms, if we would even get there, whether we would have 6 or whether we would have 12.

But when we got there and we -- we practiced.

And when we came out on the floor that night, they played "Hail State," I mean, it just kind of, should I say sent chills up your -- up your spine.

Narrator: The game was played March 15, in front of 12,000 spectators in Michigan State University's Jenison Field House.

The pregame handshake between MSU's Joe Dan Gold and Loyola's captain Jerald Harkness was historic.

Jerry Harkness: When Joe Dan Gold and I, the two captains meet at half court, I look him in the eye; and he looks me in the eye.

And he gave me a little grin.

And I almost felt him saying, "We made it and we are glad to be here to play against you guys."

Joe Dan ld: When we walked out there and were shaking hands, just it seemed like heaven.

It just seemed like it all lit up out there with everybody taking pictures of it.

Jerry Harkness: I got startled a little bit, and then I got warm inside; and I realized, this is more than a game.

I -- at that time I said this is history.

Aubrey Nichols: That was probably a fairly significant moment in time.

I think all we were thinking is throw the ball up and let's get it underway.

Narrator: State opened the game with a 7-0 lead; but Loyola caught up midway through the first half.

Aubrey Nichols: Coach McCarthy felt like it was time for us to slow the tempo down a little bit.

We did, and it didn't take but about five minutes for them to catch up.

And we -- we never seemed to recover after that.

Gold: They came back, and I think they were up probably eight or ten at half.

And just pretty much the second half was about a break even half.

Narrator: State go as close as 30-27, but Loyola stretched out another 10-point lead.

With about 11 minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs made a final run and brought the score to within 3 at 41-38.

Doug Hutton: It was a down to the wire game until Leland Mitchell, who was undoubtedly our best all-around player, fouled out with about four minutes to go; and that kind of, you know, sealed our fate.

Narrator: State fought hard.

They lost the game 61-51.

Jerry Harkness: Well-played, two hard-four teams, close game, and closer than people thought it would be; and had all the respect in the world for the guys.

Doug Hutton: I don't think there was anything ever said on the floor, you know, among the players at all.

You could have never asked for a better played game.

They played hard.

We played hard.

Shows: One thing I will say is we had already played our game before we got there.

The emotional drainage that came from us in not knowing, yes you are; no, you're not; yes, you are, it really worked on us.

Nichols: I think we could have won on any given night.

They had a great ball club, had some good all-Americans on that ball club; and I thinkl that year, as they did.

Narrator: The Ramblers advanced on to ultimately win the title.

The Loyola squad made its own history by becoming the first team with black starters to claim the basketball national championship.

The Bulldogs went on to place third in the regional by defeating Bowling Green 65-60, despite the loss of Joe Dan Gold, who had broken a finger against Loyola.

[ Music ] The team returned to a hero's welcome with more than 1,000 fans greeting them when they arrived back in Starkville.

The team that had to leave town in the cloak of secrecy was celebrated in the open.

Aubrey Nichols: The people had met us at the airport, super people, just happy that we had played as well as with did.

Everybody was a little bit sad that we didn't beat Loyola; but, you know, that's the way it goes.

Bobby Shows: I think the important part was the fact that we were able to do something to support what some folks here in the state believed in, and that is, that everybody was equal and we ought to be able to go play.

Stan Brinker: I didn't expect public eye because we lost, but it was like we won when we got back and I guess for the -- for the state, we did it, we won; and it's a good deal.

That's something that needed to be done.

Mississippi needed to move up.

[ Music ] Narrator: The significance of the MSU Loyola game resonated for years to come.

Integration at Mississippi State became a peaceful reality, with the admission of Richard Holmes in 1965, a stark contrast to the unrest occurring in the state earlier in the '60s.

On December 1, 2003, MSU hired Sylvester Croom to head its football program.

The hiring was a landmark event, as it marked the first time an African American was selected to head a Southeastern Conference football program.

Once again, the eyes of the nation were on Mississippi State as it made history.

Croom: The other thing I want to make sure that everybody understands, I am the first African American coach in the SEC, but there ain't but one color that matters here; and that color is maroon.

[ Applause ] Narrator: Fifty years later, 23% of the enrollment at Mississippi State is African American, a percentage that leads the SEC.

The next closest institution checks in at 17%, most are languishing in single digits.

It's a tangible legacy of Colvard and McCarthy's courageous decision that helped lead towards racial equality.

Aubrey Nichols: Mississippi gets a lot of bad press -- got a lot of bad press back then.

When that happens, you tend to overlook the good press that's out there, the good people that are doing the right things.

And I think the activities that we've just described, the '63 trip to East Lansing, Michigan, probably was something that focused on the good press out there.

It focused on the good people and the people who wanted to do the right things.

Van Chancellor: We proved it on the basketball court that color doesn't matter.

Nothing matters.

If you can play the game, you play the game.

Jackie Wofford: It enabled Mississippi State University to get beyond color as a defining factor, whether it's in jobs, whether it's in coaching, whatever it might be.

And I saw that.

Now, we still have some problems.

There's still some of the old mentality there.

Kyle Veazey: It is Mississippi at its best in an era in which Mississippi was too often at its worse.

It was the first time that average Mississippians could see folks that were like them, folks they could identify with, 19-, 20-, 21-year old kids, and Babe McCarthy, who they loved, they could see them doing the right thing.

And so it was no longer a governor, a state legislature, or John Kennedy, or Bobby Kennedy.

It was none that.

It was guys that were from towns that they were from.

So I think it personalized it on a level that I think made it very significant.

[music] Narrator: But the story doesn't end there.

What was once a little-known historical footnote blossomed into a well-known story of courage.

Almost 50 years after the two teams met in East Lansing, Michigan, they took the floor again, this time on campus at Loyola.

Much had changed since that historical game.

State's new coach, Rick Ray, is the school's first minority to head the program.

The once all-white team has a starting line-up composed of African American young men from around the south.

Rick Ray: You hear the name "Mississippi," and you always think about negative connotations with race relations; and now you got a situation where you can teach the younger guys about, like, Mississippi State having a positive effect on the game of basketball and race relations.

And the thing that's a story to me is that it's not a story, and that's how much progress we've actually made.

Rick Cleveland: When people sitting in the stands can look down there and see African Americans and Caucasians playing together and both of them making each other better, it tells you something.

And I mean, it's played an important role in Mississippi.

Well, I'd like to think that maybe us going to the tournament improved race relations as well as speeding up integration of our athletic teams in colleges.

Narrator: Those original players were there that December night in Chicago, soaking up the cheers and accolades about their part in one of the most important basketball games in colgiate sports history.

[applause] And a hand shake at half court between the champion of Mississippi State Joe Dan Gold and the champion of Loyola, the great Jerry Harkness will always live in American History.

[applause] Narrator: After all the cheers and celebrations, the echoes from that one night in March still ring true.

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