By Woodrow Carroll
It’s a week that sports fans especially relish. And, we are talking about the first week of the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament.
A total of 68 teams have earned a spot in this season’s men’s tournament. From the time the first men’s final took place in 1939, and it was Northwestern University which was host to that initial tournament, you knew that the tournament was likely to grow in size as the tournament caught on. And, it did!
First, a bit of historical perspective for you!
In 1963, the championship game of the Illinois boy’s state basketball tournament between Chicago Carver and Centralia was carried live on Chicago television. The NCAA title game between Chicago Loyola and Cincinnati, while being played about the same time, was shown tape delayed. And, if you managed to view both games, you saw a couple of memorable contests.
Chicago Carver beat Centralia, 53-52, for the Illinois Boy’s Championship. With Carver trailing 52-51 with seconds remaining, Carver coach, Larry Hawkins, put in 5’7” sophomore, Anthony Smedley, with instructions to make something happen. And, Smedley did! Smedley forced his man into a turnover, then took a shot that hit nothing but net. Centralia was stunned and, seconds later, Carver reigned as State champion.
The 1963 NCAA Men’s Championship contest between Cincinnati and Chicago Loyola was just as exciting as the high school final, if not more so.
One thing to keep in mind was the number of teams in the 1963 NCAA Men’s Tournament. As mentioned, the tournament is now comprised of 68 schools. Back in 1963, the number of entrants was 25. It took fewer games to win at all!
However, the competition consisted of mostly conference champions usually making for stern opposition. Cincinnati was champion of the Missouri Valley Conference while Loyola was an at-large entrant.
But, before Cincinnati and Loyola squared off, the Loyola Ramblers, who were coached by former Marmion head basketball coach, George Ireland, had to face an all-white Mississippi State team.
It was an era where Civil Rights was at the forefront, and basketball was no different. Teams typically played no more than two black players at a time, but Loyola had four black starters. To make matters more difficult, Mississippi had an unwritten law that Mississippi teams would never play against black players. Because of that, they had never participated in the NCAA tournament.
When Mississippi State announced that their team would head to the NCAA tournament against Loyola, several state officials objected and attempted keep the team in the state. However Mississippi State had a clever plan involving decoy players and took a charter plane to Michigan the day before the game.
The game was played at Michigan State’s Jensen Fieldhouse in East Lansing, Mich. and game went without incident, and the Loyola Ramblers won, 61-51.
In the area of curious circumstances, the Illinois high school boy’s basketball finals were played at the newly-constructed Assembly Hall on the University of Illinois campus in Champaign. In 1963, the Fighting Illini represented the Big Ten Conference in the NCAA Tournament, and, as you might imagine, Loyola and Illinois ended up facing each other with Loyola the victor, 79-64.
The men’s NCAA title affair in 1963 was played in Louisville, Kentucky. In semifinal play, Loyola dispatched Oregon State while Cincinnati beat Duke to bring about the title game.
In the championship game between Cincinnati and Loyola, Cincinnati, which had bested Ohio State in the two previous title games, had things seemingly under control midway through the second half, and held a 15-point advantage. Then the Ramblers awoke!
Loyola chipped away at the Cincy lead. At the buzzer ending regulation, the two sides were tied.
Looking for a hero? For Loyola, it was Vic Rouse, who put back a missed shot at the buzzer ending overtime to give the Ramblers a 60-58 victory.
Since the 1963 Season, Loyola has fielded some very solid teams. But, none the equal of the 1962-1963 team!