Sixty years ago, Mississippi State University’s basketball team acted on the moral strength of its head coach, James Harrison “Babe” McCarthy, and competed in the college basketball postseason tournament, better known today as “March Madness.”
Those “Maroons” — by which MSU teams were known until later in the 1960s, when “Bulldogs” became their main nickname — didn’t win the often-called “Game of Change” on March 15, 1963, but their appearance signaled that segregation would no longer rule intercollegiate athletics in Mississippi.
The MSU team and that game deserve all the recognition in the name of civil and human rights that has been accorded them through these many years. One such commemoration came recently during halftime of a home game in Humphrey Coliseum. Team members Doug Hutton, Larry Lee, Aubrey Nichols and Jackie Wofford were present and received deserved acknowledgment.
There no doubt will be further recognition of the 1963 contest as this year advances. A 60-year anniversary of such an epic event cannot and must not be overlooked.
However, another Mississippi State team in 1956, led by standout players Bailey Howell and Jim Ashmore had certifiably broken the racial barrier as it pertained to major college athletics in this state.
On Dec. 28, 1956, in a Christmas tournament hosted by the University of Evansville in Indiana, State defeated the University of Denver team, whose roster included several Black members. This raised such a ruckus in Mississippi, due to an unwritten state law banning interracial play, that McCarthy and the Maroons pulled out and headed home. Ole Miss, also entered, left before playing a game.
I have long known about and admired Mississippi State’s 1963 team, but I was only vaguely aware of that barrier-crashing team until being refreshed by historian Jason Peterson’s 2016 book, “Full Court Press.”
Few Mississippi sports fans could ever forget what happened seven years later.
McCarthy’s Bulldogs had captured or tied for SEC championships in the 1958-59, 1960-61 and 1961-62 seasons, earning bids to the national tournament. Each time following the regular season, the coach and university officials acquiesced to the informal law and rejected the invitation.
McCarthy would have none of it after State won the SEC championship outright in 1962-63 with 22-6 overall and 12-2 SEC records. The NCAA bid came again and McCarthy and his team on March 13, 1963, defied a temporary injunction against leaving the state for the tournament.
Under the cover of night and armed with an intrepid spirit, the coach hauled the Bulldogs to East Lansing, Mich., where they lost 61-51 to eventual NCAA champion Loyola of Chicago.
The MSU coach put it right afterward on the issue of race. “The color didn’t make any difference .... it wasn’t important,” McCarthy said, according to the book. Thank you, Coach, for explaining the way of the world to the many critics, inside and outside the state, who were so consumed by divisive racial discourse.
I believe the joint decision by MSU President Dean W. Colvard and McCarthy to allow the championship team, led by players such as Leland Mitchell, Doug Hutton, Red Stroud, Joe Dan Gold, Stan Brinker and Aubrey Nichols, to play on after winning a fourth SEC title is near the apex of momentous sports events in Mississippi history.
McCarthy has long been my singular sports hero. The Baldwyn native coached at State for 10 years, following service in the Air Force. At MSU, he compiled a record of 169-85 and was SEC Coach of the Year three times.
Mississippi State University has enjoyed many fine hours in the pursuit of college athletics, but Babe McCarthy’s dauntless act in 1963 tops them all.
