Congratulates Coach George Ireland and the 1963 Loyola University Chicago men's basketball championship team on their induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Honors the 50th anniversary of such championship and the athletic and civil rights achievements of the team.
Honors the 1963 Mississippi State University men's basketball team for their bravery and sportsmanship in rejecting racism and aiding in the civil rights movement in Mississippi and the southeastern United States.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 194 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 194
Congratulating the 1963 men's basketball team of Loyola University
Chicago on its induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall
of Fame, the 50th anniversary of the team's Division I National
Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball championship, and the
team's historic NCAA tournament game against Mississippi State
University.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 10, 2013
Mr. Kirk (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Cochran, and Mr. Wicker)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Congratulating the 1963 men's basketball team of Loyola University
Chicago on its induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall
of Fame, the 50th anniversary of the team's Division I National
Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball championship, and the
team's historic NCAA tournament game against Mississippi State
University.
Whereas, in 1963, Coach George Ireland led the men's basketball team of Loyola
University Chicago (referred to in this preamble as the ``Ramblers'') to
the Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (referred to in
this preamble as the ``NCAA'') men's basketball championship;
Whereas the Ramblers lost only 2 games during the 1962-1963 season and led the
Nation in scoring with an average of 91.8 points per game;
Whereas Coach Ireland and the Loyola University men's basketball teams of the
early 1960s are considered by many to be responsible for ushering in a
new era of racial equality in the sport by shattering major racial
barriers in NCAA men's basketball;
Whereas, in 1963, the Ramblers shocked the Nation and changed college basketball
forever by starting 4 African-American players in the NCAA tournament,
as well as the championship game;
Whereas it is difficult to appreciate what Coach Ireland and his team went
through, starting in 1961, in breaking what had been a longstanding
``gentleman's agreement'' to play not more than 3 African-American
players;
Whereas, during the 1962-1963 season, Coach Ireland started 4 African-American
players in every game, and, in December 1962, the Ramblers became the
first team in NCAA Division I history to have an all-African-American
lineup in a game against the University of Wyoming;
Whereas, despite their success during the 1962-1963 season, the players and
Coach Ireland endured terrible bigotry, including racial taunts and
abuse, and received countless pieces of hate mail from the Ku Klux Klan
and other racist individuals, and all the while Coach Ireland tried to
shield his team in every way possible;
Whereas the men's basketball team of Mississippi State University (referred to
in this preamble as the ``Maroons'' and now called the ``Bulldogs'') won
its second consecutive southeastern conference championship in 1963, but
had been forced by the Governor of Mississippi not to accept NCAA
tournament bids in the 3 previous seasons because of the inclusion of
African-American players in the tournament;
Whereas, before advancing to the championship round, the Ramblers participated
in the NCAA Midwest regional semifinal against the Maroons, a landmark
game often referred to half a century later as the ``Game of Change'';
Whereas Mississippi State University president Dean Colvard and athletic
director and men's basketball coach James Harrison ``Babe'' McCarthy
bravely accepted the Maroons' 1963 NCAA tournament invitation against
the wishes of the Governor of Mississippi;
Whereas, determined to play in the regional semifinal, the Maroons snuck out of
Mississippi in the middle of the night to avoid an injunction, and the
integrated Ramblers and the all-white Maroons met on the basketball
court at Michigan State University on March 15, 1963;
Whereas, with police surrounding the sports complex in East Lansing, Michigan,
the Ramblers went on to defeat the Maroons in a competitive game by a
score of 61 to 51 in the regional semifinal, a game that changed race
relations on the basketball court forever and was selected by the NCAA
in 2006 as one of the 25 defining moments in the first 100 years of the
organization;
Whereas the Ramblers went on to win games against the University of Illinois and
Duke University before defeating the 2-time defending NCAA champion
University of Cincinnati in overtime by a score of 60 to 58, the
crowning achievement in Loyola University Chicago's nearly decade-long
struggle with racial inequality in men's college basketball, highlighted
by the tumultuous events of the 1963 NCAA tournament;
Whereas the Ramblers' 1963 NCAA title was historic not only for the racial
makeup of the Ramblers, but also because the University of Cincinnati
had started 3 African-American players, making 7 of the 10 starters in
the 1963 NCAA championship game African-American;
Whereas the city of Chicago has many storied sports teams, but the Ramblers
basketball team of 1963 and Coach Ireland hold an exalted place because
they are the only NCAA Division I Illinois basketball team to win a
national championship and because they paved the way for the long
overdue integration of races in college basketball before the enactment
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-352; 78 Stat. 241);
Whereas all 5 starting players from the national championship game graduated
from Loyola University with a degree, and several went on to earn
advanced degrees in law and business;
Whereas the journey of the Ramblers is not just the story of an underdog team
overcoming great odds to beat the favored team from the University of
Cincinnati, a much larger basketball program that held the number 1
ranking and had won the previous 2 national championships;
Whereas the real significance of Coach Ireland and the Ramblers is the lasting
impact of their bravery in breaking the racial barrier in college
basketball that had been allowed to prevail for decades; and
Whereas the 2013 Hall of Fame induction season will mark the 50th anniversary of
the 1963 Ramblers' basketball championship, making the 1963 Ramblers the
first whole team ever to be honored in the Hall of Fame: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) congratulates Coach George Ireland and the 1963 Loyola
University Chicago men's basketball championship team on their
induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame;
(2) honors the 50th anniversary of the historic Division I
National Collegiate Athletic Association championship of the
Loyola University Chicago men's basketball team and the
profound athletic and civil rights achievements of the 1963
team; and
(3) honors the 1963 Mississippi State University men's
basketball team for their bravery and sportsmanship in
rejecting racism and aiding in the civil rights movement in the
State of Mississippi and the southeastern United States.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text of measure as introduced: CR S5622)
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