Loyola of Chicago, an underdog in this year’s NCAA basketball tourney, was loved by almost everyone, and many were saddened when they were defeated in the semifinals. Their run this year brought back some of my memories from 1963, when they were the NCAA Champions.

In 1963 in the championship game Loyola was a slight underdog (they had only lost two games) to Cincinnati, who was trying to be the first team to win three consecutive championships. The Loyola starters, four of whom were African-Americans, played the entire game, which made the win even more remarkable. I like that team for another reason; all nine players on the team graduated and later were to earn twelve post-graduate degrees, including a law degree and a Ph.D. (Vic Rouse, who made the winning, last second shot in overtime of the championship game). They were a great team, and one of their players, Jerry Harkness was a consensus All-American. There’s more to this feel-good story, however.

To get to the final four Loyola had defeated a very good Mississippi State team in the Mideast Regional. Mississippi State had qualified for the NCAA tournament the two previous years, but had been forbidden to go by the State of Mississippi, because they would likely have to play an integrated team. In 1963 they were again forbidden to participate by Governor Ross Barnett, who made a number of rabid public statements; a Mississippi State court also issued an injunction. The team had to use subterfuge (with the full support of the University administration) to sneak out of town and avoid the service of the injunction.

The Mississippi State – Loyola game was hard fought, but also was a model of sportsmanship and mutual respect. There were handshakes both before and after the game, and a picture of Joe Dan Gold shaking hands at mid-court with Jerry Harkness appeared in newspapers all around the country (except possibly in Mississippi). Harkness later said that he realized that history was being made when he saw all the camera flashes during the hand shake. In future years Gold and Harkness would become good friends. Many feel that this game was a tipping point in the struggle to integrate college sports teams and an important positive contribution to the civil rights movement.

There is one more uplifting part of the Loyola story, and that is their present-day chaplain, Sister Jean. It has been wonderful to see the loving relationship between this 98 year old nun and the team. To see how bright and articulate she is, gives me hope as I continue to age, and the way she expresses her Christian faith is a model that I will try to emulate. What a witness! Uplifting stories like that of the Loyola-Mississippi State game and witnesses like Sister Jean helps me remember the unconditional way God loves YOU and me.

Jim