All language subtitles for The.Loyola.Project.2022.1080p.WEB.h264-RUMOUR

They call it
March Madness for a reason.

And every tournament is better
with an underdog, right?

The hottest thing
in Chicago sports right now

isn't the Cubs, the Sox, the
Bulls, or the Blackhawks.

Here comes
the player of the year

of the MVC, he rises, oh!

It's the Loyola
Ramblers.

And the dream is
alive!

But our journey
was more important

than the buzzer beaters.

Townes for three,
yes!

With every round we
advanced,

we were reminded of our past.

Away we go,

Loyola Chicago controls the tip.

Egan, Egan to Harkness,
turnaround jumper's good.

Jerry made his first basket,
he made it, he might do it.

When you study the
early days of basketball,

Loyola Chicago sticks out.

The youth of America, they need
to know

what that generation went
through,

and they need to carry the
baton.

Jerry Harkness was the captain

of that Loyola team and joins us
now.

What a pleasure it is to meet
you, sir.

It's a pleasure to be here.

Custer looking
for help, gets it, Williamson.

My name is Lucas
Williamson.

I was a freshman in 2018
when the Loyola Ramblers

made it to the Final Four,

for the first time in 55 years.

We were always told how
the '63 team made history,

but it was in the forgotten
details

that I found a deeper
connection.

My absolute
and unshakeable stance

for segregation of the
races at all levels.

Go home, nigger.

This is not 200 years ago.

These are our fathers and our
grandfathers

that have gone through this.

This was more than a
game, this was history.

It's time the rest of
the world

hears their whole story,

about those who changed the
game,

by playing it their way.

The story of any great
team begins with the coach.

And in this case, a day
he would never forget.

It is very hard for me to
think back to that day in 1959.

I was in nursing school at
Loyola.

And I came out of class the one
day,

and it was just a regular
kind of autumn day.

My dad was George Ireland.

He was the Loyola
University basketball coach.

There was something
different about Dad that day.

I don't know if something
happened at practice, at school,

but I walked over towards Dad's
office

and I looked up and I thought,

"Well, what on Earth can that
be?"

And it was a hanging effigy of
my father.

I thought, "How could
someone do that to my dad?"

There were chants,
"Get rid of Ireland."

"We need a new coach."

Those students were totally
unhappy.

They wanted him out.

His job was in jeopardy
because he was losing.

We played hard, but we
didn't have a lot of talent.

He had to start bringing new
players in.

George Ireland had to
confront all this stuff.

He knew if he kept going
the way he was going,

he was done as a coach.

The one thing about basketball

is all you need is that
backboard and hoop, and a ball.

In cities where there's a big
population,

not much space, well,
it's the perfect game.

The best players in the
country were from Harlem.

They were playing a style of
basketball

that was up-tempo and
fast-paced.

One of the best ways

that I've heard it described

is the old school basketball
was played on the floor

and modern basketball
was played in the air.

It felt like the early
style of basketball

was like some sort of
exercise in calisthenics.

You know, people stretching

and there wasn't very
much athleticism to it.

George Ireland was
losing, teams weren't very good.

We're playing staid,
feet-in-the-mud-in-concrete
basketball.

And it's time to change.

These black players were
changing the game

and they were making it so
exciting.

This was a time when
superstars
were heavily recruited.

Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar
Robertson,

everybody knew who these guys
were,

a lot of coaches wanted them.

But for the next tier of players
down,

black guys who were merely
excellent basketball players,

nobody wanted them.

For the black athlete, the
landscape

of these kids playing
on university campuses

or in the NBA just wasn't there.

George Ireland was thinking
about job security.

He just wanted to win and
he didn't care who you were.

My father, Jerry Harkness,
was born in Harlem, New York.

And he lived in very harsh
conditions in the projects.

He's ultra competitive,
and I've always wondered

where did that competitive
drive come from?

The resilience?

As a child in the
1940s,

Jerry remembers his own father

returning home from the war a
hero.

But the fanfare faded, and soon

he was just a young black
man trying to build a life.

He did everything to try to
get work.

The more Italian and Irish come
in,

the less work he would have.

He could not take that
pressure and he left us.

My mom was a go-getter,

and she pretty much had
to be when my dad left.

And I could see her really
trying to keep it all together.

The financial
stress was overwhelming.

At one point, his mother
had a mental breakdown

and admitted herself
into Bellevue Hospital.

When she got out, I
looked her in the eyes.

I knew that we were gonna be all
right.

She said, "I'm gonna get a
job, we're gonna make it.

We're not gonna depend on
anybody but the three of us."

To see her go through
what she went through,

I said, "If she can do things
like that, I can make it."

Young Jerry
loved playing basketball

on the streets of Harlem,
but he never figured

he was good enough to
make his high school team.

To him, the game was an escape.

And when he'd save up a quarter,

he'd go practice alone at the Y.

I could still see myself
bouncing back and forth,

and then going up for the shot,

saying "Good, we win."

All of a sudden, a guy
hit me on my shoulder,

and he said, "Hey, you're pretty
good."

My eyes got wide, my mouth
jumped open.

It was my hero,

Jackie Robinson.

So when a guy like that
tells me I'm not that bad,

maybe he's right.

I said, "I'm going out for the
team."

My coach, he asked me,
"Are you set for college?"

I said, "No, I don't have any
offer."

He said, "We're gonna work on
that."

George Ireland was coming up to
Harlem

to watch the ball players.

My coach told him, "There's a
guy here

that doesn't have the
recognition

the other players have because
he only played one year.

Why don't you give him a
chance?"

So I was trying to impress this
guy

like he was the man that had my
future,

because this was pretty
much my last chance.

If I don't get this, I'm
finished.

And that was the
beginning of Jerry Harkness.

With Jerry joining the
Ramblers,

Coach Ireland developed a
whole new vision for his team.

Jerry was a speedster.

My father was a great track
athlete

prior to becoming a basketball
player.

We had to run two
miles every day before practice

because of Harkness,
because he loved running.

I remember one coach said,
"Put the ball on the floor.

Now pick it up. Jerry Harkness
just scored a bucket."

Jerry was kind of in command.

You could see the growth
that was happening.

And that was the
best season he had had

in about five or six
years, that saved him.

And then we came along.

Ireland took me to a St.
Rita's game.

And I'm looking at the game and
I said,

"I know why he got me here."

He didn't tell me who he was
scouting,

but I was looking at these
brothers,

the center and the forward.

They were 6-10, they were tough.

At the end of the game, he said,

"What did you think of the
little guard?"

I was from St. Rita's high
school, born in Chicago.

I loved basketball
because I was good at it.

I said to myself, "This
guy's not a ball player."

I was wrong about that.

Don't let Jack
Egan's size fool you.

He's incredibly athletic.

Jack Egan is no nonsense.

He knows what he wants
and he is going to get it.

And it's important

that you are not gonna be
intimidated.

I needed some physical
contact with the other team

even though it was basketball.

I think I was fouled more
often than anybody else.

Les Hunter and Vic Rouse

both came from Nashville,
Tennessee.

I've heard Vic and Les be
referred to as a package deal.

Mr. Ireland did not recruit
Les Hunter,

he recruited Vic Rouse.

Vic Rouse said to him,
"If I come to your school,

can Les come with us?"

He said, "Of course."

He didn't realize he had a
diamond.

Les Hunter may have
been

the most talented player on the
team.

Vic and Les were the
bigs.

They brought that
menacing athletic height.

Ronnie Miller came from New
York,

a very similar area that
my father came from.

When coach met my mother the
first time,

he completely ignored me.

He promised that any kid
that went to his school

for four years would graduate.

George Ireland gave his
sales pitch to the parents,

not to the kid.

The kid's looking to
play big time basketball,

he probably wasn't gonna
go to Loyola University.

I was probably
the best defensive player

on the team, so I could guard
someone

that was bigger than me.

You had a group of
extremely talented freshmen.

I had never played

with such talented
players before in my life.

I knew we had something
special.

We lost one game as freshmen.

And the word kinda spread
throughout college basketball

that Loyola had this
excellent freshmen class.

Well, we move up to the varsity,

the reality of big-time
basketball

kinda hit me in the
face for the first time.

There was an unwritten
rule

that racialized who played.

How many black players can be
played

on the court at one time?

One at home, two when you're
away,

and three when you're in a
pinch,

you need that little extra
oomph.

And it's not written anywhere.

It's just kind of what the
coaches knew.

The coaches, if they
didn't

wanna put black players on the
floor,

they wouldn't have recruited
them to begin with.

But American higher education
was overwhelmingly segregated.

Your student body is 98% white,

the faculty is 99% white,

the alumni are 99 1/2% white.

How many black guys can
you put on the floor

to represent this lily white
institution

before you're gonna run into
blowback?

How far could they go?

I value my job, I value my
reputation,

so I'm not going to push the
system.

I wonder how many coaches

were just simply complying
with the status quo.

Coach Ireland was
careful.

He'd bend the rule, but never
break it.

He consistently played three
black starters at a time,

but fearing the reaction of
fans and university donors,

he never played a fourth.

How George Ireland
played us was when Jerry

or Les Hunter would be in foul
trouble,

or needed a break, I would
go in for one of them.

So I played, but I was
not allowed to start.

And he'd follow that the whole
year.

These athletes were
marginalized

and they didn't have the same
privileges

as their white teammates did.

And it was openly practiced.

It was openly practiced,
and we didn't have any laws

to protect individuals
from this kind of behavior.

In the North, Jim Crow
segregation was practiced,

it was an unspoken rule, but not
the law.

But Jim Crow was the law in the
South.

My absolute and unshakeable
stance

for segregation of the
races at all levels.

Ross Barnett was
the governor of Mississippi

at the time, rabid
segregationist.

You gotta understand,
Mississippi

was incredibly racially
volatile.

If you even suggested something

that included integration,
it could be life-threatening.

It was that bad.

In his fight
to preserve segregation

in the early 1960s, Governor
Barnett

made a special target out of
state sports,

denouncing any competition
between white and black
athletes.

One team falling under his rule

were the Mississippi State
Bulldogs,

led by Coach Babe McCarthy.

For three of the previous four
seasons,

Mississippi State won
the SEC Championship,

earning a spot in the NCAA
tournament.

And each time, Coach
McCarthy did as he was told

by the Governor and turned it
down.

We grew up doing what
we were told to do.

To not be able to go to the
tournament,

the attitude of some of the
guys was, why do we even play?

We only wanted to go for one
reason,

and that was to compete and
be the best we could be.

When you think about
Mississippi,

you have to remember that
the world was different.

The country was different.

And we had to deal with
things differently.

Racism in sports was not a new
thing,

it was a part of the life that
we lived.

In 2001, I was a grad student
at Loyola

as a oral historian, and I
started talking to the players,

and I started hearing
about their experiences.

And I tied that into the context

of what was happening in
Chicago,

because Chicago was then and is
now,

quite a segregated city.

What was it like for these guys?

One of the most surprising
things that I have found out,

is things that were going on
in the minds of my teammates

that I did not know was
going on in their mind then.

In particular, someone
who I'm very close to,

Jerry Harkness.

When I first met him,
he was very standoffish.

For more than a year,
we had no relationship

other than on the basketball
court.

If he was in the locker room,
I wouldn't acknowledge him.

Jack Egan actually played
my mother's high school

in basketball, which was a black
team.

And the kids from St. Rita
treated my mom's school
terribly.

She told me
that St. Rita's was racist

and they would throw garbage
cans at you.

I just drew a conclusion on him
early on.

I grew up in a
neighborhood that was all white.

It was mostly Irish, Polish and
Italian.

Marquette Park was
known as the neighborhood

that most vehemently resisted
the housing initiatives

that Martin Luther King
came to Chicago to promote.

It was a place where
blacks were not welcome.

You could be chased down and
even beaten.

I've been
in many demonstrations

all across the South, but I can
say

that I have never seen,

even in Mississippi and Alabama,

mobs as hostile and as
hate-filled

as I'm seeing in Chicago.

When I would go home
from Loyola University

to go back to my neighborhood
on the Southside,

a lot of my friends had
the same kind of notion

that the black players
on the team needed me

because I was the brains of the
outfit.

You know who is? Les Hunter.

There's always been
stereotypes about black athletes

that they are all athlete,
very little smarts.

African American players were
described

as tremendous athletes, you
know, a physical specimen.

Whereas a lot of the white
players

were described as crafty, smart.

You didn't have to be that aware
to know

what they were trying to say.

Of all the players
at the center of this story,

I never had the chance to
meet Les Hunter or Vic Rouse.

Vic died in 1999 and Les passed
away

during the making of this film.

In many ways, Les and Vic
embodied Loyola at their best.

Les was the team's top player
and Vic was their top student.

And when Les missed a shot,
Vic was there to tip it in.

For me, team chemistry is
everything,

but you have to earn that trust.

That was true for Jack and
Jerry, but in Les and Vic,

the Ramblers always had
an example to follow.

The program had been
under fire.

I saw an opportunity to be
a part of the resurgence.

You have Loyola that no one

had ever paid attention to
before.

If we're going to compete
nationally,

what we have to do is get past
race.

We weren't ranked, we weren't
a team

that people were looking at.

We were an independent school,

so we weren't the preseason
pick for anything.

In the 1961, '62
season,

Ireland no longer had to
rely on Jerry's speed alone.

Now, his whole team could run.

Almost immediately
we developed this style

of a rebound, a pass and a
basket.

Get down and score before the
defense

had a chance to set up.

That's all it was.

And that's run-and-gun
basketball.

Ireland believed in playing
his starters a long time.

In the '61, '62
season, the team consisted

of Egan, and a guy named
Mike Gavin, Jerry Harkness,

Les Hunter and Vic Rouse.

Ireland's coaching style with
that team

was just standing aside
and letting them run.

His genius as a coach was to
just let them play their game.

In the pros they
call it a motion offense,

where someone is always moving.

If you didn't stay with us,

we would score an easy basket.

The Ramblers had some games in
the South

and they ran into some of the
hard truths

of US race relations.

The famous trip to New
Orleans

where George Ireland, at the
last minute,

told us that we would not be
able

to stay together as a team.

The black ball
players stayed in Algiers

in private homes, while the
white players

stayed in New Orleans in hotels.

And he said he didn't know
about it

until the last minute.

And I never believed that.

We land in New Orleans and the
black guys,

all of us jump into a cab.

And Ireland gets in the cab with
us.

And it was a black driver, and
he said,

"Sir, you're gonna have
to get out of my cab.

It's against the law for a white
person

to drive in a cab with black
people."

And Ireland said, "Well, I'll
pay the fine

if you get stopped."

Driver said, "You don't
understand.

It's not the fine, I will go to
jail."

That's how bad it was in 1962.

When we played
Loyola of New Orleans,

the shock hit us.

They had a roped-off section for
coloreds.

You couldn't talk
back, you couldn't fight back,

there was nothing you could do
about it.

But you could express
that anger

by taking it out on the other
squad.

The court was an equalizer.

After the game, the black
players went off to Algiers.

And I can honestly say, that was
by far

the best trip that we had.

We had no curfew, parties at
night,

and the people in the
community were so proud of us,

they treated us like kings.

They sent us two
brand new Pontiacs to drive.

We had a great time, and we felt
so sorry

for the white guys.

But in contrast,

what it took us to get to that
point.

I felt offended by some of
the things that occurred.

After the game,
Ireland made headlines

denouncing New Orleans'
segregation laws,

vowing that the team would never
return.

But just a day later, the truth
came out.

Prior to Loyola's trip,
another school in New Orleans,

Xavier University, offered
to house the entire team.

This rare break from the Jim
Crow laws governing the city

would have allowed all the
white and black players

to stay together as usual.

But for reasons that
were never made clear,

Ireland declined, and chose
instead

to keep the team segregated.

When I heard this story from the
players,

I couldn't believe it.

It's crazy to me that
any coach would choose

to separate their team
anywhere for any reason.

It's not just unsafe, it's bad
strategy.

Your team is your family.

We had to deal not only with
the racism

of the South when we
would travel down there,

we also had to deal with it

to some degree right
here at our home court.

When you think
about the Loyola story,

you inevitably come to
a very complex topic.

We all kinda knew our place.

It doesn't sound right when you
say that,

it sounds terrible when you say
that.

I just mean that as people, we
kinda knew

what we had to do to survive.

They wanted us to be
available as tokens.

For example, if they
had a party on campus,

they wanted us to stand on the
walls,

you know, and be there.

But we weren't supposed
to dance with the girls,

we weren't supposed to
talk with the girls.

And if they come to us
and ask us to dance,

we even had Jesuit priests who
said,

"No, you don't do that."

The priests had a job
and part of their job

was making sure the students
were safe.

And unfortunately the black male
body

has often been considered,
just by existing, unsafe.

I guess I expected to
hear

the '63 guys faced
discrimination
when traveling south,

or maybe even on the court by
opponents,

but to know that they were
also disrespected at home

makes me furious.

And on a call between our two
teams,

we got an opportunity to talk
about it.

Then I remember, and the
other guys will remember this,

we could not go to the barber
shop

right across Sheridan Road.

They would not cut black guys'
hair.

You couldn't get a haircut on
campus?

Like, you had to go somewhere
else to get a haircut?

I guess again, I was blind
to what they were experiencing.

Just assumed everything was
great.

In the '60s, we didn't
express ourselves.

'Cause I really don't think
we knew how to talk about it.

You know, the average person
might look at it and say,

"That's not, that's not racism."

But it is.

They're going to have to
swallow their discontent.

They're going to have
to swallow their hurts.

Because the moment they
start making waves,

the moment they start asking for
things

that they know they should
have, they're no longer

just these wonderfully
respectable young men

that we would be so
happy to have amongst us.

There was a mold that they
needed to fit.

Not the angry team, not the
frustrated,

they were classy, and oh
look, how acceptable they are.

That might be why they're not
loud and they're not vocal.

It makes you feel completely
isolated.

It is a very hard thing to face.

What you say is nothing,
what you think is nothing.

That's what it feels like
to be discriminated against.

You're invisible, you don't
exist.

You don't exist.

Toward the end of the season,

Ron Miller began playing

a more prominent role on the
team.

He was scoring a lot, and at one
point,

Ireland pulled him aside to tell
him

why he wasn't starting.

And he didn't really tell him,
he said,

"But you know, you understand
what it is."

And Miller did understand.

Ireland didn't wanna have the
fourth black guy on the court.

It was so obvious to
everyone around the team

and everyone at Loyola,

that we should have had
four blacks starting.

You keep in mind, I'm coming off
the bench

and I was averaging double
figures.

So that tells you that maybe,
I should have been starting.

The one white
boy that he was starting

over Ron Miller had no business
starting.

And he knew it and every boy
knew it.

In 1962, Loyola went
21 and 3,

earning a bid to the National
Invitation Tournament

at Madison Square Garden in New
York.

With two Harlem natives on his
team,

Ireland saw an opportunity

to lure the next generation
of local recruits.

We had advanced to the
semis playing Dayton.

And what really surprised me

was that Coach Ireland changed
the lineup.

He wanted to start me

because he was recruiting
heavy out of New York City.

Local papers made a big deal

that I was coming back
to Madison Square Garden.

Two New York kids, me and Jerry
Harkness.

So he has to play Miller

and he has to play me
because we're in New York.

So he takes out 6-8, 6-9 Hunter.

He brought
Miller in for Les Hunter.

Best ball player on the team.

Dayton was a hell of a
team.

And we were getting beat up
pretty bad.

Take out Les Hunter and
we're smaller, much smaller.

It just put us in a bad
situation.

Ron Miller was
the Ramblers' high scorer

in the game, but without
Hunter in the lineup,

Loyola was just outmatched.

So we lost to them.

We had to play another game
after that,

which was a consolation game.

And we played Duquesne
University,

which was a very good
basketball school in those days.

And you have to
remember

that Mr. Ireland was in
difficulty.

He could not afford to lose.

Ireland was not trying
to be an activist.

George Ireland was thinking
about winning ball games.

And that was the game
where Ireland chose

not to play the senior, Mike
Gavin,

and inserted Ron Miller
as the other guard.

He put the
best team on the court.

He broke the code.

When we won the consolation
game, from there on,

he played four black guys.

On that historic
night, the Iron Five were born.

For the Loyola Ramblers,

there would be no turning back.

Let me ask you
this,

do you ever get crank phone
calls?

Well, they
criticize
who he's got on his team.

As you know he has a Negro ball
club.

And we get letters on that.

Well, that's
terrible.

The rest of the world could take
a cue

from on integration is how
well these kids get along

together on the basketball
court.

That's right.

With his new starting
five set

for the 1962, '63 season,
there was plenty of fallout

for George Ireland and his
family.

But with his eyes on a national
title,

the coach had come too far to
turn back.

Meanwhile, there was
another team down south

with their eyes on the title.

I was always fascinated
about the psychology

of the Mississippi State
basketball team.

You're feeling a lot of pressure

if your programs aren't
performing well, if you're
losing.

The irony is that Mississippi
State was winning.

And the more they won, the
more pressure they faced.

Our governor in
particular just didn't think

we ought to be playing
against black players.

We never imagined that we would
get to go

to the NCAA tournament in '63.

Young people are often a
product

of a dysfunctional
situation, taught things

that they shouldn't be taught.

And it's not until they
actually experience

a different set of circumstances

that they can appreciate what
should be.

In Mississippi, if
you opposed Governor Barnett

and the racism of Jim Crow laws,

you were all but guaranteed
a prison sentence.

Or maybe even worse,

with the state's long
history of lynchings.

But despite those very real
threats,

just 100 miles from the
Mississippi State campus,

there was someone still
brave enough to fight back.

The enrollment
of James Meredith,

the first African American to
attend

on the campus of Ole Miss.

That night a riot broke
out, hundreds were injured.

Two people died

as protesters tried to stop a
black man

from attending a
tax-supported state school.

James Meredith, who
was a Mississippi native

and a veteran, applied to enter

the University of Mississippi,
Ole Miss.

Ross Barnett said

that Meredith would enter
Ole Miss over his dead body.

His admission caused a
riot of such magnitude,

the president called out
National Guard troops

to come put the riot down.

Immediately
following the mass panic,

the college infirmary was
besieged

with injured persons,
officers and students.

People died.

It's hard to believe that ever
happened,

but it damn sure did.

As the dust
settled after the riots,

James Meredith successfully
enrolled at Ole Miss.

Another small piece of progress

in the Civil Rights Movement.

And while figures like
Babe McCarthy were left

to grapple with what
it meant on his campus,

back in Chicago, they were
listening too.

Things were starting to
change,

but not rapidly enough.

We would sit up in my
room around this radio,

listening and cheering for
people

who were doing things
to make a difference.

We were in the middle

of the Civil Rights Movement and
Dr. King.

The emphasis was put on them,

but we in the background
were making changes too.

We really started the season
with,

not just a good team, but a
great team.

We had seven guys who
legitimately could start.

They were the highest scoring
team

in the country that year.

They knew exactly what the next
step

of the other was going to be.

There was something
electric that happened to us.

We just knew that we were
going to be very good.

They were bulldozing
teams.

No one could stop them.

In retaliation to
all of this resistance,

they ran up the scores.

Send a message, "We're good
and we're good at what we do."

Is this the best team
you've had

in your 12 years as Loyola
coach?

Well, Mike, I
think this is my best team.

Well, there's
no question about it,

you certainly do have an
excellent team.

In fact, you must be ranked
second in the nation.

George Ireland, how do you think

that your Loyola club would
make out against Cincinnati?

Well, that's a hard
question.

We are an offensive team and
Cincinnati

are a defensive team.

I would like to play Cincinnati

and possibly sometime we will.

For such a long period of time
we knew

that, somewhere along
the way, we were going

to go up against Cincinnati.

They were the big dogs,
we were the underdogs.

Cincinnati had become a
machine, a real machine,

under the leadership of Ed
Jucker.

Cincinnati was the
complete opposite of Loyola.

Cincinnati had won two
championships

with a very deliberate,
slow-down pace.

When you talk about a team

that wanted to make four
passes before they took a shot,

Cincinnati probably
wanted to make six passes.

Something that was not in our
DNA at all.

While Loyola
was the fastest team

in college basketball, no one
matched

the slow, tactical pace of
Cincinnati.

At a time when more and
more teams experimented

with running the ball,
Ed Jucker found success

by doing just the opposite.

Don't shoot
unless you have a good shot.

Hold the ball if you
need to once in a while,

that was before the days of shot
clock.

Everyone thought he
was crazy

until he won his first NCAA
Championship.

They thought he was lucky
until he won his second.

When they got ahead of you by
10 points,

you were probably toast.

Combined with
the talents of Tom Thacker,

Ron Bonham and George Wilson,

Cincinnati was set to
be the first-ever team

to win three consecutive titles.

We had the best record.

I don't know what Loyola was,

but they didn't win as
many games as we did.

I mean, Cincinnati
was the monster.

Why would you think that this
small,

Catholic school could beat
Cincinnati?

Out of everything
I learned about this story,

I was most surprised by
Cincinnati.

Because for all the
praise given to Ireland

for breaking that unwritten
rule,

I didn't know that Ed
Jucker broke it first,

months before Ireland, winning
a national championship

with four black starters in
1962.

You might say it was easier for
Cincinnati

since they were already
defending national champs.

But I think it's more likely
that four black starters

with a slow, controlled
game were less threatening

than Loyola's aggressive,
fast-break players.

Whatever the explanation is,

these two trailblazing teams
seemed to be

on a clear path to the
championship.

But the season was far from
over,

and Loyola's future
was suddenly uncertain.

Midway through the
season,

Loyola lost three players.

One of them left for financial
reasons.

The other two were New
York playground guys.

They didn't make grades,
and would have gotten

a lot of playing time had
they stayed on the team.

Everyone was understandably
shocked

when all that happened at once.

We had nine players, that was
it.

It was so awkward just to have
scrimmages

and you have nine people.

Their absence
is one of the reasons

that the five starters were
playing virtually every minute.

The Iron Five were
used to playing nonstop.

But now, even when Loyola took
big leads,

Ireland refused to give
any of them a break.

Some of the games
were complete blowouts.

We would still be playing, I
mean,

we'd be up by 15, 20 points,

and he would still have
all of us in the game.

We had a 30-point lead at
halftime.

Man, I'm gonna be playing.

Never got in.

That starting five,
I think he was nervous

when any one of them was off of
the floor.

And it wasn't that we were
incapable of contributing.

People don't realize how good we
were

because they never saw us.

We'd be up 35, 40 points, let's
give the first team a break.

I was feeling badly because
we had guys on the bench

that weren't getting in.

I said, "Coach, take me out, I'm
tired."

He said, "Stay in."

Trust me, I can tell
you,

being on the court 40
minutes straight is no joke.

To play that fast-paced style
every game without a sub?

That can break you.

And that season, as the
exhaustion built on the court,

the pressure got to everyone.

We were in New York playing
St. John's,

Jerry Lyne came out and says,
"George is on the table.

He's coughing up blood."

You know, he had a bleeding
ulcer.

You know, there were times

when guys out there on
that floor were hurting.

They had been injured.

Vic Rouse had had a shoulder
separation,

and they would have to put it
back in

and tape it up.

When you run a team for 30
games,

you know, iron wears out.

We tried to figure out why
certain things happened.

Why certain things didn't
happen.

But, we loved each other.

Five guys were going to play,

and the other four

were going to be supportive of
them.

Worn down, Loyola
suffered

their only two defeats of the
season late in the schedule.

The struggle for the
Iron Five was increasing.

But the worst was yet to come.

The game was in
Houston, Texas.

To me, we were just going
down to play another team.

That's how naive and
ignorant I was back then.

It was a pretty small, confined
gym.

It didn't take long to realize

that it was gonna be more
than a basketball game.

Things started to
unravel.

I believe everybody
in the stadium was against us.

The fans were out of control.

Go back home, get out
of here.

We're gonna get you.

They used the N-word
constantly.

Threw ice, threw things
at us on the court.

The students throwing
stuff,

I mean, they look like me.

Never having experienced
that side of racism,

literally, they're spitting on
us.

This is what you guys go
through on a daily basis?

I looked to the side,
I didn't see police.

And I started to worry.

There were times during
that game

that we feared for our
lives, it was that bad.

All of the sudden, we heard a
loud bang.

I swear to God, I thought
they were shooting at us.

Somebody took a popcorn bag and
popped it.

That was one of the worst
experiences on the court

that we experienced as a team.

This is when we talk about
Coach George Ireland.

To me, he should have known
that,

he should not have put
us in those situations.

If he cared, he would not have
put us in those situations.

Coach Ireland had a lot of
power.

And I'm not just talking about
the power

to play the starters the entire
game.

He had the power to say,
"This is a segregated city,

and things might be a
little scary for you,

but you're gonna play anyway."

And maybe they would have
chosen to play anyway,

but we don't know that, because
they didn't have a choice.

Through all the
highs and lows of that season,

the game at Houston

left the most lasting
impression on the team.

But they won the game, and
for the first time ever

Loyola accepted their invitation
to the NCAA tournament.

The Iron Five were about to face

a whole new level of public
scrutiny

and there was nowhere to
hide from what was coming.

We get the mail.

On the outside it was KKK.

"You don't belong on the
same floor as white players.

We're gonna kill you."

And I'ma tell you, I was scared
to death.

They know where I live.

They're gonna come to the dorm
and get me.

I called Ireland, I said,

"Ireland, you gotta get over
here."

And he went to the front desk of
the dorm.

"Any mail that comes in for the
ballplayers, give it to me."

My dad would keep the mail
from them.

He did not want them to read

some of the things that were
sent.

Dad would show it to us at home.

I just could not believe any
human beings

would send stuff like this
to 19, 20-year-old kids.

I've heard stories of the
letters that he received.

But I personally never
seen any of the letters.

I believe that he did receive
letters.

I was never able to get to the
letters.

In my mind, I had to put
the letters out of my book

because I couldn't prove them.

There's three like this
that are all closed up.

And up in the corner it says,
"Loyola HM," for hate mail.

The way they were signed,

"Uncle Tom," and "KKK," the
N-word.

He said he wanted me to have it

because he knew I would protect
it.

And he said, "Someday, this
history will be alive again.

And maybe then you can show it."

He knew it was the wrong thing
to do,

but he could not let this keep
coming to his ball players.

I thought, "If I can just
protect them,

who needs to know about this
stuff?"

It happened, it's here and I
promised Dad

that I would protect it.

It's tempting to hide

the worst parts of our
histories, to lock them away,

pretend they don't exist.

Maybe for Ireland, these letters
were seen

as a burden on the players, a
distraction

at the height of their season.

Maybe it was easiest
to just move past them.

But the problem is, Ireland
didn't.

Among those letters
were threats so severe,

he hired security for his
daughters,

a protection he never offered
his players.

I don't think he thought
at all

about race relations.

I don't think he was
interested in race relations.

I think George Ireland was
thinking about himself,

his family, and winning
basketball games.

I always accepted that
as a part of the times.

I never held that part against
him.

It was important to him
that he was successful.

And by being good to us,
it made him successful.

Even through the death
threats,

the Loyola players found
a way to stay focused.

The NCAA tournament was fast
approaching

and Cincinnati was still
expected to win it all.

Though it looked like the
bracket

would have one glaring omission.

Mississippi State defeated Ole
Miss

to clinch the Southeastern
Conference Championship,

which gave them the automatic
bid to the NCAA tournament.

The next day, Governor
Barnett issued a statement

that Mississippi State will not
be playing

in the NCAA tournament.

Personally, I feel it is
not for the best interest

of Mississippi State University,
or either of the races.

The governor
had issued an injunction.

We will do all we can, to
the point of arresting you,

when you get ready to leave
the state of Mississippi.

The NCAA had no idea where
to put State in their seeding

'cause they didn't know
if State was gonna be able

to make it, even though
they had verbally committed.

Mississippi State
was given a first-round bye.

Their first opponent would be
the winner

of Loyola versus Tennessee Tech.

People don't realize
the amount of pressure

that we were under.

Not only from the KKK
and the White Knights,

but from our own people.

Blacks across the country,

who were putting their hopes on
us.

That we had to win because
the black community

was counting on us.

Jerry said that he had black
people calling him saying,

"Hey, you better not lose
to those white boys."

Come on, you guys,
we're rooting for you,

we're rooting for you.

We got so roused up that
you're gonna be hard to beat.

You're gonna be very hard to
beat.

The first game was against
Tennessee Tech,

an all-white team.

And that poor team.

We went up 30, 40, we beat 'em,

and it's still a record, 69
points.

The final score of that game

is still the greatest
disparity in NCAA history.

I mean, it's just amazing
the advantage you have

once you're motivated and roused
up.

The Ramblers were
eager for their next match-up.

But with no word from
Mississippi State,

Loyola had no idea if they'd
show up.

Their coaches said we're
going,

their president says they're
going,

but everybody else in
power in the state says,

"No, you can't."

These are guys who were
raised to honor authority,

to obey their elders.

You know, we faced jail time

if we failed to obey the
injunction.

The night before the
trip,

Coach McCarthy did have a team
meeting.

We talked, he'd said,

"Here's what we're gonna do."

We aimed to leave early the next
morning,

as early as we could and we
headed out.

The team was
gonna split into two teams.

One was the decoy team.

They sent our trainer
and six of our players

that didn't play a whole
lot out to the airport.

They keep the five
starters and the sixth man

back at the dorm room.

There're two
airports in Starkville.

As a decoy, one group
was going to Bryan Field.

They went out there to
see

if there was gonna be an
officer to serve the injunction.

In that case, the
trainer with the decoys

was gonna phone back to
campus, tell the starting team,

"Don't come to the airport."

They had another plane waiting
for them

at another airport that they
were gonna take if they had to.

And should six be
arrested,

six will end up in East Lansing,
Michigan.

It was like "Mission
Impossible," man.

We were kinda the guinea pigs,
okay?

I was literally scared to
death, but we were gonna go.

The reserves made it
through to the airport.

A call was made, and they
said, "Coast is clear."

And the starters, Joe Dan and
Red Straud

and Doug Hutton, they went.

And they all flew together.

And as soon as
the plane left the ground,

you could hear the guys all
together

started clapping and cheering.

We're off, we're on our way.

I didn't think
they were gonna come.

And when we got to Michigan,
they said

Mississippi State is gonna play
you.

To know that cops are chasing
them

and that what they're doing
is gonna create a stir.

And then just even getting
psychologically ready

for an NCAA tournament game,

which they had never done
before.

I'm sure they were probably
tapped out.

How many people are
gonna support us being there?

We don't know.

Everything was very
quiet.

We're all sitting there, you
know,

about halfway wanting to cry.

And when we got on the floor
that night,

and all of a sudden, the
MSU fight song was played.

Here we are, a bunch of
white kids in opposition

to a movement against black
athletes,

to play something as easy or
simple as a basketball game?

To walk into a gym of 15, 18,000
people.

Wow.

Could it really be happening?
That, um.

They had no clue

that they would be that
welcomed.

Joe Dan Gold was our
captain

and he went out to shake
hands before the tip-off.

There was no cheering.

The place was quiet.

Everybody was watching
us, you could feel it.

I didn't hear anything
the referees were saying.

I was looking at Joe Dan
and he was looking at me.

We both went to shake
hands and the place lit up.

Pop, pop, pow!

The cameras just went
crazy.

Almost turned into
daylight.

I mean everyone
understood

how important that moment was.

It was captured for the ages.

I said, "This
is more than a game.

This is history."

For our two captains to shake
hands

and acknowledge the fact
that, "Hey, we're here."

The night would
forever be known

as the Game of Change.

When the final buzzer sounded,

Loyola had earned the win,
sending them to the Elite Eight.

While Mississippi State faced
the reality of returning home,

and the consequences
that would be waiting.

I don't know, we could have
played a whole lot of games

and probably never beaten them.

Coach came in, and his first
thing he says

when he popped in that door,

is "Boys, you get your head up."

He said, "Y'all have done
something

that nobody in Mississippi's
ever done, you know.

Y'all have nothing to be ashamed
of."

Well, obviously our flight
home

was a disappointing flight home.

Yet, it wasn't disappointing

because we had accomplished
what we set out to do.

The Mississippi State team
didn't know

what they would find when they
got home.

That was the danger.

That was the element that
they were dealing with,

it had to be in the back of
their minds the whole time.

They get back to Mississippi

and there's a crowd
treating them like heroes.

You know, the best thing is to
win.

The second best thing is to
lose.

That means you got a chance to
compete.

Without the ability to
compete, you got nothing.

Differences of opinion that we
have

and ill feelings that we have,

but basketball and sports
can do an awful lot

to bring people together.

As the NCAA
tournament continued,

Loyola defeated Illinois and
Duke

to advance to the championship
game

for the first time in school
history.

The most anticipated
contest of the season,

Loyola versus Cincinnati, was
set.

The night we beat Duke,
what I remember most vividly

is Vic Rouse jumping on the bed

at four o'clock in the morning

saying he's gonna be
looking at his NCAA watch.

I remember that
vividly.

'Cause they didn't give
out rings at that time.

They gave out watches.

I don't think any of the guys
got to bed

til at least 4:00 in the
morning.

And that might have been,

the guys might have been
dragging a little bit.

NCAA Championship ball
game.

It's a ding-dong-dilly of a
battle tonight

at Louisville as we
will have the Bearcats,

coached by Ed Jucker,
against the Ramblers,

coached by George Ireland
of Loyola of Chicago.

For the first
time in NCAA history,

seven black starters across
both teams took the floor.

And in a nationally televised
game,

the entire country was watching.

On Chicago local radio,
Loyola's very own announcer,

Red Rush was calling the game,

a voice no one would forget
by the end of the night.

We are hungry for a
championship,

so please bring one home to us,
won't you?

It was bringing chills to me

to be honest with you, watching
that.

We had 150 young nuns there,

looking at this little
black-and-white TV

so we could watch that game.

Probably the audience at
the time was pro-Cincinnati.

Nobody had won three titles in a
row.

I guess the excitement starts

when you're running out
through the crowded area.

I could not see anybody that I
knew there,

but I knew they were there.

Okay, there was that many
people.

It felt as though

I'd been looking forward
to this all my life.

I would say more excited,

somewhat nervous, but more
excited.

I just said, "We gotta
get to a good start."

At tip-off, I had this little
habit

where I always reached
down and touched my sock.

And that night, I didn't touch
my sock,

which said to me I must have
been nervous.

The ball's in the air

and controlled by Cincinnati's
Tony Yates.

So the Bearcats have got
the ball on the move.

He brings the ball over
the 10-second timeline.

The Bearcats control down here
to Bonham,

fires from the baseline,
jumps, shoots, off,

no good, and Wilson stuffs it
through.

George Wilson went high in the
sky and stuffed it through.

We were the best team, without
a doubt.

Deliberate game, set picks,

take our time with the ball.

Right at tip-off,

Cincinnati had momentum on their
side.

Both teams studied their
opponent,

their styles, tactics,
and their biggest threat.

Harkness out to Ron
Miller,

they're going to try to set the
pattern,

they're not going in that
full-court-press incidentally.

Tom Thacker, the best
defensive player

in college basketball at the
time.

At the beginning of the game I
said, "I'ma get in his head."

He was going in

for what he thought was an easy
layup.

He thought he had Tom Thacker
beat.

Instead of going left,

where I know they had scouted me

and I go left 90% of the time,

I said, "I'ma go right on him."

They're going to
try to set the pattern.

There goes Harkness driving the
baseline,

and the ball knocked out of
bounds

by Tom Thacker who is on
Harkness.

He slapped the ball away.

I could not believe what he had
just done.

Nobody would think of it
as being awesome except me.

He knocked me out of my game.

From that moment
on, he was afraid of Thacker.

Thacker was in his head.

Being guarded by
Thacker, Harkness goes up

off the left side, jumps,
an 8-footer, off, no good,

and Wilson clears the backboard
backing up underneath.

When I got around him,
there's George Wilson.

They had a double where
they had me boxed in.

Down to Harkness.

Harkness has yet to score,

we're going to see what happens.

He backs up, he always shoots
when he does, let's wait.

He turns around, jumps,
shoots, off, no good,

and the ball knocked
into the hands of Wilson.

They had all of the things to
stop me.

They just scouted us very, very
well.

Off to Miller
to the right-hand side,

goes to the baseline, jumps,
an 8-footer, off, no good.

So Ron Miller has got a foul.

We'd had slow starts before.

But this night, something is
wrong.

With the threat of
Jerry Harkness neutralized,

Ed Jucker turned his attack

on what Loyola relied
on most, their speed.

Passing over to Bonham
behind the free-throw line,

it is off the iron, no good

and Miller controls it off of
there.

They slow down that fast break.

9:56 left to go in the first
half.

They took away our fast
breaks.

We wanted to cut loose all the
time.

We wanted to get the ball and
go,

and get the ball and go.

They didn't take enough
shots for us to get going.

They were never in a hurry to
take a shot.

Thacker way over, hands
it back to Larry Shingleton.

They have a seven point lead

and when Cincinnati's
got that kind of a lead,

it's pretty tough.

So they didn't miss a lot of
shots.

So there was not an opportunity
for us to get rebounds.

And for some reason, we could
not ever adjust to that style.

I don't remember having a
fast-break in the first half.

We just never could get
started.

And we weren't shooting well.

Shooting percentage was
terrible.

The Ramblers with a
13-footer, up, off, no good.

Over to Miller, jumping from
behind the free-throw lane,

it is up, and short, no
good, and Thacker clears it.

How could we miss that many
shots?

I mean they were easy shots,
they were wide open shots,

and we were missing shots.

I knew that we were much
better

than we were playing.

A lot of people were
probably watching at home.

And we come there and flop.

Everyone on that team was
nervous.

We were out of sync,
largely because our leader

was not having a good half.

Jerry did not feel
confident.

If Jerry was not confident,
the rest of the team

had to wonder, "What's to become
of us?"

Miller over to Harkness.

He goes down near the baseline.

Bonham's on him, dribbles
under, fakes, shoots,

and he is knocked down.

But getting the ball.

Egan sets, he shoots, it
is rolling off, no good.

Over to Ron Miller, he
jumps, he shoots, a 6-footer,

rolls off, no good, and the
ball is knocked out of bounds,

last touched by Vic Rouse.

At halftime the score is 29 to
21.

The assumption by everybody
is that this is a gimme.

Cincinnati's got it, it's in the
bag.

The first half of the
championship game

is kind of a blur.

I remember Jerry had a very bad
game,

but so did everyone else.

We played the worst game of the
year.

Of the four years that
I was around Ireland,

I've often thought

that George Ireland's greatest
achievement as a coach

was what he said at halftime.

He walks into the locker
room and said to us,

"You know, you just played
the worst half of basketball

I think we've played all year."

And he says, "I'm not worried
about it.

We're gonna go out there the
second half,

and you're gonna play better,
and we'll win the game."

There were other times
when we would be winning

by 10, 12, 15 points,

and he would come into the
locker room

and he would start throwing
things around,

telling us how lousy we were
playing.

But at this moment, that night,

he was the complete
opposite of all of those.

He said, "We're better than
that.

You're better than that."

He said, "We'll get 'em the
second half."

I've often felt that was his
finest hour.

The ball is up and
controlled

by Jerry Harkness over near the
sideline.

Back to Miller the ball goes.

Back down to Harkness on the
right side,

going inside the
free-throw lane, shoots up,

and it goes off to Rouse,

he scores as he controls the
board.

I never heard anyone say
they had lost their hope.

But if you're watching that
game,

you had to think, "Things
are not going our way

and I don't see how they're
gonna change."

Bolstered by
their coach's confidence,

Loyola came out of the
half ready to fight,

but Cincinnati looked just
as strong as they started.

With Jerry still held at bay,

the Bearcats kept the pace slow,

making it even harder to catch
up.

Yates has got it over
the far side

to Larry Shingleton.

Larry down the corner to Bonham,

he jumps, an 18-footer is up and
good.

45 to 30, Cincinnati leading by
15 points,

you wouldn't believe it
unless you were here.

I'm thinking to myself,

"How do we make this comeback?

How do we do it?"

Cincinnati was about
the best defensive team

in the United States,

so how do you overcome that
deficit?

It's a long,
hard hill to climb.

But maybe there's some life in
them yet.

Rouse clears the
backboard for Loyola.

Take the deep breath

and you wait for your time to
hit.

47-34, 13 point lead.

Here's Ron Miller going
down to the baseline.

Jumps, shoots, scores.

Going in the lane, and back, and
pass,

it goes to Harkness, the
baseline,

jumps, off, no good,

he can't get it, Rouse gets the
rebound.

It was about five
minutes to go in the game.

I hadn't scored a basket.

Shoots, up, off, no
good.

And Leslie Hunter clears it.

There they go, Harkness,
and the ball is stolen,

as Harkness passes, it's
stolen by Larry Shingleton.

Beautiful interception by Larry.

Loyola was
battling every possession.

But still down seven, every miss

made it painfully clear,

if Jerry Harkness couldn't
score, Loyola was finished.

Jerry had a big dream, had big
ideas

about his friends at
home watching him on TV.

How this was gonna be triumph of
the poor,

be triumphant back in New York.

And he saw all that slipping
away.

I would not have been
able to face myself,

in life, because I played so
bad.

I would have felt bad
for the rest of my life.

But God has always put me in a
situation,

going on welfare, nothing to
eat.

And I think of my mom getting us
through,

coming out of the
hospital, and telling us,

"We're going to make it."

I realized that all of that
drive and determination

came from my mom.

Ireland put in a different play

that Cincinnati had not seen.

I felt finally, maybe this is it
for me.

Egan, Egan to Harkness,
turn around, jumper's good.

Jerry made his first basket.

He made it, he might do
it, 48 to 43, 48 to 43.

We can win this game.

At that point, we can win.

Here's Thacker with that
ball.

Passing down, intercepted by
Harkness.

Here goes Jerry, lays
it up, and he scores.

Harkness scores, beautiful,
beautiful, beautiful.

48-45, 4:16 left to go.

Oh, is this a ball game now.

Out to Harkness on the left
side, he's driving down,

he's under, lays it up, and
scores, he scores, he scores.

Jerry was the primary reason

that we were able to come
back and get into the game.

Once he heated up, the rest
of the team followed suit.

We just started
playing harder, much harder.

Look at Hunter get that
ball.

Miller on the right side,

a bounce pass into Hunter,
turn around, layup, and oh!

Goal tending, goal tending,
they finally called it.

It's 51 to 50.

The crowd started to come
around,

'cause we started to close the
gap.

Here comes Harkness, he
lays it up

and it is tipped in by Hunter,
19 seconds, 15 seconds, 16.

Shingleton's got it, and a foul.

Harkness fouled him
purposefully, he had to do it.

12 seconds to play

and it's bedlam here in
Louisville, Kentucky.

53 to 52, Cincinnati by one
single point.

And going to the line
will be Larry Shingleton.

Larry Shingleton was one of

the best free-throw
shooters in the nation.

So, you know, when he stepped
to the line, my heart sank.

With 12 seconds to
go,

Shingleton will go to the line.

If he should miss, they
would have time of course

to go down the court and
perhaps take that one shot.

And Tom, anything can
happen at this point.

I am out there praying.

'Cause if he hits both, over.

No doubt about it, the game is
over.

Well, there's
one of them, 54 to 52.

I said, "Dear Lord, please,
please just give us a chance."

Larry Shingleton

with only his second point of
the night.

And now, perhaps he can
ice the ball game for them.

It's short, and it comes off to
Loyola.

Les gets the rebound, perfect
position.

And there's a guy from
Cincinnati

who swipes at the ball as
Les passes the ball to me.

And as I catch the
ball, I take one dribble

and I see Jerry streaking
toward the basket.

I saw him break, I knew
he could get his shot,

because that's his spot.

Jerry did what he does best.

He cocked that left hand behind
his head.

I didn't feel anything.

I didn't feel the ball leave my
hand.

If I would have had an air ball,

I wouldn't have been surprised.

I just let it go.

No good, and
Leslie Hunter has got it.

To Ron Miller, they've got a
fast break.

Down to Harkness, he jumps,
he shoots, he scores.

He scores, he scores, he scores!

Perfect fast break within
seconds.

And that, to me, was who Loyola
was.

That's how we played, just like
that.

One second to go,

and we're going into overtime.

And the score is all tied, 54 to
54.

The clock is running with nine
seconds,

Harkness takes it, he makes it.

It's all tied up.

There was some
controversy

that Ronnie Miller might have
gotten away

with a traveling call.

That's true, I gotta say it.

There's the Ronnie,
he did an extra step.

They know what they did,
they know what happened.

It was so close that
nobody in their mind

as a referee is gonna call that.

There was no question
in my mind, he walked.

Did he get away with
something?

Yeah, they didn't blow a
whistle.

I didn't travel because
the ref didn't call it.

And the basket's made.
We're into overtime.

It is
absolutely a madhouse here.

And it's all tied, 54-54.

Loyola getting 33 points
in the second half,

Cincinnati getting 25.

And Jerry Harkness, who had had

perhaps his most miserable
night in his college career,

came back to become the hero

to tie it up with three seconds
to go.

But when David
comes up against Goliath,

what can you do?

There it goes down to
Harkness, he's underneath,

he lays it up, he scores, he
scores.

56 to 54, it's a dilly!

As the Ramblers are out in front

for the first time in this ball
game.

What I remember most
about the last five minutes

was that desperation.

Keep clawing until the bitter
end

and something good will happen.

Thacker
trying to get one inside,

he goes to Wilson, and Wilson
scores.

Imagine playing an entire game

without any break, and an
overtime.

Those guys had no time to rest.

They were constantly going. All
five.

They have gone all
the way

without a substitute.

And I'm wondering, Tom Hamlin,
if this isn't beginning

to wear on Loyola a little bit.

As you get tired, you lose
your legs,

you lose your shot, a
lot of things go south.

Les Hunter takes
his shot,

it rolls around and goes off.

And George Wilson grabs
it for the Bearcats.

At one time, one of the
guys came out and says,

"Chuck, I'm gassed."

Well, coach said go out
there, keep playing.

Somebody maybe needs a sub,

but you don't wanna
tinker with that moment.

No substitutions, that's
what it's gonna be.

The lead pass
intercepted by Ron Miller.

Ron Miller intercepted the pass

and now the Ramblers have got
it.

Action? You better believe it.

Miller shoots a 20-footer, good.

Good by Ron Miller.

The final minutes of
overtime

felt like a tug-of-war.

Two teams desperate to win,

both on the verge of collapse.

They'd do anything to score.

Even if it meant taking a
play from the other side.

To Cincinnati,
a long pass to Shingleton,

he's in the clear.

He ties it up, 58 to 58.

A minute and a half to go.

Egan almost loses it.

They'll have to jump for it.

Egan and Shingleton, the two
smallest men on the court,

will jump for it.

Jack has no quit in him.

The fact that Shingleton
was a little taller

didn't make a difference.

Shingleton
is 5-10 and Egan is 5-9,

so Cincinnati with a
slight height advantage.

Because believe me, this
is a very important jump.

Jack would fight
anybody.

I mean, he didn't care who you
were.

If you had the ball,
he was gonna fight you

to take the ball.

I don't care if the guy was
6-8, that's the way Jack is.

Ball is up and
tipped back to Ron Miller.

He's got it, over to Jerry
Harkness.

I think it was a misfiring
on Shingleton's part

because he was up too
soon before the ball was,

could be reached.

And Jack timed it perfectly,
luck of the Irish.

Back to Egan, 1:15.

What would you do? 58-58.

Would you go for the one?

I think everyone knew that the
idea was

to get the ball to Jerry
Harkness for the last shot.

So we're gonna try to
get the ball to Jerry.

And he should be taking his shot

with three, four seconds left,

so there's a chance for
a tip in, a rebound,

but not an opportunity for them

to get a rebound and go
all the way down the court.

How do we do it?

They're gonna go for
one,

I don't think there's
any question about it.

50 seconds, 49, 48.

Harkness backing in, he may go,

now he goes back out to Egan.

Egan has got the ball, looking
around, over to Harkness,

back to Egan, 38 seconds left to
go.

To Rouse, back to Miller,
they're
gonna go for the one shot.

58-58. And this is a twist.

Cincinnati, the team that
always holds the ball,

they're seeing what it feels
like now.

The team that normally held
the ball

did not know what to do

when someone held the ball
against them.

Egan over To Harkness.

Harkness going inside the lane,

now he goes back out to Miller.

15 seconds, out to Egan.

I guarantee you one thing,

they'll give it Harkness when
it's time.

Everybody pretty much
thought it would come to me.

Miller's got it, out to
Rouse.

Nine, eight, Harkness
has got it, here he goes.

And I got the ball.

And he knew I was going
left, and I knew it.

But I didn't feel it.

In the corner of my
eye, I saw Hunter open.

And he can hit that shot.

Threw it to Les.

Now we're talking probably
three or four seconds.

I got nervous.

Not because Les isn't a great
shot,

but I heard the ball scratch
as he took that shot.

He scratched it with his
fingernails.

It was a good shot to take.

It went off the side of the
rim

and then one of the second best,

third best moment of
my life was seeing Vic

push that ball back through the
basket.

Off the rim, Rouse gets
it,

scores, it's over, it's over!

We won, we won, we won the
ballgame!

We won the ballgame!

Oh, we won, Loyola won the
ballgame!

Oh, we won it, we won,

60 to 58, 60 to 58.

Rouse gets it, scores,
it's over, it's over!

We won, we won, we won,
we won the ballgame!

We won, we won.

And all of a sudden,
we heard these voices,

marched out on Sheridan Road
yelling,

"We won, we won, we won!"

I think they went all the way to
Evanston,

like at midnight, oh,
so joyous and so joyful.

You just have no idea the
pride

that I have for those guys.

It was unbelievable.

It was good to see the starting
five

get the reward reward
that they had earned.

George, how does
it feel

to be a national champion of the
NCAA?

It's the first time we brought
a team

to the tournament and we just
said,

"Look, we're having a poor first
half.

I know you can beat 'em, let's
go out and give it to 'em."

And that is
the championship for 1963

and one of the most unbelievable
comebacks of all time.

America was sitting witness
to this evolution of the game

by seven out of 10 African
Americans starting in that game.

Loyola did
what they set out to do.

But their win represented so
much more.

The end of the tournament

marked the beginning of their
legacy,

one that shaped the sport

and their lives for years to
come.

♪ We're Loyola, we're number one
♪

♪ We're Loyola, we're number one
♪

The Ramblers returned home to
Chicago

as champions that March of 1963,

the first school in the state of
Illinois

to ever win a division one
national title.

How do you feel after
your four years at Loyola?

Well, I feel tremendous.

This is a great thing.

We won the championship in
basketball

and that's exactly what I
wanted.

The win was
celebrated not just by Loyola,

but the entire city of Chicago.

So Ireland proudly paraded
their trophy around town,

including a barber shop across
from campus

where four of the Iron Five
weren't even allowed inside.

As for Jerry Harkness, after
graduating,

he had a short-lived pro career
in the ABA

before returning to Chicago

and finding work as a
salesman on the Northside,

close to campus.

Now, he was just a young black
man trying to build a life.

I could see all of
those people out there

cheering as we won the national
title.

Then when it got time to just
move,

I could not get a place to stay.

And they came up with all kind
of excuses.

I was being discriminated
against,

there was no doubt about it.

The story of the
'63 Ramblers made me wonder,

"What was really different now?

Did their accomplishments
change anything?"

The answer is complicated,

but their lasting effect
on basketball is clear.

The '63 team changed
the game,

made it faster, more
interesting,

a lot more fun to watch,
almost like a ballet.

It was the beginning
of modern basketball.

That changed the
landscape of college sports.

We were able to work together

with all this diversity
and come out a winner.

And then common sense would tell
us,

"Well, can't we do that
in society as well?"

One part of
America was making changes.

Texas Western takes

the first major sports title
the school has ever won.

And the other part was not.

I got involved in the Civil
Rights Movement after school.

We had an obligation to do
something,

say something about how the
situation was.

Sports has a way
of tearing down barriers

faster than the rest of society.

And when athletes use their
platform to demand justice,

they can often turn their
victories

into something much bigger.

But they can't do it alone.

The world
of college basketball

has lost a pioneer.

Jerry Harkness was best known

for the history he made
as a Loyola Rambler.

Harkness would go on to work

for the United Way of Central
Indiana.

He helped start the Indiana
Black Expo

and he was the first black
sportscaster

on Indianapolis television.

Jerry Harkness was 81 years old.

During the 1963 season,

we see numerous stories being
told.

And the obvious one is
a story about a team,

a team with four black players.

And they play well and they win.

And the story doesn't stop.

Because the story's not
just about basketball.

This story is about the
worth of an athlete,

the worth of a black man,

their place in society
and what they can demand.

It's just a tremendous honor

for all the team members to be
recognized.

It's a chance to see the
effect that you've had

on some of the people that
played,

some of the black players
that we opened some doors for.

We are extremely proud of you.

You represent the university

and yourselves extremely well.

We try to do our best
to just imitate you guys

and like what you guys have
done.

The best we can do is say
this is to be continued.

It is a work in progress.

It is a project that's not yet
ended.

To make our country one

that's worthy of what
these men went through.

The most important thing

is that we keep telling the
story.

Looking back you have
a better understanding

of why we are in the situation
that we are in today.

One day,
hopefully long from now,

my time playing basketball
will come to an end.

But there will always be more
work to do,

more unwritten rules to break,

more ways to make the world
better

for the next generation.

To me, that's the inspiration I
think

we can all carry forward.

That's the legacy of the '63
Ramblers.