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Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/198792
F ront Runners Captain Jerry Harkness (CENTER) holds the trophy with the rest of the 1963 Loyola Ramblers as they celebrate their NCAA Division I championship title. Team Work "W hen you start playing basketball back in Harlem on welfare and take this brown ball and get a chance to play a part in civil rights, it's just amazing," attests Jerry Harkness, captain of Loyola University Chicago's 1963 men's basketball team. After defeating Mississippi State University in the legendary "Game of Change," the 1963 Loyola Ramblers—which featured a starting lineup that included four African-Americans, Harkness among them—faced off against two-time defending champs University of Cincinnati for the NCAA Division I championship title on March 23, 1963. "We had an advantage because we were motivated by the Civil Rights movement," says Harkness of the Ramblers during that nail-biting final game. "We got calls from our friends saying, 'You better win,' and the Klu Klux Klan said, 'You best not participate.'" Participate they did, though, and Loyola defeated Cincinnati 60-58—and this month on November 24, the entire 1963 team will be the first group to ever be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. "Here's a record that will not fall," marvels Harkness. "You're the first, and you will always be the first. Nobody can break that." MA 10 PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF LOYOLA ATHLETICS FIFTY YEARS AGO, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO'S MEN'S BASKETBALL SQUAD BROKE THROUGH RACIAL BARRIERS, BECOMING THE FIRST INTEGRATED TEAM TO WIN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP. BY MEG MATHIS MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 010_MA_FOB_FR_Nov13.indd 10 10/21/13 9:34 AM