March Madness 1963: Mississippi State players sneak out of the state to play against black

[Elwood P Dowd]

players in NCAA Tournament. This is an amazing story that 95% of the country's sports fan never heard.

http://sports.yahoo.com/video/march-madness-game-changed-history-214200048.html

I was a teenager in the south back then and remember this well. Back in those days the State Of Mississippi prevented any of the white colleges from playing against integrated teams. Mississippi State had some great teams from 1959 to 1963 that won SEC Championships, but they were denied the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament. Kentucky or Georgia Tech would take their place in the tournament each year. In 1963 the school President, basketball coach, and the players cooked up a plan to escape the state against a court order and play Loyola Of Chicago in the NCAA Regional . The school President escaped to Alabama, the coach to Tennessee, and the players hopped on a plane late at night and flew off to meet them in Nashville for the flight to Michigan State.

Loyola started four black players and later won the NCAA National Championship that year, but the most talked about event during March Madness 1963 was Mississippi State's team escaping in the night to play in the tournament.

[kentuck]

1. I remember Donnie Kessinger...

MSU had some good teams back then.

[Elwood P Dowd]

2. Yep, Mississippi State won 4 SEC Championships during that era. However, Donnie Kessinger played

at Ole Miss.

[Elwood P Dowd]

3. Please watch the video at the link if you can spare 7 minutes.

Mississippi State Captain Joe Dan Gold, one of the ring leaders of the escape, later became a college coach, teacher, and school administrator. When he passed away in his casket was a 1963 picture of him shaking hands with with a player who would become a longtime friend .......Jerry Harkness, the black captain of the 1963 Loyola basketball team.