1962-63

Since the beginning of the NCAA tournament in 1939, no team had won three straight titles. In fact, no team had reached three straight championship games. Until Cincinnati.

The Bearcats were on as impressive a roll as any college team had ever been. Over the last six years, they had won the tough Missouri Valley Conference six times, finished the regular season ranked either No.1 or No.2 five times, and reached the Final Four five years running.

Too bad they had to play Cinderella for the title in 1963.

Despite its No.3 ranking and a scoring average of 91.8, nobody expected Loyola of Chicago to beat Cincinnati, especially when the Ramblers fell behind by 15 in the second half. But Loyola rallied to send the game into OT and won the title on a last second rebound and basket by Vic Rouse.

A footnote: SEC champ Mississippi State finally agreed to play in the integrated NCAA tourney and lost its opening game to Loyola, the first nationally prominent college team to start four black players.

Final AP Top 10 (Writers' poll taken before major tournaments. From 1962–63 through 1967–68, AP ranked only 10 teams).

Note: Loyola, IL won the NCAAs.

Second 10 (Taken from final UPI coaches' poll).

Note: Providence won the NIT.
Consensus All-America (By position, in alphabetical order)

  First Team

·         Ron Bonham, Cincinnati

·         Jerry Harkness, Loyola

·         Art Heyman, Duke

·         Barry Kramer, NYU

·         Tom Thacker, Cincinnati

  Second Team

·         Gary Bradds, Ohio St.

·         Bill Green, Colorado St.

·         Cotton Nash, Kentucky

·         Rod Thorn, West Virginia

AP POLL

1. Cincinnati
2. Duke
3. Loyola-Chicago
4. Arizona State
5. Wichita State
6. Mississippi State
7. Ohio State
8. Illinois
9. NYU
10. Colorado

UPI COACHES POLL

1. Cincinnati
2. Duke
3. Arizona State
4. Loyola-Chicago
5. Illinois
6. Wichita State
7. Mississippi State
8. Ohio State
9. Colorado
10. Stanford

NCAA Results

First Round
New York University 93, Pittsburgh 83
West Virginia 77, Connecticut 71
St. Joseph's 82, Princeton 81 (OT)
Bowling Green 77, Notre Dame 72
Loyola (Ill.) 111, Tennessee Tech 42
Oklahoma City 70, Colorado State 67
Texas 65, Texas Western 47
Arizona State 79, Utah State 75 (OT)
Oregon State 70, Seattle 66
Regional Semifinals
Duke 81, New York University 76
St. Joseph's 97, West Virginia 88
Illinois 70, Bowling Green 67
Loyola (Ill.) 61, Mississippi State 51
Colorado 78, Oklahoma City 72
Cincinnati 73, Texas 68
Arizona State 93, UCLA 79
Oregon State 65, San Francisco 61
Regional Third Place
East: West Virginia 83, NYU 73
Mideast: Mississippi State 65, Bowling Green 60
Midwest: Texas 90, Oklahoma City 83
West: San Francisco 76, UCLA 75
Regional Finals
East: Duke 73, St. Joseph's 59
Mideast: Loyola (Ill.) 79, Illinois 64
Midwest: Cincinnati 67, Colorado 60
West: Oregon State 83, Arizona State 65
National Semifinals
Loyola (Ill.) 94, Duke 75
Cincinnati 80, Oregon State 46
National Third Place
Duke 85, Oregon State 63
Championship Game
Loyola (Ill.) 60, Cincinnati 58 (OT)

Loyola leaders: F Jerry Harkness, Sr.; F Vic Rouse, Jr.; C Les Hunter, Sr.; G John Egan, Jr.; G Ron Miller, Jr.

All-NCAA Tournament Team

Top 10

All-America Team

Leaders
Team
Offense: Loyola (Chicago), 91.8
Defense: Cincinnati, 52.9

Individual Scoring

Rebounding

  Notes

• Providence def. Canisius 81-66 to win NIT title.

• Mississippi State ducked out of town at night to travel to the NCAA tournament, breaking the school’s string of earned NCAA trips thwarted by policies against playing in racially integrated tournaments.

1963 Feb 17 Basketball legend Michael Jordan is born.

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

1963
New York Rens
*Robert F. Gruenig, Player
*William A. Reid, Contributor

Loyola couldn't go anywhere without toting its city along with it. The designation "of Chicago" was necessary baggage if people were to differentiate the university from Loyola of the South (in New Orleans) and Loyola of Los Angeles. Both those smaller Jesuit schools were NCAA Tournament participants before the Chicago institution gladly accepted its first invitation in 1963.

Loyola's entrance was the initial step of a journey with historic implications in both basketball and social justice. The civil-rights movement was gaining momentum in the United States and the Ramblers, with four black starters, found themselves in the vanguard.

Loyola had ventured into the South in the 1962 and 1963 seasons, and its players had been forced to stay in separate hotels in New Orleans and had been denied service in Houston. The Ramblers' coach, George Ireland, had raised a ruckus about the inequities, which focused attention not only on segregation, but also on the basketball program he had built.

There was much about the program to admire.

For the second consecutive season, adhering to Ireland's philosophy that "the object of the game is to put the ball in the basket," Loyola had led the nation in scoring. A third-place finish in the 1962 National Invitation Tournament had provided the impetus for a truly remarkable year in which the Ramblers lost only two games and 6-foot-2 star Jerry Harkness, a former track man who didn't play organized basketball until his senior year of high school, had been chosen a consensus All-American.

But there was so much more involved, including one meeting notable for its contribution to race relations. A staggering 111-42 rout of Tennessee Tech in the first round of the NCAA Tournament sent Loyola to the Mideast Regional semifinals at East Lansing, Mich. The opposition was scheduled to be Southeastern Conference champion Mississippi State.

In the past, the Bulldogs had bypassed the tournament because they might be required to play teams with black players. Only the previous year, in fact, Mississippi State had turned down an invitation after compiling a 24-1 record and earning a No. 4 national ranking.

But in 1963, coach Babe McCarthy and his players chose to ignore the wishes of state authorities. They slipped surreptitiously out of Starkville in the middle of the night before possibly being served with a court order blocking the trip.

Oh, they would be playing against blacks, all right. By March, Loyola's fame had spread clear into Mississippi.

"I'm happy my boys could come," McCarthy said upon his arrival at East Lansing, "just to see a team like Loyola play."

As it developed, Mississippi State didn't travel that distance and risk the wrath of politicians and citizens just to watch. The methodical Bulldogs slowed the pace to their liking, took a 7-0 lead and limited explosive Loyola to 26 points in the first half.

The Ramblers nevertheless led by seven points at intermission and pulled out a 61-51 victory, but this was one contest in which the outcome seemed secondary to the fact the game was played at all.

When Harkness, the Loyola captain, shook hands with Mississippi State captain Joe Dan Gold before the game, flashbulbs popped throughout the field house.

"I couldn't imagine what was going on," Harkness said.

To Harkness and his teammates, it was just another game en route to the Final Four, one the Ramblers were hard-pressed to win. It was only later that Harkness was struck by the consequence of the moment.

Mississippi State stayed another night and defeated Bowling Green, 65-60, in the Mideast consolation game for its first NCAA Tournament victory. Following that game, Loyola dismantled Big Ten Conference co-champion Illinois, 79-64, to earn a ticket to the Final Four in Louisville.

The season was getting more interesting with every game.

The field at Freedom Hall was made up of the Associated Press' three top-ranked teams -- in order, Cincinnati, Duke and Loyola -- and one interloper.

Oregon State, which had overwhelmed fourth-ranked Arizona State in the Far West Regional final, was an item of extreme curiosity. In Mel Counts, the Beavers featured a 7-foot center with a fine outside shot. Their floor leader, Terry Baker, had won the Heisman Trophy three months earlier as the country's outstanding college football player.

Oregon State's opponent in the national semifinals would be Cincinnati, which had given little cause for the public to believe it would not become the first school to win three consecutive NCAA basketball titles.

Although Paul Hogue had graduated, the Midwest Regional champion Bearcats had enjoyed another phenomenal season, losing only to Wichita State (by one point) in 26 games. They led the nation in defense, yielding 52.9 points per game during the 1963 season.

In Hogue's absence, coach Ed Jucker had moved George Wilson into the pivot, shifted 6-2 Tom Thacker from guard to forward (where he had played as a sophomore two seasons earlier) and inserted unselfish Larry Shingleton into the backcourt. Tony Yates and Ron Bonham were back at their guard and forward slots.

What the Bearcats lost in rebounding strength, they appeared to gain in defensive quickness and ballhandling.

So overpowering did Cincinnati appear that on one occasion, a 70-40 thrashing of a sound Saint Louis team, Jucker apologized to the Billikens' athletic director.

"I'm sorry we had to be so good," he said.

There wasn't much question that offense would prevail in the Loyola-Duke semifinal. The East Regional-winning Blue Devils were a tall team that used the fast break at every opportunity and boasted the wire services' Player of the Year in senior Art Heyman. However, Heyman shot poorly against Loyola and the Ramblers ran wild, 94-75.

As impressive as that was, it didn't sway impartial observers, not after Cincinnati dismissed Oregon State, 80-46.

The title-game matchup of the leading offensive and defensive teams in the country suggested a classic. Of course, the same kind of pairing had occurred in 1960, when Ohio State rolled to a 20-point victory over California.

Loyola, which had faced all kinds of pressure during a memorable season, seemed on the brink of a nervous breakdown in the first 20 minutes of the 1963 NCAA championship game. The Ramblers missed 13 of their first 14 shots, fell behind 19-9 and saw Harkness fail to make a field goal in the first half, which ended with Cincinnati on top, 29-21. Harkness, the cool New Yorker, was shaken.

"I didn't want to be embarrassed," said Harkness, reflecting on the fact that family and friends were watching the game that marked Loyola's only appearance on national television all season. "I was thinking, 'Don't let them kill us.' "

Cincinnati did go for the kill at the outset of the second half. With Bonham popping from the corners, the Bearcats boosted their lead to 45-30. There were 12 minutes remaining.

The team with the steely composure suddenly and inexplicably lost its grip on the game. Cincinnati began making turnovers against the frantic Loyola press. Wilson picked up his fourth foul and was replaced for a four-minute stretch by Dale Heidotting, the only reserve on either team to play. The Bearcats began misfiring from the free-throw line.

And, gradually, the lead dwindled -- to 48-39, 48-43 and, with 2:42 left, 50-48. Yates and Thacker, as well Wilson, had four fouls. The Cincinnati delay game was malfunctioning.

"Our execution down the stretch wasn't as good it had been," Yates acknowledged.

Loyola's Les Hunter cut the deficit to one at 53-52, tipping in a Harkness shot, and Harkness immediately fouled Shingleton to stop the clock with 12 seconds left. Shingleton made the first free throw, his second attempt rolled off the rim. Hunter rebounded, flipped an outlet pass to Ron Miller and Miller got the ball into the hands of Harkness.

Much later, when they looked at game films, the Ramblers would need Miller about running with the ball -- not just walking with it. But everyone in Freedom Hall -- the officiating team included -- was caught up in the drama of Loyola's magnificent comeback.

Harkness shot the ball from instinct. Five seconds were left.

"I don't think I felt anything," Harkness said. "When I shot, I normally had a touch for it. But this time I never felt it. It was almost like somebody guided it for me."

The shot was true, and Cincinnati didn't react quickly enough to call a timeout that would have set up a last-second shot. An overtime would be required to break the 54-54 tie.

Harkness scored first for Loyola in the extra session, and the teams traded baskets until it was 58-58. The Ramblers, trying to play for one shot, were forced into a jump-ball situation when guard John Egan, attempting to latch on to a poor pass, was tied up by Shingleton. Loyola, though, regained possession when Egan tipped the ball to Miller.

Once more, the Ramblers went to Harkness. He dribbled around looking for an opening but couldn't shake Bonham. With the clock running down, Harkness went up for his shot. Bonham brushed the ball.

"I felt I was losing it," Harkness said. "I grabbed it again. Then I saw Les out of the corner of my eye."

He passed to Hunter, who took the jump shot from the left side of the lane. The ball bounced over the rim, directly into the hands of Vic Rouse, Loyola's other big man who was undefended to the right of the basket.

"I didn't tip it," Rouse said. "I grabbed it tight, jumped up and laid it in. I'd missed a couple like I and I wanted to be so sure. Oh, my, it felt good."

The basket, coming with one second left, lifted Loyola to an improbable victory and dethroned a Cincinnati team that felt it couldn't be beaten. The Ramblers, who averaged nearly 92 points per game season, needed an overtime to get to 60 but still won. While missing 61-of-84 field-goal attempts, Loyola had committed only three turnovers compared with 16 for Cincinnati.

"Our game plan worked for us 99 out of 100 times," Cincinnati's Yates said after Loyola's 60-58 triumph. "On this night, it didn't."

And the championship belonged to Loyola of Chicago, the 100-1 shot.