CHICAGO _ Loyola Chicago forward Jerry Harkness didn't fully grasp the significance of the game about to be played on March 15, 1963, when he stepped to center court and shook hands with his white opponent.
"I get there and you see these flashbulbs _ pop, pop, pop _ and I thought, 'Hmm, this is more than a game,' " said Harkness, who is black. "It just felt more like this is history."
The landmark contest later was named the "Game of Change" because it featured an all-white Mississippi State team that defied its state governor's orders banning it from crossing state lines to compete against the integrated Ramblers.
Memories of Loyola's historic role are being recalled as the current Ramblers embark on their first NCAA Tournament in 33 years. The squad from 55 years ago won the NCAA Tournament championship, the only team from Illinois with that distinction.
Harkness was at center court again last week celebrating with the 2018 Ramblers in Saint Louis as they earned an automatic tournament bid with their Missouri Valley Conference championship. He beamed holding the gold trophy and shaking hands with each player.
"That is the ultimate change, when you talk about integration," Loyola coach Porter Moser said. "As I hugged Jerry Harkness, I told all those guys how much the past is part of our future. The '63 team, that goes way beyond basketball."
Loyola's victory over Mississippi State was symbolic for a country struggling with racial divides and social shifts.
It was a rare team that ignored the unwritten agreement among schools that no more than two black players per team should play at the same time, maybe three if a team trailed significantly. The Ramblers started four black players and sometimes played five.
Coach George Ireland wasn't moved so much by progressive values as winning, players said.
"The idea of starting four was a new experience," said Rich Rochelle, a reserve center. "Five black players at one time, that was unheard of."
Loyola's integrated team _ an emblem of equality _ inspired abuse from opposing fans and intimidating letters from the Ku Klux Klan.
"It was addressed to my dorm on Sheridan Road," recalled Harkness, a senior captain. "I started thinking, 'These guys are talking like this and they know where we live. What else do they know? They could wait out there and ambush me.' I was afraid."
Team members focused on basketball and academics, but the swirling unrest was hard to ignore in 1963 _ the bloodiest year of the Civil Rights Movement.
Four black girls were killed in a Birmingham church bombing. Martin Luther King led the March on Washington and wrote "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." Civil rights activist Medgar Evers was assassinated.
A massive Chicago Public Schools boycott for overcrowding at predominantly African-American schools and a refusal to integrate with white schools made local headlines.
It was the year Alabama Gov. George Wallace exclaimed during his inaugural address, "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."
And here was Loyola _ starting four black players and competing against a white team from the South.
"We were in the middle of all of that," Harkness said.
They were about to make another dent in a changing nation.
"That's when it began to turn," center Les Hunter said. "Nobody had ever heard of us and we're showing up with black players and winning like that? It taught people that if you're going to compete, you're going to have to learn acceptance of black athletes."
