Political Quotes

“Mr. President, last Monday, college basketball fans crowned their newest champion, the Louisville Cardinals. I wish to take a moment to congratulate another historic college hoops team. The NCAA recently announced that the 1963 NCAA Men's Basketball Champions, the Loyola University Chicago Ramblers, would become the first team ever enshrined into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. In an era when racism gripped the game, Loyola Coach George Ireland assembled the first predominately black team to win an NCAA Championship. Loyola's starting lineup featured four African Americans. This was unheard of in those days. Despite hateful comments from the public and threatening letters from the Ku Klux Klan, Loyola lost only two games all season and marched through the Final Four. In the championship game they faced Cincinnati, a team which had been ranked No. 1 all season and had won the tournament the 2 previous years. If this wasn't pressure enough, the 1963 NCAA championship was also the first nationally televised NCAA title game. Les Hunter, starting center for Loyola, remembered it as an opportunity to show ``that the brand of black basketball was exciting and it provided for more exposure and recruiting for future players.'' The championship game was an uphill battle for Loyola. After missing 13 of its first 14 shots, they trailed by 15 points with less than 15 minutes to play.…”