My View as a LUC Alum: Loyola's Run to the Final Four
We fought, we persevered, we hit buzzer beaters, we proved the experts wrong, we proved ourselves. We were the little engine that could. The Cinderella of March Madness. Still, just saying it, knowing it's true, is incredulous: Loyola University Chicago made the Final Four. They made me a believer in the little guy, in hard work, in the underdog again. Our school made the Final Four. They busted my bracket, they busted Sister Jean's, they almost fulfilled her 'Cinderella Dream' bracket. I started to believe they could.
Sister Jean was already our celebrity. But we're happy to share. We're the "little" Jesuit school with the beautiful views sitting on Lake Michigan on the north side of Chicago. We're usually overshadowed by Northwestern and DePaul, even UIC, when it comes to sports recognition. But this time we couldn't be overlooked. As Sister Jean said, she's international now. Although, hey, we're pretty good at volleyball with two national championships in last five years, but there's some students that don't even know about that. Just last season, even early this season, more empty seats than filled ones circled our home court inside Gentile Arena during home games. But now we're known for basketball nationwide. Us, Loyola University Chicago, not Loyola Marymount or New Orleans or Maryland. Often confused, but no, we're not all connected. Our school with no football team, once upon a time a school with little school spirit, was now the Cinderella of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. We watched Bracketology as experts said we wouldn't make the tournament unless we won the MVC tournament, and even then we couldn't beat big name teams because of our level of competition this season. But with a 25-5 regular season record, the last home game of the season was sold out. The fans were starting to believe. This season was the first year I've ever seen Gentile Arena consistently full.
As the team progressed through the tournament, fans started sporting more spirit wear and gradually Facebook profile pictures started to change to support our school. Our tiny bookstore had shipments delivered daily to restock spirit wear. The entire athletic department was in San Antonio. Last minute tickets to Atlanta, then to San Antonio were purchased by alumni. Current students filled up the student center and the arena on game days for viewing parties. Rogers Park bars overflowed with lines out the door during games.
2018 didn't mark Loyola's first visit to the NCAA Tournament. Loyola has danced before - in 1963 the Ramblers won the Tournament and in 1985 made it to the Sweet Sixteen. Loyola is the only team in Illinois to ever win the NCAA Tournament, but the 1963 season actually marked a much more significant time in history. I was the beat writer for the men's basketball team for the school newspaper, Loyola Phoenix, during the 2012-2013 season when the school celebrated the 50 year anniversary of the 1963 team. Fortunately I interviewed some players from the '63 team and became familiar with the team's story that season. The Game of Change as it's come to be known, proved an important moment in history during a time of segregation and racism.
That season, Loyola's team included four black players in the starting lineup. At that time, an unspoken agreement existed around the league of starting two or a max three black players, but Loyola's head coach, George Ireland, continually defied the accepted rules. In his own act of fighting racism, he encouraged his team to run up the score when they played teams from the South. The most pivotal game during that season came when Loyola faced Mississippi State in the NCAA Tournament. Despite a successful basketball team, Mississippi State continually missed the NCAA Tournament because of an unspoken law against playing integrated teams. But this year they decided to play despite what the law stated. Mississippi's governor demanded the game not be played and a state injunction was issued, however the team snuck out of the state so they could travel to Michigan to play Loyola at the pre-determined venue. At the same time, Loyola Chicago players were receiving hate mail to their dorm rooms, some from Ku Klux Klan members.
Loyola ended up winning the game and the Tournament, but the moment in history pre-dated even "Glory Road."
Loyola Chicago: Our school with the little-known past and promising future.