Bill Text: IL SJR0067 | 2011-2012 | 97th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges the relevant authorities to nominate and induct Coach George Ireland and the 1963 Loyola Chicago basketball championship team into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Failed) 2013-01-08 - Session Sine Die [SJR0067 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2011-SJR0067-Introduced.html
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| 1 | SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, In 1963, Coach George Ireland led the Loyola | ||||||
| 3 | Chicago Ramblers to the NCAA basketball championship; the team | ||||||
| 4 | lost only 2 games that season and led the nation in scoring | ||||||
| 5 | with 91.8 points per game; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, Coach Ireland and the Loyola University teams of | ||||||
| 7 | the early 1960s are considered by many to be responsible for | ||||||
| 8 | ushering in a new era of racial equality in the sport by | ||||||
| 9 | shattering all color barriers in NCAA men's basketball; and
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| 10 | WHEREAS, It is difficult to appreciate what Coach Ireland | ||||||
| 11 | and his team went through, starting in 1961, in breaking what | ||||||
| 12 | had been a longstanding "gentleman's agreement" to not play | ||||||
| 13 | more than 3 African-American players; and
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| 14 | WHEREAS, During the 1962-1963 season, Coach Ireland played | ||||||
| 15 | 4 African American Loyola starters in every game; the Ramblers | ||||||
| 16 | became the first team in NCAA Division I history to play an | ||||||
| 17 | all-African-American lineup, doing so in a game against Wyoming | ||||||
| 18 | in December of 1962; and
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| 19 | WHEREAS, In 1963, Loyola shocked the nation and changed | ||||||
| 20 | college basketball forever by starting 4 African-American | ||||||
| 21 | players in the NCAA Tournament, as well as the championship | ||||||
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| 1 | game; and
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| 2 | WHEREAS, Despite their success during that season, players | ||||||
| 3 | had to endure terrible bigotry, including racial taunts and | ||||||
| 4 | abuse; and
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| 5 | WHEREAS, Coach Ireland received countless pieces of hate | ||||||
| 6 | mail from the KKK and other racist individuals and tried to | ||||||
| 7 | shield his team in every way possible; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, The team remained focused on the sport they loved, | ||||||
| 9 | despite knowing that police surrounded the sports facility | ||||||
| 10 | because violence might erupt at any moment; and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, Loyola's defeat of 2-time defending NCAA champion | ||||||
| 12 | Cincinnati, in overtime by a score of 60-58, was the crowning | ||||||
| 13 | achievement in the school's nearly decade-long struggle with | ||||||
| 14 | racial inequality in men's college basketball, highlighted by | ||||||
| 15 | the tumultuous events of that year's NCAA Tournament; and
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| 16 | WHEREAS, Loyola's 1963 NCAA title was historic, not only | ||||||
| 17 | because of the racial makeup of Loyola's team, but also because | ||||||
| 18 | Cincinnati had started 3 black players, making 7 of the 10 | ||||||
| 19 | starters in the 1963 NCAA Championship game African-American; | ||||||
| 20 | and
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| 1 | WHEREAS, The City of Chicago has many storied sports teams, | ||||||
| 2 | but the Loyola Ramblers basketball team of 1963 and Coach | ||||||
| 3 | Ireland hold an exalted place because they are the only | ||||||
| 4 | Division I Illinois basketball team to win a national | ||||||
| 5 | championship, and because they paved the way for the | ||||||
| 6 | long-overdue integration of races in college basketball prior | ||||||
| 7 | to the 1964 Civil Rights Act; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, All 5 starting players from the national | ||||||
| 9 | championship game graduated from Loyola with degrees; several | ||||||
| 10 | went on to earn advanced degrees in law and business; and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, The journey of the Ramblers is not just the story | ||||||
| 12 | of an underdog team overcoming great odds to beat favored | ||||||
| 13 | Cincinnati, a much larger basketball program that held the | ||||||
| 14 | number 1 ranking and had won the previous 2 national | ||||||
| 15 | championships; the real significance of this coach and this | ||||||
| 16 | team is the lasting impact of their bravery for having broken | ||||||
| 17 | the racial barrier in college basketball that had been allowed | ||||||
| 18 | to prevail for decades; and
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| 19 | WHEREAS, The 2013 Hall of Fame induction season will mark | ||||||
| 20 | the 50th anniversary of the Loyola Basketball Championship; and
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| 21 | WHEREAS, Both Coach Don Haskins and the players of the 1966 | ||||||
| 22 | Texas Western College Miners have been inducted to the Naismith | ||||||
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| 1 | Hall of Fame in recognition of their achievement as the first | ||||||
| 2 | all-African-American college basketball team to win the | ||||||
| 3 | national championship; therefore, be it
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| 4 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL | ||||||
| 5 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES | ||||||
| 6 | CONCURRING HEREIN, that we wholeheartedly urge the relevant | ||||||
| 7 | authorities to nominate and induct Coach George Ireland and the | ||||||
| 8 | 1963 Loyola Chicago basketball championship team into the | ||||||
| 9 | Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
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