Babe McCarthy

James Harrison "Babe" McCarthy (*? In Baldwyn , Mississippi ; †?. March 1975), also called "Ol'Magnolia Mouth" or just "Magnolia Mouth", was a coach in professional and college basketball . McCarthy was best known for appearing for the Mississippi State University team at the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship tournament in 1963 when his team snuck out of town to face Loyola University Chicago , which had four black players. He coached several teams in the American Basketball Association .

College career

McCarthy trained at Mississippi State University, where his teams won 169 games and lost 85 and won or shared four titles in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). He was named SEC Trainer of the Year three times while at MSU . He left school as the coach with the most wins and the third best win rate. Richard Williams and Rick Stansbury now have more wins, Stansbury and Ron Greene (one season) have better odds.

McCarthy became known for breaking the racial barrier in the isolated south in the 1960s. Even before it was certain that Mississippi State would face the Ramblers and their four black starters, racist elements were in action in the Mississippi media. On March 7, 1963, the Jackson Daily News printed a picture of Loyola's starters to show that four of them were African American . As a caption, Daily News editor-in-chief Jimmy Ward urged readers to cut out the photo of Loyola's team and send it to the MSU Board of Trustees to prevent the game from taking place.

The editorials were in response to the decision of the President of MSU, Dean W. Colvard, on March 2, 1963, to accept the automatic invitation to the NCAA tournament as Masters of the SEC, which had previously been declined three times because of a gentlemen's agreement when one was on integrated teams should meet. The college committee met on March 9, 1963 and upheld Colvard's decision. On March 13, the day before the crew was due to travel to East Lansing , Senator Billy Mitts and former Senator BW Lawson obtained an injunction against the Bulldogs to leave the state under what is known as the Unwritten Act .

While the sheriffs were on their way to Starkville , Mississippi to enforce the injunction, the night before their departure the team took part in a scavenger hunt that hanged replicas of racist Senators Mitts and Lawson. The original plan was to leave Starkville at 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning. But when it was learned that the Hinds County sheriffs were arriving in town at 11:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, the MSU's contingency plan went into effect.

Coach Babe McCarthy, the sporting director and his assistant drove to Memphis and flew from there to Nashville . The team itself sent the junior team to the airport to appear as the expected first team. This in turn hid in a student residence hall on campus. The next morning they got on a private plane and flew to Nashville to meet the trainer and his staff. From Nashville, they took a normal game flight to East Lansing, Michigan . These events were documented on the One Night in March DVD produced by the Starkville-based Broadcast Media Group. Playing against the Ramblers is seen as the beginning of the fall of the Unwritten Law .

McCarthy later coached the basketball team at George Washington University , which managed 9 wins out of 18 losses in 1966-67.

ABA career

In the American Basketball Association , McCarthy coached the New Orleans Buccaneers from 1967 to 1970, the Memphis Pros from 1970 to 1972, the Dallas Chaparrals 1972/73, and the Kentucky Colonels 1973/74. With the Buccaneers he reached the final in 1968, which was lost in seven games against the Pittsburgh Condors . He was named ABA Trainer of the Year in 1969 and 1974. He was the first ABA coach to win 200 games.

In March 1975, McCarthy died of colon cancer.

Web links

Remarks

↑ Mississippi State was called "Mississippi State College" (MSC) until 1958. School mascot and athletics department name wasn't changed from Maroons to Bulldogs until 1961 . For a couple of years both names were used in parallel.

Individual evidence

↑ Mississippi State Men's Basketball Media Guide. edited by Gregg Ellis and Matt Dunaway. On: Hail State website; Starkville, MS, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2019 (page 128).
^ Jason A. Peterson: Full Court Press. Mississippi State University, the Press, and the Battle to Integrate College Basketball . Jackson, 2016: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-4968-0820-2 (in English).

personal data
SURNAME	McCarthy, babe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	McCarthy, James Harrison
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American basketball coach
DATE OF BIRTH	19th century or 20th century
PLACE OF BIRTH	Baldwyn , Mississippi , USA
DATE OF DEATH	March 1975

[1] Mississippi State was called "Mississippi State College" (MSC) until 1958. School mascot and athletics department name wasn't changed from Maroons to Bulldogs until 1961 . For a couple of years both names were used in parallel.

[2] Mississippi State Men's Basketball Media Guide. edited by Gregg Ellis and Matt Dunaway. On: Hail State website; Starkville, MS, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2019 (page 128).

[3] Jason A. Peterson: Full Court Press. Mississippi State University, the Press, and the Battle to Integrate College Basketball . Jackson, 2016: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-4968-0820-2 (in English).