Dec. 15, 2010
Commodore History Corner Archive
The 1960-61 basketball season in the SEC was not without controversy. Mississippi State won the conference title with an 11-3 record. Vanderbilt and Kentucky finished in a second place tie at 10-4.
This was during a time in our country that segregation was strong, especially in the South. The SEC would not see its first black basketball player until Perry Wallace arrived at Vanderbilt in 1966.
The Mississippi State Legislature put political pressure on MSU not to represent the conference in the NCAA National Tournament. The idea of black basketball players from other colleges in the country competing with MSU players was unacceptable. Therefore Mississippi State declined to enter the tournament.
To the credit of the Mississippi State players and their coach Babe McCarthy, the team wanted to play. So a special playoff game between Vanderbilt and Kentucky was held in Knoxville to determine the conference representative in the national tournament.
Vanderbilt wanted the game to be played in Knoxville while Kentucky wanted the game in Louisville. There had been a playoff precedent in 1954 when Kentucky and LSU played for a league championship in Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gymnasium. SEC Commissioner Bernie Moore selected Tennessee’s campus for the game.
“At that time there was not a black in the league,” said Bill Depp (pictured above), the Vanderbilt captain that year. “It was only a problem with Mississippi and Mississippi State. It wasn’t a problem with Kentucky or us or anybody else in the league.
“We went out to New Mexico earlier that year and they had blacks on that team. We didn’t mind playing against blacks. We were probably one of the few teams in the league that played teams with black players. It wasn’t something that you just consciously thought about. You just didn’t. That wasn’t something unusual for our team.”
Bob Polk was Vanderbilt’s head coach while the legendary Adolph Rupp led the Wildcats. This was the third meeting of the season for both schools with each team winning on their home court.
The game was considered a toss-up and played before 6,500 fans. The Wildcats entered the game with a nine-game winning streak. The game was tied at 13 in the first half when Kentucky’s Bill Lickert stole a Commodore pass for an easy lay-up to put the Cats up by two.
“We were happy to be playing in it certainly, both of us were 10-4,” Depp said. “We beat them two points here and they beat us one point there. We had a shot at whipping them and getting away from that thing. We had Mississippi State and Ole Miss, two of our losses on the road. We felt like if we had played Mississippi State at home, we wouldn’t have had a playoff. We thought we would have beaten them.”
Five minutes later Kentucky’s Ned Jennings hit a jump shot to widen Kentucky’s margin to 27-17. The Commodores were down at intermission 44-30. Vanderbilt could not fight back in the physical game as Kentucky won 88-67.
Kentucky’s Larry Pursiful led the Wildcats with 21 points. Roger Newman and Jennings were next with 18 and 14 points. Vanderbilt hurt their cause with 17 turnovers and a 28% field goal average. Kentucky shot 50% in the first half and 45.9% for the game. Kentucky also hit 32-of-40 foul shots.
“Absolutely we thought we had a super chance to win that game in Knoxville,” Depp said. “Getting on a neutral court with Kentucky, we felt good about that. We thought we matched up well with them. Sometimes you play a game and you are just flat and they kicked us good.
“Our team played good defense that year and we had good rebounding. Anybody at any given time could score some points, so you couldn’t just stick on one man. We had two good guards in Bobby Bland and John Russell. Don Ringstaff, Larry Banks and myself played well together.”
Vanderbilt was led in scoring by sophomore Ringstaff with 21 points followed by Depp’s 13. Bland also contributed 11 points for Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt finished the season at 19-5 while Kentucky (19-7) advanced into the NCAA tournament. Depp was named to the All-SEC team for the second time and later was asked to tryout for the NBA champion Boston Celtics.
“They were more hyped for the game it seemed like,” said Depp. “Certainly they didn’t want it any more than we did. We were just flat and I don’t know why. It was one of those games where when you win you have more memories. A when you lose, you do not. We did not play the way we were capable of playing.”
Mississippi State also won the SEC championship in 1962 and 1963. MSU also failed to compete in the 1962 national tournament due to political pressure. Coach McCarthy devised a plan to avoid the political climate in 1963.
Bo Carter, a Vanderbilt graduate and one-time assistant sports information director at Mississippi State is quoted in Roy Neel’s Dynamite! 75 Years of Vanderbilt Basketball is quoted:
- “The Legislature had voted to prohibit the team from going on to the NCAA, since blacks would be playing in the tournament. Local sheriffs and state troopers were even instructed to serve subpoenas on McCarthy to prevent his departure for the tournament.
“Coach McCarthy sent all the players to private homes around Starkville to keep them under wraps until time to leave. Then McCarthy and his assistant coach drove to Nashville and hid out in a hotel. At an appointed time, all the players met at the Columbus (Mississippi) airport and flew to Nashville to meet McCarthy, who then loaded everyone on a charter flight to East Lansing, Michigan for the Mideast Regionals.
“They lost to Loyola (eventual NCAA champion that year) in the first round, but they were the attraction of the tournamentâ€â€Âeveryone congratulated them on their escape from Starkville. It was like a spy movie.”
It was also noted that then Mississippi State President, D.W. Colvard, was a prime sponsor of McCarthy’s plan. Colvard wanted his school in the tournament.
If you have any comments or suggestions you can contact Bill Traughber via email WLTraughber@aol.com.
