James Harrison "Babe" McCarthy (October 1, 1923 – March 17, 1975), was an American professional and collegiate
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
coach. McCarthy was originally from
Baldwyn,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
. McCarthy may best be remembered for
Mississippi State
Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univers ...
's appearance in the
1963 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament when his all-white team sneaked out of town in order to face
Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...
, which had four black starters.
In March 1975, McCarthy died as a result of colon cancer.
Early life
McCarthy was from
Baldwyn, Mississippi
Baldwyn is a city located in Lee and Prentiss counties, Mississippi, located in the northern part of the Tupelo micropolitan area. The population was 3,071 at the 2020 census.
History
Located five miles north of Guntown, the main street of ...
and played high school basketball at Tupelo Junior High School. After high school he attended Mississippi State University where he was a member of
Sigma Pi
Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity with 233 chapters at American universities. As of 2021, the fraternity had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 110,000 alumni.
Sigma Pi headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee.
The fraternity ...
fraternity. He did not play college basketball. He served in the
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
and then began coaching high school basketball at his alma mater in 1947. He was recalled to the Air Force for the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
and coached an Air Force team in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
to third place in an Air Force tournament. After the Air Force he officiated
SEC games before becoming the Mississippi State coach in 1955.
College career
McCarthy first came to fame for his 10-year stint at Mississippi State, where his teams won 169 games, lost 85, and won four
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...
(SEC) titles (three outright, one shared). While coaching at MSU he was named SEC Coach of the year 3 times. When he left Mississippi State he was the school's all-time leader in wins but has since been passed by
Richard Williams and
Rick Stansbury
Richard Lee Stansbury (born December 23, 1959), is an American college basketball and the current head coach of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team. He was previously the head coach at Mississippi State. He was hired as the WKU head c ...
.
McCarthy may best be remembered for his team crossing the color line in the segregated south of the 1960s. Even before it was certain that Mississippi State would face Loyola and their four black starters, racist elements in the Mississippi media got into the act. On Thursday, March 7, 1963 the ''
Jackson Daily News
''The Clarion Ledger'' is an American daily newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi. It is the second-oldest company in the state of Mississippi, and is one of the few newspapers in the nation that continues to circulate statewide. It is an operating d ...
'' printed a picture of Loyola's starters to show that four of them were African Americans. As a caption to the picture, Daily News editor Jimmy Ward wrote that "readers may desire to clip the photo of the Loyola team and mail it today to the board of trustees of the institution of higher learning" to prevent the game from taking place. At the time, a longstanding state policy barred college teams at state schools from playing games against racially integrated teams. The Bulldogs had been forced to turn down three previous NCAA Tournament bids for this reason, including when they won their first two outright SEC titles in school history.
The editorials were in response to the decision by Mississippi State President
Dean W. Colvard's March 2, 1963 to accept the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as outright SEC champions. The College Board of Mississippi met on March 9, 1963 and upheld Colvard's decision. But on March 13, just a day before the team was scheduled to travel to East Lansing, state senator Billy Mitts and former state senator B.W. Lawson sought and obtained a temporary injunction against the team leaving the state.
While sheriffs were on their way to
Starkville, Mississippi
Starkville is a city in, and the county seat of, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States. Mississippi State University is a land-grant institution and is located partially in Starkville but primarily in an adjacent unincorporated area desig ...
to serve the injunction, the team was participating in a pep rally the night before their departure, where effigies of state senators Mitts and Lawson were hung. The team's original plan was to leave Starkville at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday morning. But learning that sheriffs would be expected to arrive in town at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night, MSU put their sophisticated contingency plan into effect.
McCarthy, the athletic director, and the assistant athletic director drove to Memphis, and then flew to Nashville. The team itself sent the freshman squad to the airport as scheduled-posing as the varsity team. The real varsity team hid in a dorm on campus. The next morning, they boarded a private plane at the airport and flew to Nashville to meet the coach and team officials. From Nashville, the whole group took a commercial flight to the game at
East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County, Michigan, Clinton County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...
. These events were chronicled in the
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
br>
One Night in Marchproduced by Starkville-base
Broadcast Media Group
McCarthy Gymnasium
McCarthy Gymnasium is a 3,000-seat multi-purpose arena located on the Mississippi State University campus. It opened in 1950 directly east of the "Tin Gym", MSU's previous on-campus arena that had opened in 1929. It was originally known as the M ...
on the campus of MSU was named for him in 1975.
McCarthy later coached the
George Washington University
, mottoeng = "God is Our Trust"
, established =
, type = Private federally chartered research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.8 billion (2022)
, preside ...
's men's basketball team, going 9–18 with the Colonials in 1966–1967.
Head coaching record
College
ABA career
In the
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...
, McCarthy coached the
New Orleans Buccaneers
The New Orleans Buccaneers were a charter member of the American Basketball Association. After three seasons in New Orleans, Louisiana the franchise moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where it became the Pros, Tams and Sounds for four years before a ...
from 1967 to 1970, the
Memphis Pros
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memph ...
from 1970 to 1972, the
Dallas Chaparrals
The Dallas Chaparrals were a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA). The team moved to San Antonio, Texas for the 1973–74 season and were renamed the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs joined the National Basketball Association ...
for the 1972–73 season, and the
Kentucky Colonels
The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of ...
in the 1973–1974 season. He was named ABA coach of the year for the 73–74 season. In the 1967–68 season he led the team to victories over the
Denver Rockets
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...
and Dallas Chaparrals before losing the finals in seven games to the
Pittsburgh Pipers
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylv ...
. He was named ABA coach of the year in 1969 and 1974. He was the first ABA coach to win 200 games.
Babe-isms
McCarthy was known as "Ol' Magnolia Mouth" (or just "Magnolia Mouth") for his cement-thick Mississippi accent and short, funny phrases calle
Babe-isms A few of the more famous and often used Babe-isms were:
*Boy, I gotta tell you, you gotta come out at 'em like a bitin' sow.
*My old pappy used to tell me the sun don't shine on the same dog's butt every day.
*Why panic at five in the mornin' because it's still dark out?
*Now, let's cloud up and rain all over 'em.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Babe
1923 births
1975 deaths
United States Air Force personnel of the Korean War
Basketball coaches from Mississippi
Dallas Chaparrals head coaches
George Washington Colonials men's basketball coaches
Kentucky Colonels coaches
Memphis Sounds coaches
Military personnel from Mississippi
Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball coaches
Mississippi State University alumni
New Orleans Buccaneers coaches
People from Baldwyn, Mississippi
deaths from cancer in Mississippi
Deaths from colorectal cancer